In 1932, the ARA, the predecessor of the Association of American Railroads (AAR), adopted a standard design for a steel boxcar. The new car could be from 3,500 to 5,000 pounds lighter than cars of previous designs. A total of 14,784 boxcars were built to the 1932 ARA standard design.
The standard allowed purchasers to specify many components, so numerous small differences could be found. Ted Cullotta’s book, The American Railway Association Standard Boxcar of 1932 (Speedwitch Media), details the features of each owner’s cars.
The Atlas models are accurate within fractions of an inch. They’re made with an injection-molded plastic body on a die-cast metal floor. A plastic underframe includes AB brake rigging and piping.
Two body styles are offered to represent the variety of specifications within the standard. Style 1, as seen here on the Maine Central car, has square-cornered Dreadnaught ends and a rectangular-panel Murphy steel roof. Warrior River Terminal is the only road name released on a style 2 body, with flat plate ends and a flat, riveted-seam roof.
Most of the safety appliances and other body details are free-standing parts added by the manufacturer. Two versions of Youngstown corrugated-steel doors and three makes of hand-brake wheels are used on either body style as appropriate. The detailing includes molded plastic uncoupling levers, but the retainer valve that should cap the brake cylinder exhaust pipe next to the hand brake on each car is omitted.
Our review samples have the same cast-sideframe trucks, so they don’t represent the variations in trucks specified by different owners. Also, the trucks of the WRT prototypes were on centers 6″ farther apart than the ARA standard, and this isn’t represented on the model. One wheelset on each car was tight in gauge. This was corrected by removing the truck and twisting the wheels outward on the plastic axle.
The ARA boxcars were long-lived and led directly to the standard boxcar designs of the 1940s and 1950s. It’s good to have this Atlas model of a historic car from the steam-to-diesel transition era.
Price: $29.95 ($24.95 undec.)
Manufacturer:
Atlas Model Railroad Co.
378 Florence Ave.
Hillside, NJ 07205
www.atlasrr.com
Road names, two numbers each: Central of Georgia, Clinchfield, Missouri Pacific (International & Great Northern), Maine Central, Warrior River Terminal; also undecorated in two body styles
Body-mounted Accumate magnetic knuckle couplers at correct height
Metal RP-25 contour wheels
Prototype-appropriate body styles and details
Weight: 4 ounces, ¼ ounce more than National Model Railroad Association RP-20.1
