Atlas Zephyr Baggage Car

Well I hope you can hold your breath for a long time.....who knows when the last of the set will actually hit the streets. They had the Dash 8's on display last year ..... still NOTHING!

Did he say wether the release would be 2015 or 2016. Seriously, happy they(baggage car and cafe dome car) are coming. Thanks for the report

personally, i would not buy a set where ALL of the CORRECT cars were not immediately available.

 

too much opportunity for crap to happen.  the more time, the more opportunity.

Understandable. Jim Weaver wanted to do it this way for affordability. If these were all released at once, think of the hit on ones budget. This a few at a time strategy was successfully offered by Walthers in HO for the same reason. 

When I ordered my first Zephyr car Bill Clinton was President . . . . 

 

Or was it Jimmy Carter . . . .  ?

 

Atlas has made such fantastic products . . . . 

 

Such a shame the issue of economics has made it so difficult to bring them to market

expeditiously

Let's hope!  Last October is when Atlas-O previewed the domed observation car at York with a "coming soon" preview flyer, and the website's official product announcement didn't hit until January 2014. And we still don't have the car in our hands yet... although we've now heard dates tossed around anywhere from late Nov 2014 to January 2015.  So much for "coming soon".  

 

 

 

 

I agree 1,000%!!!  Never again.  The Atlas-O rollout has been disappointing.  3rd Rail is guilty of this as well, as it's taken them forever to produce "finish" sets for some select roadname trains.  But at least now they've started to pretty much offer complete passenger train sets regardless of the hit to one's wallet.  The recent El Capitan Superliner cars are a great example of a heavy hit that didn't seem to dissuade enthusiasts from reserving.  It was way too rich for my blood.  But from the postings here on the forum, guys were tripping over themselves lining up to place reservations.  Go figure.

 

David

I have the first release of two dome cars and the roomette, with shades on the outside of the cars!

I tried to replace the shades but the plastic details were so fragile on the floor body, as I began careful dis-assembly they began to break off.

Then as I started to build a train. I notice if you have a single car they track pretty nice. However with multiple cars and adjusting the coupler spacing the headaches began. They just do not track well on 083 radii and smaller. Especially with tubed shaped track.

So I have not purchased the diner or second sleeper release. I feel a string of these things will just be a liability on the rails.

I will purchase the observation car and probably call it a day. The rest of the cars will be K line 21 inch cars.

 

When they first announced this series at York many years ago, after their presentation I spoke to their rep and said I am sure these will be aluminum. The response was plastic and he said the details would be much better than can be accomplished in metal. I left York and started looking for a K-Line 21" set. Found one and never regretted passing on these Atlas cars.

Concern the strategy by Walthers with their beautiful HO passenger trains sets, yes it has been working VERY well for them. However, Walthers does NOT take 5 or 6 YEARS to deliver a complete passenger train, plus the finish MATCHES on each and ever car.

The aluminum vs. plastic thing is not a deal-breaker for me, since Atlas-O has done a SUPER job on the detail level of these cars.  No complaints there. 

The bulk of the frustration is centered around the entire roll-out process of this project.  True... there were some very unfortunate and extenuating circumstances, so we need to take all of that into consideration.  However that being said, it's still PAINFULLY clear that the importers (all of them) today have absolutely no clue when stuff is gonna ship from the Orient -- not to mention when the overseas factories even decide to schedule production of the these products.  So the "car-by-car" approach just exacerbates the situation.

Here's an excerpt from a post I made on a thread back in early June 2014 regarding the domed observation car:

And so the ongoing Atlas-O CZ saga continues...  Now I'm thinking perhaps, just MAYBE we'll be able to hold one of these jewels in our hands in January 2015.  There... I said it...  TWENTY FIFTEEN. 

 

 

In response to my post and others, Paul Graf from Atlas-O replied with the following regarding the domed observation and sleeper -- both previewed at York in October 2013 but not "officially" announced until January 2014:

When the official announcement of the next to cars was made in January, the expected delivery was 3rd quarter of 2014.  Working out the details of the lighting for the observation car took a little longer than expected, so it pushed the delivery back slight (we are still hopeful for an early 4th quarter delivery).

 

Somewhere along the line, I also recall hearing/reading that late November was a realistic and firm delivery date.  But at this past York I was told by Atlas-O reps that they're now looking at December if all goes smoothly, otherwise January. 

