Atlas Industrial Rail Reefers

My favorite traditional sized rail car. I have more than I care to admit even some undecorated cars UMD did back in the good old days. ( I was working in a hobby shop and got them for under $20 each)  But it seems I heard Atlas was not happy with IR cars. And with a price very close the the bottom line Trainman Atlas scale cars I have not bought any in a long time.....I maybe have 3 Atlas branded reefers.....and those came from Hobby Lobby at 40% off. Maybe ask Atlas what their plans are and offer ideas for new ones.

I wish I could buy every thing to make them from atlas an make them my self in three packs!

My favorite three an only three

Before Atlas bought the molds and raised the price, I bought tons of those BLUE BOX BEAUTIES. I have around 200 many nib. They were a great price back then.

 

I like to run unit trains and have Santa Fe map box cars, Cookie box boxcars, PFE oval reefers, NS boxcars, Burlington gondolas and lots of black and brown shorty log cars. They look very good with my Railking steamers. 

 

I wish someone would buy the molds from Atlas and run them again for us cheap folks.

I miss these IR cars and K-line. These where directed to my hobby demographic. I definitly feel that people like me are being pushed out of this hobby.

I feel the same way at times.  Perhaps if are to go, we need to go kicking and screaming.  Then maybe someone will listen.

I would have to agree with you. Stagnant wages and rising train prices are certainly curtailing my involvement in this hobby.

You would have to search for the Atlas O INDUSTRIAL RAIL cars on sale using a search like Google and Bing.

 

There is nothing new announced.

 

Go to the ATLAS RR Company facebook page and post which exact railroad name and paint scheme you would like to have produced. You have to be specific when asking for new paint schemes and road names for the reefer, box car, and others.

 

Andrew

I thought I had a lot of the IR/UMD cars!!! But they are the perfect size and detail level.  A string of IR reefers behind a MTH RK Cab Forward is great.  But I do feel Atlas has priced themselves out of the market the cars were aimed at. I still buy all I can of the cars I really like at around $20 at shows or stores.....but thats the max and more than the average for all the cars I do own.

Lots of good info there Brian. (and thanks for the correction on UMD when I was calling IMD)

MSRP when they first came out was $24 on the box cars. I worked at a hobby shop at the time and bought at cost which was $13....but the store marked them at $20 on the shelf. So they were a really good deal when they first hit the market.

And yes prices and financing have changed a great deal in the 10-15 years since. (on the China side even more)

The blow outs did lock a lot of folks into that $15-22 range for the cars....maybe hurting the market.

I don't think the solution as sales decline is to raise prices. Maybe Atlas needs to move IR to direct sales (with lower prices) and see if there is a market there for those IR cars.

I'd still like to see a IR like line come along at the $25-30 range MSRP. THX

I made some suggestions on atlas Facebook everybody help me out an go to there Facebook an like it. An make a post yourself lets get them to work making them

I have a lot of these boxcars.I liked the price of these cars.And they  look good in any freight train you make up.They stay on the track pretty good.I was very said when atlas brought them.I think the owners of the company should have walked away from atlas.Because if they had stayed away from atlas.They would have by now had there own chunk of the market.Just my thoughts on this.

Seaboard, who do you think should have bought the dies? MTH, Lionel, and Bachmann all have their own versions of this type of rolling stock. RMT has not purchased the K-Line dies. They are being allowed to use them (along with others) as Sanda Kan (now Kader ie: Bachmann) now owns Sanda Kan.

 

It wasn't a matter of walking away. UMD wanted to get out of the line. Atlas offered them the money. If you are selling something that you really do not want, do you question the person who wants to buy it, or do you take the money in your hand?

 

Atlas certainly wants to make these cars. The problem is what I mentioned above, and is verified in another post on the Atlas Master Line. Quoting from Paul Graf at Atlas:

 

First, Atlas isn't going anywhere.  We had a couple of rough years, first with Jim's health issues and death, then with production issues and moving production for all of our products from primarily one factory to a number of smaller factories.  This, in and of itself, was a massive undertaking.

 

We have purposely not been announcing any new or rerun locomotives in order to give the factory a chance to get their feet under them and get some sort of realistic production schedule in place.  As they catch up on delayed items and get a handle on how long it takes to produce a given product, we will be in a better position to ramp up the product announcements.

 

All of the issues that you have seen in the O Gauge/Scale line have also been present in HO and N scales.  We have been working through them as best and as quickly as we can, and appreciate the support, patience and understanding that you have given us.  While we are not completely out from under the issues, we are getting closer to having things return to as normal as possible, and look forward to that day when we can once again be announcing new products and new tooling on a more regular basis."

 

There are still plenty of Industrial Rail cars out there at retailers and on the secondary market. As far as Atlas IR list prices are concerned, I purchased the CSX gondola with pipe load, the BNSF gondola with pipe load and the Norfolk Southern MOW tank car at under $17 each as blowouts.

 

From a manufacturer standpoint, the market is soft and they know it. And while higher list prices may discourage some, that alone is not the only factor. NO company is eager to make something that will not sell at a price point they need in order to justify making that product.

 

When Atlas first purchased the IR molds, they initially announced many new items, even train sets. It was obvious they planned to grow the line. Now add into the equasion the production problems Atlas has had (which have their origins with the bankruptcy of the original MDK K-Line), problems which have been outside their control.

 

I for one, wish Atlas the best and hope they are able to resolve their production problems so that things are back to normal. Then we will all see new products in the IR line from Atlas.

Here are some UMD Ind Rail unit train photos: stock, oil, and reefer.  I may be selling them off in the near future, they're weathered...

 

 

 

 

 

The PFE oval refer is pretty.  But PFE only had ONE!  But the IR cars make for a nice O-27 set. 

 

That I think is a problem.  There is a place, I think, for O-27 stuff.  Not scale, but can fir in a small place.  Somebosy needs to make/import some sort of cars like the Marx/K-Line 8 Wheel delux cars, and a FT or like O-27 complete track system.  RRMT does import the ex-Mark/K-Line RDC and S-4 engines, and the yard lights.

First of all, the original cars and the Atlas re-issues from IR are NOT reefers; they are plug-door, insulated boxcars, and, considering the market, are pretty darn good emula-

tions ("models"?, well, maybe). I have a bunch of them - I bought a case of them

for $10.00 each several years ago. 

 

Anyway, notice the non-reefer-type, plug (not "plugged') door and, most tellingly, there are NO ice hatches. Non-mechanical reefers must have ice hatches.

 

Atlas has, though, produced, from new tooling, an actual IR "reefer" - I have one. It has hatches and proper reefer doors.

 

The roller-bearing trucks are rare indeed on plug-door boxcars and non-mechanical reefer,

but the IR cars have them anyway. Well, OK - I still really like the IR insulated boxcars and, given that they and true reefers really came in various sizes, I have no problem with

them behind scale steamers. Well-made, free-rolling, attractive, durable and

sometimes well-priced, I wish Atlas would release them regularly in many different

graphics (not "billboard" type, though - just good, blue-collar decoration).

 

But they're not "refrigerator cars".

 

I will admit I don,t know alot about all this.But I gonna stick to my guns on this.Look at it this way.There are alot of guys on this forum who like these cars.And these car were a good price at the time.And thats my 2 cents worth.