Lowering Atlas Tank Cars

I have not swapped out the stock atlas couplers for Kaydees yet on these cars so have not addressed the height issue , just curious as to what you did to lower the cars.

Jack, so you shaved down the Atlas truck bolsters to achieve the much improved lower ride height?   Looks great!

Hi guys,

I'll never be mistaken for a good machinist, but I found something that worked.

First I trimmed/filed both sides of the upper plate so that it rests down between the two sideframe assemblies, rather than on top:

Then I milled down the center collar using a milling bit in a drill press.  Here's a side by side comparisan

I need to paint, weather and add some more detail, especially to the underside of the trucks, since they are so visible on the tank cars.  I typically leave the two sideframe screws out, which lets the trucks equalize over the uneven track on my branchline layout.

Jack

 I was really never that picky about certain things, mainly from lack of knowledge. As I learn stuff, I want it right. I don't know if it's an getting older thing???

I don't blast the manufacturers much as I feel they have too many sides to try and please. I'm glad when I can simply get my hands on a piece of a equipment that I'm searching for. I have been taught that tweaking is a fact of life from even the best pieces delivered.

 When I was a young child, I was driven up to my dad at work and watched him around the tank cars. I never even looked much at engines other than to see when they started moving. I don't even know what paint schemes were on the engines. I thought they were all the same. I still don't look as close at anything else than tank cars. There were a lot of duds over the years. these are great looking to me.

Anyways...... Great work!

First of all, hats off to you for a great result!  I applaud your efforts and skills that really improved the look of this fabulous model!

But I am really disappointed that Atlas tooled these such that they are hard to lower without significant, irreversible work like you did.  If Atlas made these, and the 17,300 corn syrup cars (also a fabulous looking model), to the correct ride height), I would have a whole string of Atlas tank cars.

WOW!  Fantastic work!

I have some of these cars and with the stock Atlas coupler box they are right at the height to match my Kaydee equiped cars although I believe if you use the Kaydee coupler box it will probably need either a shim for the box or triming the truck bolster as GEHogger has done. I have found if you replace the Atlas knuckle and centering springs with the lighter Kaydee springs you can have reliable operation using the existing Atlas coupler setup  JMO

Have you measured actual tank cars and trucks?

Andrew

Easier said than done with todays security on RRs, you can usually google drawings on the web and get approximate demensions, not all mfgs models scale out correctly but all you can do is work with whats available. just saying

I absolutely love Atlas tank cars! Their height never bothered me on the 17,600 ones, but the one you modified does look better. I have about 25 of the 17,600 so that's 50 trucks I'd have to modify, that is not happening for the time being. A few pictures for consideration...

Thank you for sharing.

but now, nothing is holding the side trucks correct?

I think you can do that using rotating bearing cap truck only. 

thank you for the information.

Andre.

SANTIAGOP23 posted:

 

 

 

Once again, these are great models and I love all the details.  (BTW, great photography work there, Santiago).

But the above photo illustrates my point.  I know from rail fanning and looking at photos that with tank cars, the bottom of the cylinder should be lined up with the wheel flanges.  Even changing these trucks out to Weaver/Athearn trucks still won't lower these to that height.  Even the irreversible surgery that Jack did doesn't achieve that.

I went through this lowering the 2r Atlas auto carriers, and still didn't get prototypical height despite all my work. 

Hopefully the new Maxi-IV cars will be simple to get prototypical ride height.

Hi Andre - good question.  Once the springs are reinstalled, they actually hold the sideframes to the bolster very well, independent of whether the caps are on the axles or not.  

The bolster plate has to twist in order to disengage from the sideframe.  It seems the springs keep it from doing that.

Once remounted to the car, I was worried about the sideframes canting at an angle if the screws were left out, but I've found (happily!) that they do not do so.  The tabs on the sideframes remain flat on the bolster plate keeping the sideframes nice and vertical.

Best,

Jack

Unfortunately, I've found in my experience that the sideframes DO cant in at an agle if that cross plate is removed - the springs are so strong they force the sideframes inwards. Also, with rotating bearing cap trucks where the axle passes through the sideframe, this can bind the axles, as does the equalising action on uneven track, to such an extent that the wheels can stop turning.

I just gave up with this idea and replaced the cross bar on all my Atlas trucks. They might not equalise any more, but at least they're free-rolling again. That's my experience, anyway.

Sunday Shunter:

I had a couple of "misbehaving" Atlas 4750 hoppers that seemed to randomly derail (slighly uneven track, maybe), and it was definitely random as they never derailed in the same place twice. I removed the top plate from the trucks, but put the retaining screws back in on the sides. That kept the alignment of the side frames, but allowed them to equalize slightly which seemed to solve the problem.

Jack:

I really like your modification to the Atlas trucks. As much as I like Atlas cars, they do sit too high.