Lets see your old Atlas / Pola equipment
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clem k posted:
Pola made buildings and scenery, not American freight cars. For O gauge rolling stock, Atlas partnered with Roco of Austria, not Pola.
I am not sure, but I thought Pola made the AHM line of freight cars and locos that were contemporaries of the original Atlas line. they announced a lot, but All I ever saw were a reefer, boxcar, gondola, and bobber caboose. the two common locos were the FM Cliner and an industrial switcher. AHM also had the IHB 0-80 and couple of 4-4-0s i the line, and an IC 4-6-0
I looked at the video and it reminded me, AHM also imported that 40' Flatcar, not Atlas. The AHM box and Reefer were based on older 40 ft prototypes and were lower than the Atlas models. They were pretty close to the size of the current Atlas X29 (1923 ARA).
prrjim posted:I am not sure, but I thought Pola made the AHM line of freight cars and locos that were contemporaries of the original Atlas line. they announced a lot, but All I ever saw were a reefer, boxcar, gondola, and bobber caboose. the two common locos were the FM Cliner and an industrial switcher. AHM also had the IHB 0-80 and couple of 4-4-0s i the line, and an IC 4-6-0
Here's an intriguing tidbit. AHM announced a tank car, but, as far as I know, none was ever issued. However, I have an AHM box in great condition which is printed for the tank car! There is a reefer in the box, but the box is definitely printed with the tank car data.
To the best of my knowledge, this is the extent of Atlas/Roco O:
And this was pretty much AHM's contributuion:
As I also recall, Bev-Bel offered the Roco O cars (after Atlas dropped the line) either painted or as undecorated kits.
Rusty
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I have a Gon marked Pola Maxi and it is definitely AHM. I think Pola Maxi did most if not all the AHM O scale in the 70s and Roco in Austria supplied Atlas.
I believe that some of Lionel's first "Standard O" cars from the mid-80's were made using Pola molds.
Pola also made European prototypes in O scale. I have several of those. And Lionel started using the Pola US prototype molds in the late 70's. I worked at Lionel in 77-78 and saw them.
Can't recount all of the ins and outs, but Atlas was one thing and Pola another. Both had excellent detail (Lionel did use Euro tooling from one of them). I have both on my layout. Great models, but the Polas must be re-trucked. Their trucks were so-so and their couplers were hopeless. Atlas had detailed, excellent and clever plastic trucks and very usable O-gauge couplers (snip off the vertical uncoupling rod). I have used Atlas plastic trucks on a Pola car.
Some or all of this Atlas and Pola body/frame tooling is or may be wandering around in use today. Trainman, for example.
No. Trainman was a copy of the old Atlas/ Roco cars and is not using the old tooling.
You can't use a plastic mold in a die cast machine! The train frames are die cast and not plastic.
Well, I learned something new at least this week.
I knew about the Atlas relationship with Roco (Austria), because the two companies partnership not only in O scale in the 1970s, but in N and HO as well.
But I never knew about Pola’s O scale American cars, despite the fact that I own an AHM Western & Atlantic bobber caboose. (The AHM box indicated the model was made in Germany, but not the manufacturer.) I knew of American prototypes produced in Germany, but not that Pola made them.
However, those who assumed Atlas used old Pola tooling are incorrect.
For instance, if you look closely at the castings of the Atlas/Roco bobber caboose and the AHM/Pola one, you’ll see they are very different. The Atlas version has a shorter roof, larger lantern markers, flatter relief of the simulated wood siding, separate roofwalks, a completely different cupola and other varied smaller details. That’s because it was made in Austria independently of the Pola version in Germany.
The same is likely true of all Pola and Roco cars designed from American prototypes.
Look closely at MTH’s more recent bobber cabooses and you’ll notice that it, too, is notably different than both the Pola and Roco versions. It appears closer in design to the Roco version, but it clearly was made from all new tooling in Asia.
The photos below shows the Atlas/Roco, AHM/Pola and MTH models in order from top to bottom.
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My old Atlas/Roco F-9 repainted to Rio Grande. Since it was originally 2-rail O gauge, I removed the motor and the consist is now powered by a Lionel Legacy F-7B. - Interesting that it will negotiate Fastrack 36" curves without needing a swivel pilot. Terry
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Great info here! I just picked up a Pola Max 40' EL boxcar at a train show for $3. Fitting diecast trucks was troublesome so I am going to stay with the original Pola plastic trucks. Roof catwalk was missing so I am modifying the car with lowered brakewheel, shorter ladders to represent the car as it might have appeared in later 70's. My cars frame has 'Made in Germany'.
^^^ you can keep the trucks and upgrade to metal wheels. For 2 rail, the intermountain wheels drop right in. For 3 rail measure the axles but I bet Weaver ones would fit. You can pack them full of tire weights or you can replace the plastic “wood” floor with the atlas trainman diecast “wood” floor that inserts into the frame for about $9.
these things are fun to play with. This is a $2 caboose that I’m painting for my son to put together. 
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I love these cars…especially the 40’ boxcars and 52’ gondolas! I buy them for bargain prices, either assembled and decorated in road names that I like…or in unpainted kit form that I paint and letter myself.
I usually replace the plastic trucks with Weaver die-cast ones and shave off the molded-in grab irons and stirrup steps and replace them with metal ones. On the boxcars, I add the stick-on wheel weights inside (as mentioned by Boilermaker1 above) to bring them up to NMRA standard.
The Atlas ore car has been reproduced the most often of these cars. IMO Bev-Bel, K-line, RMT, and Menards ore cars have all used either the original dies or exact copies. They are more accurate than the MTH and Lionel cars. I've got them all, well over a hundred now.
I have lots of these in factory paint, in unmarked white boxes as all black kits ready to be built, and modified or repainted ones. I love them. I cut the bottom clip off off the couplers so they don't snag or put Kadee couplers on them. For the price of next to nothing these days, they can't be beat.
I also have three of the Plymouth switchers in Reading. Kadee couplers have been added to one and I will do the same to the others.
The K-Line ore cars are definitely copies of the Atlas ones, the mold gates on the bottom are different--There is likely still a post here in the distant past with photos I took of this detail. Not sure about the RMT ones, I have four, but they're still boxed and shrinkwraped pending the next time I run an ore train (which at something like 70-ish cars, would be a project in itself).
---PCJ
