Apples55 posted:Mike;
The containers come with four TINY pins in a small plastic bag. You have to place one in each of four holes in the bottom container. They fit fairly loosely, so I am a bit concerned that they may fall out if I move the upper container. Other then that, I really like the cars.
Geez, never got mine. Did anyone else order a set of these and not receive the aforementioned small plastic bag?? 
mike.caruso posted:Apples55 posted:Mike;
The containers come with four TINY pins in a small plastic bag. You have to place one in each of four holes in the bottom container. They fit fairly loosely, so I am a bit concerned that they may fall out if I move the upper container. Other then that, I really like the cars.
Geez, never got mine. Did anyone else order a set of these and not receive the aforementioned small plastic bag??
Mike;
Just a caveat... I purchased a 6-pack of the containers and only three of the six boxes had the pins included. The bag was pressed into the clear plastic holder at the end of the container. Between the clear plastic piece, the clear bag, and the tiny silver pins, I had trouble finding them. I only realized that they were included when one bag fell out of a box.
mike.caruso posted:Apples55 posted:Mike;
The containers come with four TINY pins in a small plastic bag. You have to place one in each of four holes in the bottom container. They fit fairly loosely, so I am a bit concerned that they may fall out if I move the upper container. Other then that, I really like the cars.
Geez, never got mine. Did anyone else order a set of these and not receive the aforementioned small plastic bag??
The small bags are supposed to be taped to one of the plastic end caps holding the container. Easily missed. Also check around where you unpacked them in the event they fell out. Missed two sets of ours at first glance. The 20 footers have molded in pins. Like the Lionel fixed metal pins better.
All mine have the pins in a small plastic bag, just like mentioned above, easy to miss.
Apples55 posted:mike.caruso posted:Apples55 posted:Mike;
The containers come with four TINY pins in a small plastic bag. You have to place one in each of four holes in the bottom container. They fit fairly loosely, so I am a bit concerned that they may fall out if I move the upper container. Other then that, I really like the cars.
Geez, never got mine. Did anyone else order a set of these and not receive the aforementioned small plastic bag??
Mike;
Just a caveat... I purchased a 6-pack of the containers and only three of the six boxes had the pins included. The bag was pressed into the clear plastic holder at the end of the container. Between the clear plastic piece, the clear bag, and the tiny silver pins, I had trouble finding them. I only realized that they were included when one bag fell out of a box.
Well that figures! 
The weekly trash pickup was just this morning, about 4 hours ago. So they're long gone. Guess I'll be looking for alternative methods now!
I know the end piece of plastic you're referring to. Don't know how I missed the bags other than the fact they must've been VERY small! Thanks for the update.
BobbyD posted:clem k posted:A little conflicting information ?
Took it to mean they will run on 054, they recommend 072 for 3Rail. 2Rail 072 only due to couplers?
Cars track really well, guessing the 3 car set weighs about 6 pounds empty.
0-54 minimum radius sounds like 108" diameter to me. Reason I question, mine have difficulty on 120" diameter curves. Anybody else having wheel clearance issues?
Clem
mike.caruso posted:Apples55 posted:mike.caruso posted:Apples55 posted:Mike;
The containers come with four TINY pins in a small plastic bag. You have to place one in each of four holes in the bottom container. They fit fairly loosely, so I am a bit concerned that they may fall out if I move the upper container. Other then that, I really like the cars.
Geez, never got mine. Did anyone else order a set of these and not receive the aforementioned small plastic bag??
Mike;
Just a caveat... I purchased a 6-pack of the containers and only three of the six boxes had the pins included. The bag was pressed into the clear plastic holder at the end of the container. Between the clear plastic piece, the clear bag, and the tiny silver pins, I had trouble finding them. I only realized that they were included when one bag fell out of a box.
Well that figures!
I know the end piece of plastic you're referring to. Don't know how I missed the bags other than the fact they must've been VERY small! Thanks for the update.
Mike;
On a whim, just went down and checked my boxes again (I'm a box hoarder). Sure enough, all six boxes had pins... this is a pic with one still in the plastic holder next to one of the TINY plastic bags of pins.
So small, I missed that all six had packs of pins. If you e-mail me your address, I'd be more than happy to send you the extras.
The Box info states 054 is with supplied articulated couplings, I would assume this means Atlas has either provided these couplings on the cars or they can be swapped out for standard couplings [couplers?] on the 3 rail products, 2 rail obviously is 36" radius 072 diameter.just my interpretation! Atlas should not have included the word "radius" after 054 minimum as in 3 rail this number always refers to the diameter of a circle of track, I notice this is their only recent car that is labeled this way [somebody goofed]
OK guys, you're not getting what he is pointing out. It says O-54 minimum radius. There is no such thing. O-54 is diameter.
For Lionel fastrack guys, the cars will make it around 060 but not the smallest size 048 on my layout. I was disappointed since the Atlas twin stack were also rated 054 and they would make it around 048.
I lightly glued the small pins on the top of the containers to keep from loosing them when I run the cars on my club layout. They look OK on top and there will be less chance of loosing them than if they were put on the bottom. I wish the pins were longer. I have plenty of extra pins, as I never used them on the twin stacks.
