Lionel was forced to modify their scale huskystacks to run on smaller radius curves by shortening their 48' containers by 1/2 inch[2 scale feet] shorter wells to clearance truck swing,obiviously not a big issue to their market.Atlas will not make that compromise in keeping with scale dimensions for their containers.

MTH did not have to shorten their 48 foot containers to meet O-54.

Lionel shortened them to meet O-36.

Atlas stated in their Coming Soon 2016 flyer (earlier in this thread) the following:

3 rail O-72 minimum  radius (as low as 0-54 w/separate drawbar)

I hope this is still true.

Here is the earlier flyer where the O-54 was mentioned. It was in another thread.

MTH is a stand alone plastic car,Lionel like the coming Atlas car was a diecast scale model built strickly for their 3 rail market[0-36], by including  drawbars Atlas is providing a way for those who need a smaller radius to use the 3 car set obviously due to the length of 53' wellcars 36" radius is not doable without serious compromise to the model.JMO

 I wish Atlas had gotten into G scale too. I loved their HO stuff. I hope they go deeper into O! I really hope these get made.

I just wanted to clarify one point.  The minimum radius on these will be 36" for the 2-Rail version.  The "scale" 3-Rail version will operate on O-72 minimum, but alternate connectors will be provided so the cars can be modified to operate on O-54 curves.

Look for an official announcement (with pricing) very soon!

Thanks for the update Rob!

Many of us are running O-72 or wider curves for main line but we have to use smaller curves for additional lines and sidings in order to make maximum use of our space. I am very pleased that Atlas will provide alternate connectors that can be installed so the cars will navigate O-54. I will definitely be a buyer of the new car sets and containers.

Got tired of waiting for the 3-car Maxi-Stack sets from Atlas.

So I did some searching, and scored three 5-Car sets and a 2-Car set of MTH, and two 5-Car sets of Atlas.  Got ALL the containers as well, a good assortment of 20-footers, 40-footers and 45-footers.  ALL are well below MSRP and my choice of containers. 

I am a happy camper and I don't have to wait until April of 2016.  I'm just sayin'. 

That's the beauty of the technology treadmill, Jim.  I sold a handful of my Atlas-O Gundersons, and also kept a few too.  Then I picked up a couple of MTH 5-car sets with containers.  So I won't need too many of these newer Atlas cars.  May get a set or two for variety, but that's all.  Certainly don't need to buy alot.

David

Yes, David, thanks...thanks to you, I have to find eighteen more cans!

Rocky Mountaineer wins the GRAND PRIZE (pony up, Atlas!) for guessing closest to the MSRP without going over, at least at a quick glance through the thread. Rounding prices to the dollar, he was only five dollars below price for a set of three cars and six containers in 3-rail.

I hope to order five or so sets between TTX and BNSF.

David

I don't care if it was 40 footers, 45 footers, 20 footers or 53 footers.  I was looking to build a unit train of containers.  I did just that in a very short time and at a very good price.  As stated earlier "I don't have to wait until April of 2016".

Got it NOW and I am enjoying it now.  Do you think I give a crap about different customers and different terminals?  NOPE.  There isn't any terminal at all on our club layout.  Yet we have over 30% of our members running stack/container trains and we are enjoying every minute.

I don't have the space to model both and for that reason alone it is not a

big deal to me BUT, I would like to know as much about how the real

railroads operate as I can find out. If anyone wants to make a thread on

all the details of intermodel operations, I would read or watch with great

interest. I think that if a knowledgeable person that could do as good a job

as Erik does on his on his reviews,was to do this, everyone would enjoy and

learn from it. They might not be able to model it, but it would be nice to know.

Is there any reason why someone couldn't start another thread?

We have even more to talk about now.

Here you go.........................

https://ogrforum.com/t...ffee-and-talk-trains

Could someone tell me if Pacer Stacktrain containers run on NS? I have a feeling they don't, and I want to know what my dad and I should order before the October 7th deadline. Thanks!

I take back my previous question, YouTube video provided me with a pleasant "yes"!

Steven,

Wanting to approximately model the NS intermodal trains on the Pittsburgh line, I ordered the red Hub group, EMP, and NS green Hub group containers. These are ones I have commonly seen.  I can't wait for JB Hunt and white EMP containers, hopefully in a future release!

Are these sets available to order yet or are we still waiting to be able to order? Wouldn't want to miss ordering them if orders are being taken.

Dealers are accepting pre-orders now.  Highly recommend Steve Nelson at Mr. Muffin's Trains for Atlas-O and MTH pre-orders.

According to the Atlas-O website, dealer orders for these cars are due Nov 11, 2015.

David

Well, Joey at nicholas smith gave me the best price by far, under 400 for the cars and 6 containers

I went ahead and ordered mine from Legacy Station last week. I waited too long

for someone to make them to take a chance on not getting my order in.

Thanks for the info, going to work on getting my order in now! Don't want to miss out on these.

I'm slightly confused in how these sets are listed in relation to the price. On Atlas's website it lists the cars as 'Set A' and 'Set B' with the $290 list price. Public Delivery Track has them listed as 3-car sets for around $265. Mr Muffin's site has them listed as 'Set A/B' for around $260 per set. 

What does 'Set A' contain, 3 cars or 6 per set? I know twelve cans will be needed for 6 cars.

Good Day,

I realigned the item numbers in the hopes to make more sense of the prices on the sets.

Two road numbers are available per item number below. Each unit is a three car set of one road name/road number.  

There are four road numbers per road name, thus four sets of three cars. Each carton, A or B, comes with two sets. Each set is priced at around what you have stated above.

• From Mr. Muffin's

Okay, I think I am beginning to understand now. Each set basically would have a total of 6 cars with two out of the four road names. Set B would be 6 more cars with the other two road names, and would need a total of twenty-four cans to fill both sets. I think it makes sense now. 

I'm not afraid of the cost, i'll have the money well before next spring. Something that is built of high quality I don't mind paying the money for. I appreciate the clarification.

I mentioned this earlier in the thread, and it's the easiest way I can think of to clarify the ordering confusion that Atlas-O has created...

• Think of "Set A" as a master shipping carton that contains TWO 3-car sets:  the -1 and -2 roadnumbers.
• Likewise, "Set B" is the master shipping carton that contains the other TWO 3-car sets: the -3 and -4 roadnumbers.

Why Atlas-O did this is anyone's guess.   They should have forgone the Set A and Set B lingo in the announcement, since the MSRP applies to EACH 3-car set (i.e., the -1, -2, -3, or -4 components within the master shipping carton).

We don't necessarily need to order the entire master carton... although some folks will.  But then the price is 2 x MSRP (or the 2X dealer's street-price).

Hope that helps.

David

Why Atlas-O did this is anyone's guess.  

Why, indeed. Very confusing at first...second...maybe even third glance. But once one gets their head wrapped around the concept, it seems straight forward enough. But again, why?

Exactly right. Thanks, David. 

Today is the day to get your final Pre-Orders in on these!  What did everyone order?  I hope Atlas does some more of these in the near future, esp. some more containers.  I picked up 4 of the TTX sets and 4 Pacer sets along with 36 boxes to go with them.