Micro-Trains/Atlas Update - 1/20/26

[NSEGeorge]

The very first thing that was produced in Viet Nam are those produced for the N Scale Enthusiast, the Wisconsin Cheese Curd trailers and the Hiawatha 45' trailers. They are identical to the 45' trailers that were produced for the cityscape trailers for previous conventions.

Paul took the MTL tooling supervisor with him to the new factory to help them understand the unique philosophy that MTL employed. There was no such care taken by Lifelike/Walthers when they moved their tooling from one Chinese factory to another.  I think they are going to do just fine.

[Point353]

\
Paul took the MTL tooling supervisor with him to the new factory to help them understand they unique philosophy that MTL employed. There was no such care taken by Lifelike/Walthers when they moved their tooling from one Chinese factory to another.  I think they are going to do just fine.

Hopefully, the staff at the new factory will come to understand that they are not making cheap, throw-away toys.

[bbussey]

Hopefully, the staff at the new factory will come to understand that they are not making cheap, throw-away toys.

You cannot tell the difference between this first trailer offering and the last series of printed trailers in Oregon.  The only difference is on the jewel box paper insert, as the Made-in-America graphic is gone, the "Made in Vietnam" text has been added, and the original MTL logo has been replaced with the new MTA logo.

[Sokramiketes]

You cannot tell the difference between this first trailer offering and the last series of printed trailers in Oregon.  The only difference is on the jewel box paper insert, as the Made-in-America graphic is gone, the "Made in Vietnam" text has been added, and the original MTL logo has been replaced with the new MTA logo.

In terms of print quality?  I didn't attend the banquet, but was surprised to see the registration error on the front of the trailer shared here.

[NSEGeorge]

That actually might be an error in the artwork. I drew it on the wrong template, and it was unclear where it needed to line up.  SO- my fault, not theirs.

[dcr1793]

Both trailers with a pair of Trainworx's cabs and in Atlas AP well cars.





As George mentioned these trailers were completed with just days to spare for the convention. Paul and the Atlas team wanted to keep the tradition of a banquet gift going and made it happen. Kundos to them!

On another note, the July Micro-News has been posted with additional "pre-order" items for later this year, along with items already announced for July shipments. June weathered cars are shipping to dealers and those who ordered direct from Atlas/MTA as we speak.

July Micro-News - https://shop.atlasrr.com/d-758-july-2026-micro-news.aspx

Some brand new releases and some that were in the pipeline for pre-order by MTL prior to the sale.

[Englewood]

I bought the new weathered Railbox RBOX 20840 and it is indistinguishable from the pre-Atlas weathered cars. I think I was just so happy to walk into the hobby shop and see new MT releases that I felt compelled to buy something. Hopefully they'll get back to monthly releases.

[peteski]

As I understand, those cars are still decorated by the ex-MTL crew using the same equipment as in the past.  Seems that Atlas made a wise decision to keep that part of their business and those talented people stateside (hopefully for good).

[milw156]

This may be nitpicking, but shouldn't the cheese curd trailer have a refer unit on it?

[peteski]

This may be nitpicking, but shouldn't the cheese curd trailer have a refer unit on it?

Maybe they are vacuum packed? 

[tehachapifan]

This may be nitpicking, but shouldn't the cheese curd trailer have a refer unit on it?

And shouldn't the other trailer's slogan be "The Hiawatha, Whey Ahead of its Time"?

.... I'll see my whey out.

[nkalanaga]

A reefer unit on cheese curd trailer would make sense, but if these were simply sponsored Milwaukee trailers, it might not actually carry cheese curds.  Maybe it's full of packaging for the cheese curds?