New Atlas N ACF "Coalveyor" Bathtub Gondola

Coming in October 2002 from Atlas, an N scale model
of the ACF "Coalveyor" bathtub gondola.

Details here (just posted on the Atlas website)

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http://www.atlasrr.com/highlights/ncoalveyor.asp

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FYI UFIX is Utility Fuels Inc of Houston TX.
RTPX is Savage-Tolk Energy Services of
Earth TX, NW of Lubbock.

See your favorite dealer for reservations.

eNjoy

[ 05 June 2002, 05:56: Message edited by: dbn160 ]

 

I have just posted some photos of the real UFIX cars on my website under "Features" on the right side.

I must be livin' right, these cars represent about 75% of the coal traffic that BNSF hauls down the old Fort Worth and Denver lines that I model. I had hoped the body style would be released someday but I never dreamed that I woudn't have to paint and decal them. AWESOME!!!!

 

Pretty cool car and it will be a great addition to N scale coal train moderlers. If you plan on having a long coal train (50 plus cars), plan on converting to MT's, as the Accu Mates won't stand up to the challenge, I know all to well from dealing with them on my coal train.

 

Craig,

Since these are unit trains, would it work to glue the couplers shut, or some other way of effectively making them "dummy" couplers? I'm planning on getting 100+ of these to be split out into 32-36 car trains and I don't think I'm gonna have any extra cash to spend on couplers after that. Or maybe if I keep it under 40 cars I'll be ok? Anyway, thanks for the tip!

I am REALLY happy about these cars, in case no one has noticed!!!

 

Well, my experience is this. I have a 70 car coal train (Deluxe twin tubs) and at one point it had about half Accu Mate and half MT. The cars with MT trucks and couplers NEVER gave me a problem. The Accu Mates on the other hand didn't roll as well (warped axles, etc.), they uncoupled, they derailed many of times (my belief is the coupler is stiffer and doesn't allow the cars to have as much play from side to side), the coupler draft gear box's would pop open for no apearant reason, trip pins would fall out, etc. Some say these problems have been fixed, and that may be true, but I still believe the design has flaws that can only be fixed with all new tooling.

I got fed up and sent a polite E mail to Paul Graff to show my concern and he replied with an E mail telling me that the problems I wrote about were NOT caused by the Accu Mates. Anyway, Atlas doesn't recieve much of my money any longer. Now the train is totally equipped with MT's and I almost NEVER have problems (thats with all 70 cars and an SD90 pushing...cool site, and I can E mail anyone pics if they aren interested).

My suggestion is to at least trade off half of the AM's and sell them so you will have a little money toward MT. With my train fully converted to MT's, one SD90 can pull the whole thing (with a little wheel slip ).

Coal trains are a LOT of fun, most people say they look like giant snakes which is true.

Have fun!