I am Atlas did not require pins to couple the cars together, like the twin stacks.
Greenline,
For my Atlas-O 40’ containers, I bought 1.5 mm diameter, 3 mm long stainless steel pins online from McMaster Carr. I used a 1.3mm diameter drill to enlarge the holes at the top of the container to get a tight fit around the pins & 1.5 mm diameter drill at the bottom of the container for a looser fit around the pins. These pins stay embedded in the top of the container & since only 1.5 mm stick out they are not noticeable. The flanges on the Atlas-O pins left a noticeable gap between the top & bottom containers & I didn’t like how the gap looked.
These are just my opinion.
Thanks,
Naveen Rajan
I keep waiting for a notice from someone that my cars have shipped. I know I pre-ordered them (TTX) but I can't find any trace on any of my accounts at stores. Looks like I'll have to dig threw the credit card statements. Some where something slipped. Urrggg.
If anyone who did not pre-order them is looking to purchase some, Legacy Station seems to have quite a few! I just bought two Pacer Stacktrain cars from them, giving me all 4 Pacer road numbers. Pacer is my favorite intermodal roadname.
Great idea and work
Engineer-Joe posted:I keep waiting for a notice from someone that my cars have shipped. I know I pre-ordered them (TTX) but I can't find any trace on any of my accounts at stores. Looks like I'll have to dig threw the credit card statements. Some where something slipped. Urrggg.
My dealer is just receiving a large shipment from Atlas today, the east coast dealers are getting their orders now so notices are just going out, just saying.
I figured out why my new well cars stopped rolling on my 122" dia. curves. The inside axle of the brake wheel end unit, the wheel flange rubs on frame crossmember! a little dremel action should take care of it. The other end of car does not seem to have this problem.
Thank you Naveen for the elegant pin solution !!
Clem
I ditched the pins altogether years ago as they put to much of a gap between the containers. I glued strong neodymium magnets inside each container making sure to keep the polarity uniform so you never have opposing forces. Its nice that these cars are diecast and the magnets should work to hold the containers in the wells as well when I get around to installing them. I do this will all brands of containers. These magnets are strong, they hold something like 10lbs and are about the size of a penny.
No more scratched roofs, lost pins, gaps that are to big, and no permanent modification to the model.
NSPirate posted:I ditched the pins altogether years ago as they put to much of a gap between the containers. I glued strong neodymium magnets inside each container making sure to keep the polarity uniform so you never have opposing forces. Its nice that these cars are diecast and the magnets should work to hold the containers in the wells as well when I get around to installing them. I do this will all brands of containers. These magnets are strong, they hold something like 10lbs and are about the size of a penny.
No more scratched roofs, lost pins, gaps that are to big, and no permanent modification to the model.
Nice idea. Did you just unscrew them and glue the magnets in or did you have to drill a locating hole? If not perfectly aligned will the magnets force the containers askew?
naveenrajan posted:Greenline,
For my Atlas-O 40’ containers, I bought 1.5 mm diameter, 3 mm long stainless steel pins online from McMaster Carr. I used a 1.3mm diameter drill to enlarge the holes at the top of the container to get a tight fit around the pins & 1.5 mm diameter drill at the bottom of the container for a looser fit around the pins. These pins stay embedded in the top of the container & since only 1.5 mm stick out they are not noticeable. The flanges on the Atlas-O pins left a noticeable gap between the top & bottom containers & I didn’t like how the gap looked.
These are just my opinion.
Thanks,
Naveen Rajan
Naveen, I like it. Think it would work reversed? The smaller containers need pins on the bottom to stay located in the 53' well.
BobbyD posted:NSPirate posted:I ditched the pins altogether years ago as they put to much of a gap between the containers. I glued strong neodymium magnets inside each container making sure to keep the polarity uniform so you never have opposing forces. Its nice that these cars are diecast and the magnets should work to hold the containers in the wells as well when I get around to installing them. I do this will all brands of containers. These magnets are strong, they hold something like 10lbs and are about the size of a penny.
No more scratched roofs, lost pins, gaps that are to big, and no permanent modification to the model.
Nice idea. Did you just unscrew them and glue the magnets in or did you have to drill a locating hole? If not perfectly aligned will the magnets force the containers askew?
No drilling of holes. There are four magnets in each container...two on the top at each end, and two on the bottom at each end. Never had an issue forcing the containers askew. I'd imagine if I put the magnets in the center of the containers and they were not perfectly lined up they could cause that because they would want to pull themselves in line.
I'll take some pics of the install on these when I get time to do it. Just makes it easy. I got the idea looking at how MTH uses magnets to hold the access doors and fan sections that hide their locomotive controls. Works good, just have to use the good magnets (not Hoppy Lobby refrigerator magnets).
BobbyD posted:naveenrajan posted:Greenline,
For my Atlas-O 40’ containers, I bought 1.5 mm diameter, 3 mm long stainless steel pins online from McMaster Carr. I used a 1.3mm diameter drill to enlarge the holes at the top of the container to get a tight fit around the pins & 1.5 mm diameter drill at the bottom of the container for a looser fit around the pins. These pins stay embedded in the top of the container & since only 1.5 mm stick out they are not noticeable. The flanges on the Atlas-O pins left a noticeable gap between the top & bottom containers & I didn’t like how the gap looked.
