Some time ago I received my Atlas 25,500 gal tank car and was impressed by the fine detail. This week I received two Atlas 20,700 gal tank cars. They seemed to have the same fine detail as the other and I was impressed as well. Today I took the new ones out of their box and wanted to convert the wheels to FVM, what I have done successfully for the 25,500 gal car. The FVM 3602 would not fit in the new car's trucks, just too loose and not tracking properly. Then I saw that the trucks are different. The 100 ton trucks of the 25,500 gal car have crisp detail, even the caps of the roller bearings are well defined. Now the new car's trucks are basically similar, but the detail is not so good, kind of blurred instead of crisp. They remind me of the old Roundhouse trucks that came with the kits. The wheels are different, too, with coarser detail and different axle length. The new trucks take an axle length of about 14.5 mm instead of 14.2 mm as before. This means that Fox Valley wheels will not fit, though they would be badly needed for the looks. Does Atlas have another supplier? At least for the trucks? I mention that the new cars are coming in another shape of box, too. I think there have been some changes, and wonder whether others have recognized this as well. :tb-confused:
I would suggest that you post this on the Atlas forum and see if someone from Atlas will make a comment. Or if they are even aware of the problem. It maybe, that will all of the stuff going on in China, that this might be news to Atlas!!!
I agree, Christoph and H Lee. They've got so much bad going on at the moment this may have slipped by.
Atlas uses several different versions of their Roller Bearing trucks on different cars - I have the new 20,700 tanker too and will take a look at the trucks next time I'm in the train room. Mark
I have both tankers now and I see that the trucks are different, with the 20K set having somewhat more rounded bearing caps. However, they both have 5'9" wheelbase and a 6'6" span between the side frames. I was able to interchange the wheels between the two sets, so I'm surprised you had trouble with the FVM wheels in one and not the other... -Gary P.S. FWIW, the new Thrall gons use the same trucks (and jewel cases) as the 20K tankers.
There are currently three generations of 100T Accumate equiped trucks produced by Atlas. 1. ASF 100T truck. These were produced until about 2005. These were discontinued after many people complaining about coupler failures. The sideframe tooling may have been purchased by Athearn for their own truck line as they look almost identical. 2. Barber S2 100T truck. These were produced to replace the ASF truck. The coupler box is beefier and will not fail like the older design. This truck is still in limmited use. 3. Barber S2 100T truck with offset coupler. This truck was introduced in 2009. These trucks feature a low profile coupler box that allows them to be mounted in tank cars, well cars, gondolas, and flat cars where space can be limmited. These trucks feature a slightly narrower profile to enable them to opperate behind skirting on gondolas. These trucks also feature narrower axels and a shorter bolster to coupler lenth resulting in closer coupling between cars. Atlas has used this truck for most of their latest designs such as the 25,000 tank and the Thrall gon. I have not yet received my 20k tank, but it may be using the seond generation truck.
The mention of the gondolas gave me an idea: I exchanged the trucks between the 20,700 gal tank cars and two 52' Evans gondolas. The gondolas ride so low that the truck is not so visible, the tank cars now have the other trucks that also got Fox Valley wheels. The wheel's axle length is different, so far Atlas has 14.2mm, the latest trucks have 14.5mm. That's why FVM wheels do not track well in the new trucks. Operationally the new trucks are as good as the others, the main problem here was the wheel size. P.S.: I just posted the question to the Atlas forum
I just got my tank cars, and I am less worried about the trck details than the poor rolling quality of these units. It is like they have flat spots on the wheel treads. Not sue yet if it is the wheels or the truck, either way I am less than impressed. They look great but roll horribly.
Roll horribly? Sounds like their jobber in China is probably using some of the crappola trucks that went on the early runs of Athearn Ethanol cars. Those were true junk trucks!
And I will add the the couplers are not very reliable either, they keep disconnecting on my test track where nothing else has this problem. Looks like a full on truck, coupler and wheel replacement is in order.
For more information please see here : Atlas Model Railroad Co. - New 100ton trucks?? The answer is "yes", and the wheel size is different, 14.44mm axle length.
Bump. This is a pretty interesting thread, to me. Even though four years old, there is info about the older trucks (bogies).
I ended up distressing the heck out of the cars and they reside in the scrap yard now. Atlas never did a thing about the problems with the trucks that I contacted them about, and that ended my purchasing of Atlas freight cars. I haven't bought any since then. BLMA, FVM and Bluford Shops get the funds I used to spend on Atlas.
I looked at a couple of 20,700 gal tank cars I bought from my LHS last year. I compared them to a 23,500 gal tank car, and yes, the trucks are different. The 20,700 tank cars seem to roll okay on the goofy-looking new wheels, maybe a little noisier, though. I'm sorry some forum members have had big problems with the cars.
