Atlas Trainman 60' HW Passenger Cars officially announced

[coosvalley]

$37 for imported models of 60' cars, the majority of which ride on 4-wheel trucks, versus $30-35 for domestically produced full-length cars on 6-wheel trucks. Does the price not seem a bit steep for "Trainman" grade products?

The MT cars have a reasonable street price, so I'd bet these will too.

Maybe it's time to produce some items in the US again. If the price ends up being that close anyway, what is the advantage of using an overseas MFR????..And, yes, I understand they are 2 different companies/products/business models...But if MT can make a go of it with US manufacturing, why can't other companies?..Wouldn't it be advantageous to NOT have an overseas barrier?  

[Kisatchie]

Maybe it's time to produce some items in the US again. If the price ends up being that close anyway, what is the advantage of using an overseas MFR????

I quit buying anything from China (except necessities I can't get anywhere else).


Hmm... thank God bananas
don't grow in China...

[Point353]

I think we need to find out a bit more about these cars before a comparison is made as these could be better detailed than the MTL cars even as Trainman cars.

Also, it should be mentioned with your comment about the trucks that Atlas tooled two different trucks for these cars.

Undecorated samples of these cars were shown at the Springfield show earlier this year.
Also, it was previous stated that a "majority" - as in most, but not all - of the cars have four wheel trucks.

Aside from the diaphragms, what "better" details might you want or expect to see on the Atlas cars that are lacking on the MTL cars?

MTL seems to make more of an outreach effort to solicit customer input when developing a new model - as was the case recently with the 70' baggage car.

[coosvalley]

I quit buying anything from China (except necessities I can't get anywhere else).


Hmm... thank God bananas
don't grow in China...

Didn't you basically leave the hobby though?  It is probably pretty hard to avoid chinese products and stay in this hobby.

[Point353]

Hmm... thank God bananas
don't grow in China...

"Although China is not a major exporter of bananas, it is the second largest producer in the world after India."
http://www.bananalink.org.uk/sites/default/files/Bananas%20in%20China%202012.pdf
But we digress.

[wcfn100]

Undecorated samples of these cars were shown at the Springfield show earlier this year.
Also, it was previous stated that a "majority" - as in most, but not all - of the cars have four wheel trucks.

Aside from the diaphragms, what "better" details might you want or expect to see on the Atlas cars that are lacking on the MTL cars?

MTL seems to make more of an outreach effort to solicit customer input when developing a new model - as was the case recently with the 70' baggage car.

Are there pictures of the cars that were shown at Springfield?  All I can find is the baggage car.

The biggest improvement Atlas could make over the MTL cars is the roof.  Except for the RPO, the MTL roofs are not that great.  I'm certainly no fan of the speed bump roof line.  Atlas touts separate vents, maybe that a sign of other good things.  Another thing would be the the catcher arm on the RPO.  MTL took a bunch of flak here over having that molded into the body as opposed to a separate piece (do we know that from Springfield?). 

My point about the trucks goes to cost.  It obviously costs more to tool two separate trucks.  Also, do we know if these will have metal wheels?  If so, and if they have a centered bolster on the trucks, I have no issue with higher cost.


Jason

[Kisatchie]

"Although China is not a major exporter of bananas, it is the second largest producer in the world after India."

But we digress.

Hmm... kill me now...

[Mark5]

Also, do we know if these will have metal wheels?
Jason

These are Trainman, so I am going to guess no.

Mark

[wcfn100]

These are Trainman, so I am going to guess no.

Mark

Trash flats have metal wheels.


Jason

[basementcalling]

$37 for imported models of 60' cars, the majority of which ride on 4-wheel trucks, versus $30-35 for domestically produced full-length cars on 6-wheel trucks. Does the price not seem a bit steep for "Trainman" grade products?

Or worse. Most of the prices I see on the MT heavyweight cars at retail are $20-25 online. Not sure what the actual street price of the Atlas cars will work out to be, but if people like, they will buy.

Avoiding items made overseas these days is almost impossible since we gave away the manufacturing base to the rest of the world.

[Kev1340]

Here are some possible roads that we might see from Atlas going forward:

http://www.atlastrainman.com/Freight/tmo60passengercars.htm

Thanks for that Mark, I'll be holding out for N&W then!

Cheers,

Kev

[peteski]

Didn't you basically leave the hobby though?  It is probably pretty hard to avoid chinese products and stay in this hobby.

Forget hobbies - most of the items we use in everyday life (including many food items) come from China. Even Apple Computer products are Chinese made. 

[Mark5]

Trash flats have metal wheels.
Jason

Good point. The mystery deepens.

I think the samples at the show had plastic wheels, but I guess we'll find out eventually.

Mark

[thomasjmdavis]

The pictures on the Atlas site (which they admit are the artwork for their O scale cars), show truck mounted couplers.  Did anyone get a close enough view at Springfield to know if the couplers will be truck mount or body mount (or would someone from Atlas like to comment)?

On those other road names, any chance the GTW baggage from the O scale line will be downsized?

[Mark5]

Couplers are truck mounted:

https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=41083.45

Also pix here:

https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=41640.msg520738#msg520738

And here:

https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=41083.0

Mark