These are just my opinion.
Thanks,
Naveen Rajan
Naveen, I like it. Think it would work reversed? The smaller containers need pins on the bottom to stay located in the 53' well.
Pins on the bottom should work as the containers that came with the Lionel 48’ Husky stacks had pins on the bottom. I modified my Atlas 40’ & 45’ containers before Atlas rereleased their 20’ containers & I didn’t consider these containers at that time. But I personally didn’t like how the Lionel containers seemed to stand off when placed on any hard flat surface as if they were on pilings. So that influenced my decision to have the pins permanently embedded in the top of the containers. Now since I have my containers set up that way, if I decide to modify the only 4 Atlas-O 20’ containers that I own, I might follow a similar approach but have 2 pins at any 1 end on each container.
Since the pins are on surfaces that are slightly elevated from the top of the container, as in the real ISO containers with the corner castings, I will also try to see if the gap between the containers is sufficient to hide the tops of the pins, as the tops of these castings are supposed to stick up from the upper side sills / tubes & stick below the lower side sills / tubes on some of the real ISO containers I am familiar with.
These are just my opinion,
Thanks,
Naveen Rajan
The main problem for me is that the holes on the new 53 foot containers are too large and the pins fit very loosely. The pins fall out and get lost. This was not the case with the 40 and 45 foot containers, where the pins fit snugly but could be removed if necessary.
Greenline posted:The main problem for me is that the holes on the new 53 foot containers are too large and the pins fit very loosely. The pins fall out and get lost. This was not the case with the 40 and 45 foot containers, where the pins fit snugly but could be removed if necessary.
That was an interesting observation. Could you verify if the holes on your new 53’ containers are round? I ask because the holes on the real corner castings on intermodal containers are pill-shaped oblong openings for the twist-locks securing the containers to fit into. If Atlas-O tried to scale down this feature for their O-Scale models, their plastic pins might not fit well.
I had a similar experience with 1:50 scale containers where the manufacturer tried to replicate the oblong shape without considering the difficulties in stacking such models. This issue was one of the reasons I stopped buying 1:50 scale containers.
These are just my opinion,
Thanks,
Naveen Rajan
The holes are round. Pins are round.
hibar posted:Engineer-Joe posted:I keep waiting for a notice from someone that my cars have shipped. I know I pre-ordered them (TTX) but I can't find any trace on any of my accounts at stores. Looks like I'll have to dig threw the credit card statements. Some where something slipped. Urrggg.
My dealer is just receiving a large shipment from Atlas today, the east coast dealers are getting their orders now so notices are just going out, just saying.
Yeap, I am glad I waited after reading this and didn't post anything too bad.
I got the notice today that they were in!
Greenline posted:The main problem for me is that the holes on the new 53 foot containers are too large and the pins fit very loosely. The pins fall out and get lost. This was not the case with the 40 and 45 foot containers, where the pins fit snugly but could be removed if necessary.
Would a dab of Elmer's Glue be enough to hold them in?
White glue/Elmers Glue did not stick. I ended up using some flexible DAP contact cement to lightly cement them, so they could be removed later if needed.
One new thing to report is that at least one of the ladders broke off on each of the 4 sets I bought. They have to be glued back on, which is easy. These ladders are rather fragile so handle the cars from the middle instead of the ends.
My dealer starts shipping out today,just heard RS3s not delivering until early 17 ! it appears motive power production is still an ongoing issue for Atlas.
Received my 2 rail Maxi-stacks today, a few observations nice cars overall ,not quite Trinity detail level no reporting lettering on car ends ,no air hoses, end grab irons, Lionel did do a nicer job in some areas top angled out platforms for one, end lettering, air hose ends,end grab irons, for the retail price I thought Atlas cut a few corners JMO. Anyone know the Atlas part # for additional container mounting pins and are they currently available?
Greenline posted:I lightly glued the small pins on the top of the containers to keep from loosing them when I run the cars on my club layout. They look OK on top and there will be less chance of loosing them than if they were put on the bottom. I wish the pins were longer. I have plenty of extra pins, as I never used them on the twin stacks.
I am Atlas did not require pins to couple the cars together, like the twin stacks.
Greenline,
Would you be willing to part with a couple packages of the pins.
I have contacted Atlas in the past and they did not have them.
Thanks,
Yardman
I am waiting to hear back from Atlas on the availability of these pins, it seems with all the containers they have produced and what will come in the future this would be a very inexpensive item to stock.JMO
I was missing 2 container guides and a drawbar from 2 sets of BRAN Maxi IV's. I emailed Bill Serratelli from parts and he was quick to get those out to me. Their service is top notch.
I've been eyeballing these and would love to ask you guys the following:
* Will the containers fly off at high speed (I've got a shelf train layout with 072 that's 8 feet above ground level) as I tend to run my trains at higher than normal speeds
* Are the cars easy to mate together and separate? Once again, my shelf layout is pretty high up
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