Atlas 53' Domestic Containers

[MetroRedLine]

Anyone have these yet? The painting and printing is as good as their 40' containers, but I've heard that they are too large (Someone on Facebook posted a pic where the new Atlas 53' does not fit inside a Kato Maxi-IV well car - pretty unfortunate as Atlas doesn't even have their own 53' well car), and the pin locations are not compatible with the existing 53' offerings from Kato and ScaleTrains.

I did see the EMP, UMAX and Hub Group 53' containers at a LHS today, they looked nice overall but the EMP logo looked pretty bad (it's supposed to be UP yellow, Conrail Blue and NS Black, but the black and blue look nearly identical in shade...).

[sundowner]

Mine fit fine on the Kato Maxi IV Wells and they do line up with ST containers but not as tight. They won’t work with MT 53’ containers but neither do ST’s.

Also Atlas has a single well 53’ car coming soon, the China mess push it back.

[jagged ben]

I wonder if that was a Deluxe Maxi-IV on Facebook.  Those are snugger. 

I'd hate to see these fail, but suddenly after many years of complaining we have a glut of 53' corrugated cans in N scale.  And these three schemes Atlas did have all been done already. 

(Won't somebody please do some earlier, funky sheet posts in JB Hunt and Schneider?) 

[MetroRedLine]

I wonder if that was a Deluxe Maxi-IV on Facebook.  Those are snugger. 

I'd hate to see these fail, but suddenly after many years of complaining we have a glut of 53' corrugated cans in N scale.  And these three schemes Atlas did have all been done already. 

(Won't somebody please do some earlier, funky sheet posts in JB Hunt and Schneider?)

The person specifically posted that he bought the new Atlas 53's and was disappointed that they did not fit. Here's his post:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10161350469720327&set=gm.2330914803854695&type=3&theater&ifg=1

[sundowner]

Like I said mine fit, granted you have to kind of wiggle it in on the joint side of the B platform car but it does fit and it’s not tight when you remove it. I am currently running 6 of them on one of my Kato Maxi IV.

I butt it one of the Atlas containers with an ST and a MT and they look like they are dimensionally the same. I sold all my Kato containers so I cannot check those.

[JaxTerminal]

On the KATO MAXI-IV the plastic cradle inside the well is what prevents some other brand containers from 'settling in'. You can measure the inside of cradle with a caliper to determine why.

My 53' containers from Atlas, Micro-trains, and JTC all fit in the well without the plastic cradle, as the sides support the containers. Of course with loaded well cars, you cannot tell if the cradle is in or not.

The JTC 53' samples fit into the cradle(barely) - I believe because the weight of the magnets/plates cancels the springyness and tight fit in the plastic cradle.

If the cradle were just a hair/fraction longer all would fit. Tolerances in N scale production allow for every so slight hairline differences in length.

Hope this  helps !

Steve

[ljudice]

Only problem is that Kato containers wobble without the cradle.    (My Atlas cans are still on order.)

Is the problem the end of the cradle?  Could the cradle end be cut off and ACC the bottom part letting the frame sit flat in the well and all will be happy?

[ljudice]

SOLVED...

- remove plastic "cradle"
- snip off ends
- replace in well (I  am using a dab of ACC onn the middle crossmember to hold in cradle
- holds Atlas, JTC, Kato containers with no wobble in the IBC holes
- considering boring holes slightly

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[jagged ben]

On the KATO MAXI-IV the plastic cradle inside the well is what prevents some other brand containers from 'settling in'. You can measure the inside of cradle with a caliper to determine why.

My 53' containers from Atlas, Micro-trains, and JTC all fit in the well without the plastic cradle, as the sides support the containers. Of course with loaded well cars, you cannot tell if the cradle is in or not.

The JTC 53' samples fit into the cradle(barely) - I believe because the weight of the magnets/plates cancels the springyness and tight fit in the plastic cradle.

If the cradle were just a hair/fraction longer all would fit. Tolerances in N scale production allow for every so slight hairline differences in length.

Hope this  helps !

Steve

Did the calliper thing.  So the cradle is maybe 2 scale inches short of 53ft, although it's hard to get a reliable reading because of the springiness.  (Also, I assume the prototype well actually a couple scale inches longer than 53ft.)   If the MT container fits (by bending the cradle out) at 1-2 scale inches too long, then these Atlas containers must be even longer than that.  In otherwords, 3 scale inches or such too long.

Don't manufacturers know that when you're making a model of a prototype that goes inside another prototype, you ensure that the inside model a is a bit smaller and the outside one is a bit bigger?  I can't believe we have so many different manufacturer's failing on this point!    I just calipered the width of five manufacturers 53ft containers and four out of five were 2 scale inches too wide.  The only correct one?  Con-Cor's tooling from the 90s. 

[sundowner]

I cut one of the X on the floor and the container fit now. This way the floor spread when you insert the containers but still keep the splash guards so the shippers don’t get mad that you got there containers dirty from wheel spray.

[ljudice]

Anyone slightly bore out the IBC holes (on top) of the Atlas containers?

They seem filled in by paint - afraid pressing/pulling action will break the pins...

[MetroRedLine]

I just bought a 3-pack of Atlas 53' UMAX containers at my LHS. They fit just fine in the Deluxe wells, but yeah I had the "cradle crowding" issue in my Kato wells. I'm going to try to file the ends of the cradle a bit as opposed to snipping them off outright. If we're only talking about a couple of scale inches, then that might work.

Also, I discovered the Atlas 53' boxes have compatible pins with the Kato and ScaleTrains 53' containers! Which is actually good news, since most of my 53'ers are from those two brands, and adding a different pin system is just asking for trouble (I'm looking at you, MicroTrains), although for those of you who want to stack an Atlas 53' on top of an Atlas 40', it will be problematic. But I don't have to worry about that since in the region where I model, domestic 53' and international 20'/40'/45' containers are almost always found on different trains.

[jagged ben]

Atlas 53s aren't compatible with Atlas 40s?   
It's Kato's fault for getting the pins in the wrong place first.

[ljudice]

Atlas 53s aren't compatible with Atlas 40s?   
It's Kato's fault for getting the pins in the wrong place first.

They line up, but the pins don't fit in the holes.  Ergo my point about boring them out.


Kato IBC holes are bigger and better defined.

All the Atlas holes look too shallow - as if paint has settled in them.

Like metroRedLine,  I don't need to mix ocean/domestic cans, but boy this is annoying.

[MetroRedLine]

Atlas 53s aren't compatible with Atlas 40s?   
It's Kato's fault for getting the pins in the wrong place first.

Actually, if you really wanted to mate the Atlas 53' containers with the 40'ers, just buy the JTC retrofit kit which has a replacement floor with Atlas/JTC pin spacing.