I really had hoped that Atlas-O might prove me wrong about my January 2015 prediction back in early June.  And they still might... but I'm not really counting on it.

Of course, none of this bodes well for production and delivery of the baggage car and dome-buffet-lounge car that were both "previewed" at York October 2014.  If these cars follow in the footsteps of the domed observation car, it may be January 2016 before we see them and call this a truly complete train... which would push this whole project into the SEVEN YEAR mark!  Just staggers the mind. 

David

"They just do not track well on 083 radii and smaller"

 

I am a big advocate of K-Line passenger cars. Their 21" passenger cars negotiate 0-72 curves very well, and as far as tubular track is concerned, no issues as well. There was never to my knowledge any inconsistency in the exterior finish that has been reported with the Atlas cars in their various stages of releases.

 

Although the K-Lines may not be equal to the overall detail on the Atlas CZ set, they look very good, they run superbly, and they sure have held their value over the years. I think that the K-Line CZ sets is one of the best they produced.

"I think that the K-Line CZ sets is one of the best they produced."

 

i have the 15" version and i am very happy with them.  i was late to that party, so it took me a while to get the diner (very hard to find) and i got an extra set and had them renamed so that i could get a nearly complete train.  a couple of Lionel sleepers finished it up.

Interesting that in the last 12 month period Sept 13 to Sept 14 Atlas has delivered 23 cars and 1 engine but motive power and the CZ cars continue to be an issue,time will tell soon enough if the factory is finally up to speed.

Forrest, you are right on the money. The entire K-Line product line of passenger cars were years ahead of their time and they have become an important part of our O-Gauge hobby.

 

Folks who have K-Lines tend to keep them. This was obvious at the recent York Meet as very few were available.

What ever happened to the conductor's dome?

 

Dick

The Conductor had his own dome car????

 

Yes... and a few of the freight cars (like the Master Series coil cars) were delivered EARLY, which got me thinking perhaps we'd see the CZ domed observation a bit ahead of schedule too.  But that wasn't the case. 

 

David

 

Yes, but he had to share:

 

Dome Cars

I think you're referring to a domed chair car configured with a special conductor's office that may have resulted in a slightly different window configuration? 

 

Atlas-O indicated their intentions of producing ALL the CZ car variations.  But the dome car with conductor's office/window might be pushing it, since producing that car might require an irreversible modification to the regular dome car tooling.  And Atlas-O probably would like to use the CZ tooling for other passenger trains in the future.  Would certainly help them maximize their ROI for all this new tooling.  But that's a topic for another day!

 

Meanwhile, back to the CZ... check out this website for a complete roster of CZ cars. 

 

Frankly, at 21" per car and close to 11 or 12 cars in the train, folks are gonna need one HUGE piece of real-estate to do this train justice.  So most folks (like myself) may spring for the baggage car after the domed observation car is delivered... and then just call it quits.  I've already passed on the sleeper that's being delivered with the domed observation.

 

David

I hope Atlas makes the conductor's dome to complete this set - I am waiting for that car. I would like to get the Silver Colt and Silver Mustang.  This set will not be complete without the conductor's dome!

I hope they are finished soon. I like the models a lot they are wonderful especially for the money. I still feel like I'm trying to put together a consist with those old Midland Reproductions kits! At least in the last 2 decades cars are never available; trucks or complete kits that were not missing parts. Bad memories; all repeated by trying to get the manufacturer to finish the project.

Need the following atlas after this last batch

Baggage
Dorm dome coach
Buffet crew dorm dome coach


Come atlas at this rate the brass cars will be here before yours. That's another topic in itself. GGD, Atlas, Budd cars... Is there room in the market for 35 $17,000 sets of brass cars?

The Atlas CZ cars are certainly beautiful and I understand the idea of coming out with them over time which helps lighten the budget load for those in the hobby...  But, for me, I am a K-Line fan mainly because of the exterior finish.  Metal looks like metal and painted plastic still looks like painted plastic in my eyes....

 

Alan

 "Metal looks like metal and painted plastic still looks like painted plastic in my eyes...."

 

Exactly my sentiments, That's basically what I told the Atlas rep when they were first announced. Haven't changed my mind when seeing the first Atlas car released.