Atlas announces 3rd release of 40' PS-1, with 8' doors

[skm]

I'm in a similar boat, most of the PS1s I have, or intend to buy with the 2 upcoming releases, had A3 trucks as built. I figure I will end up with a nice collection of Atlas' S2a trucks which I can use for other projects.

Bryan, would the S2a trucks be suitable for your low-side gondola project? Nice to have options anyway.


I do hope Atlas releases these trucks separately, as well as their National C3 (hart ballast) and Andrews (40'single sheath)

[sirenwerks]

I'm in a similar boat, most of the PS1s I have, or intend to buy with the 2 upcoming releases, had A3 trucks as built. I figure I will end up with a nice collection of Atlas' S2a trucks which I can use for other projects.

There are always your friends on Railwire who may need them.  The occasional incidental parts swap happens quite a bit here; ask and they will arrive at your door with SASEs and, maybe, even something to give back.

[chicken45]

Yeah, I could use some of those National C3 trucks. I need 4 pair!

[skm]

<snip>Also have to swap in a Universal brakewheel on my Rutland car.<snip>

keep meaning to look up where to get these, want to make it easy for me?

There are always your friends on Railwire who may need them.  The occasional incidental parts swap happens quite a bit here; ask and they will arrive at your door with SASEs and, maybe, even something to give back.

Happy to help out a fellow I have some left over parts that I will offer to the group once I get them all in one place.

[bbussey]

InterMountain has Universal brakewheels on all of their covered hoppers.  I don't know if they are a more modern design than what was on the PS-1, but that is what I am going to use.  The Equipco brakewheels supposedly are close in appearance, but I haven't verified that.  Gold Medal Models brakewheel set #160-55 also has the Universal style I believe.
 
I'm saving my S2 trucks to use under various AAR 1937 and 1944 cars that ran on them.  Double bonus as it will lower them without filing down the bolsters, with a slight inconvenience on cars I've already lowered.

[skm]

InterMountain has Universal brakewheels on all of their covered hoppers.  I don't know if they are a more modern design than what was on the PS-1, but that is what I am going to use.  The Equipco brakewheels supposedly are close in appearance, but I haven't verified that.  Gold Medal Models brakewheel set #160-55 also has the Universal style I believe.

Thank you Bryan, I know I have some of those GMM frets around somewhere!
I looked up brakewheels, just to do a little learning! http://greenwayproducts.com/storeroom/car_extras/ I'm not affiliated in any way with this seller, but this has them all on one page, even though they misspell 'miner'

Are you going to try and lower the end tackboards on your Rutland cars?

[bbussey]

Nice find on the brakewheel chart Scott.

If the tack board should be in the low position, then probably I will lower it at some point but it isn't a priority.

[wcfn100]

If the tack board should be in the low position, then probably I will lower it at some point but it isn't a priority.

If it's low on the door, it should be low on the end.

Jason

[bbussey]

... The Pullman list on Steamerafreightcars.com indicates that many/majority of the PS1s were built with either S2 or A3 trucks, so I wanted to see how hard it would be to swap the Atlas S2 trucks out for the BLMA A3s (70ton but WTH). I envisioned having to make small pads to raise the height to compensate for the lowered bolsters on the BLMA trucks, but the Atlas trucks also have lowered bolsters! Awesome....

I swapped in BLMA A3 trucks today on my B&M, LV and Rutland cars, and compared the S2 and A3 trucks during the process.  The same contractor in China must have tooled them, because the bolster cross beam is exactly the same on both trucks.  There also is no BL-MA embossed on the bottom of the cross beam of the A3, the way it is on the two ASF Ride Control roller bearing trucks (and no Atlas designation on the bottom of the S2 either).  The wheels definitely are different though.  I also lowered the end tack boards on the Rutland car, but still have to repaint the old locations.

[skm]

I swapped in BLMA A3 trucks today on my B&M, LV and Rutland cars, and compared the S2 and A3 trucks during the process.  The same contractor in China must have tooled them, because the bolster cross beam is exactly the same on both trucks.  There also is no BL-MA embossed on the bottom of the cross beam of the A3, the way it is on the two ASF Ride Control roller bearing trucks (and no Atlas designation on the bottom of the S2 either).  The wheels definitely are different though.  I also lowered the end tack boards on the Rutland car, but still have to repaint the old locations.

Great work Bryan, I'm just a little hesitant unti l know I can get paint matches!

I am prepared to do plenty of acts of self-debasement to convince Atlas to do a low tackboard version.....
Failing that, get a list of the paints Atlas used to create the schemes issued so far. Cory?

[sirenwerks]

Why not treat the tack boards like IMRC does?  I don't see the benefit in having the end or side tack boards cast on, aside from they will never get lost.  Most buyers (such as ourselves) would probably prefer the alterability (just made that word up) and the train set crowd won't even notice if they fall off.

And do manufacturers actually use paints by name brand companies like Floquil or Badger?  Or do they have the colors applied with, what it seems sometimes, whatever paint mix the Chinese think is a good-enough match?

[skm]

Why not treat the tack boards like IMRC does?  I don't see the benefit in having the end or side tack boards cast on, aside from they will never get lost.  Most buyers (such as ourselves) would probably prefer the alterability (just made that word up) and the train set crowd won't even notice if they fall off.

Nope, don't want them cast on, the Atlas body has two small pegs that are cast into the ends that the tackboards press into. They are set in the 'high' postion. I think Bryan posted a pic of the ends.

And do manufacturers actually use paints by name brand companies like Floquil or Badger?  Or do they have the colors applied with, what it seems sometimes, whatever paint mix the Chinese think is a good-enough match?

I don't know if they still do, but at one point there were quite a few models painted 'straight-from-the-can' and the manufacturers were quite happy to give you the information. 

[bbussey]

Atlas does match to standard model railroad paint manufacturer colors.  But the brand used varies from color to color, based on which one is the best match.  You would have to check with Atlas on a case-by-case basis to learn which colors were used.

On the Rutland car, it's less of an issue because the ends are black.

[bbussey]

For those concerned, the illustration of the Pacemaker car has been modified to more closely match the prototype.

[skm]

Looks very nice!
Black roofs are out then?