Price: $32.95 (undecorated, $26.95)
Manufacturer
Atlas Model Railroad Co.
378 Florence Ave.
Hillside, NJ 07205
www.atlasrr.com
Road names: Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic; Canadian National; Maine Central; New York, New Haven & Hartford; St. Louis Southwestern; and Union Pacific (two numbers each).
Era: 1957 to 1983 (as decorated)
Comments: An Association of American Railroads 50-foot postwar double-door boxcar is now part of the Atlas HO scale Master Line. The ready-to-run car, originally offered as a kit by Branchline Trains, features a one-piece plastic body with a separate roof and ends, a one-piece center sill and draft-gear box assembly, and numerous separately applied parts.
Our sample is decorated as Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic no. 15510. The full-size car was part of a 100-car order (15500 through 15599) built by Pullman-Standard in May 1957. The railroad ordered these cars to transport wallboard from the Celotex Corp. plant in L’Anse, Mich. The cars served on the DSS&A until 1961, when it merged into the Soo Line. On the Soo, the cars were used in wood-chip service. Car 15510 was off the roster in 1984.
The Freight Car Red paint is smooth and evenly applied, and all the lettering is crisp and legible. The ends are correctly painted black. The roof, which is silver, should also be black.
Though the this particular DSS&A scheme isn’t correct for this car, the model closely matches the dimensions of an AAR double-door boxcar diagram published in the 1943 Car Builders’ Cyclopedia.
The metal wheelsets are correctly gauged. The Accumate couplers are at the correct height, though the A end trip pin is too low. The car correctly weighs in at 4.5 ounces.
The AAR 50-foot double-door boxcar was used in furniture, automobile, and general freight service. This car would look good on any layout set after World War II through the early 1980s.
