Manufacturer
Atlas Model RR Co.
378 Florence Ave.
Hillside, NJ 07205
www.atlasrr.com
Era: 1930 to 1950s
Road names: Pullman; Chicago, Burlington & Quincy; Chicago & North Western; Norfolk & Western; Northern Pacific; Pennsylvania RR; Southern Pacific; and Union Pacific. Also available undecorated.
Comments: A highly detailed model of a common heavyweight sleeper car has been issued as part of Atlas’ high-end Master Line. The 10-section, 1-drawing room, 1-compartment car, which features wire grab irons, pivoting diaphragms, and user-installed optional details, is based on former Branchline Trains tooling.
Our sample car is lettered as Blue Bird Lake, a Pullman-owned car built to Pullman car plan 3973A in mid-1930. These cars would have served their railroads through the end of the steam era, until being relegated to branchline and work train service. The model’s dimensions and details match photos and drawings of prototype sleepers published in the May/June 1981 Mainline Modeler.
The roof on the model differs from the photos and drawings, but that’s because the model depicts a car with Pullman mechanical air conditioning.
The car’s sides, ends, floor, and roof are separate snap-together styrene castings. Their fit is impeccable; I couldn’t get a fingernail into the seam between the sides and roof. I removed the sides by carefully working a chisel-bladed hobby knife between the bottom of the sides and the underframe. The interior is minimally detailed, with tan plastic walls and seats molded into the black plastic underframe casting.
The model is smoothly and evenly painted Pullman Green, with a black roof and underframe. The yellow lettering is straight, crisp, and opaque, and matches the prototype.
All wheelsets were in gauge, and the plastic Accumate knuckle couplers were body-mounted at the right height.
The car comes with a small pouch of user-applied plastic end details for users whose prototypes had them.
The car handled the 18″ curves and no. 4 turnouts of our Beer Line layout, but on sharp curves the ends can snag lineside details like switch stands.
Atlas has put out a fine-looking model that would proudly serve a long-distance passenger train on any steam-era HO scale railroad.
