I was looking at post in Ebay and one is selling a Milwaukee Berwick High cube box saying it is rare model. Are there such things as rare Atlas O 2 rail cars and what would make them rare.
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No.
Maybe, if a whole container load of Atlas cars fell off a ship in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and then a couple of 2-rail versions floated to safety somewhere.
I agree,, they do not seem to be rare. 2 Railers generally do not "collect" varous and sundry factory this and that - - ie the 207 release of a given car etc. They tend to be modelers and buy the models that fit what they trying to accomplish or (horrors) they strip them and repaint them to something they want if the model is right but the paint job is not.
There are some special run Atlas cars commissioned by hobby shops or mail order shops that may be smaller runs than typical Atlas. These can be hard to find and to some extent these would more rare.
Now, in 50 years, that car mint in the box might just be a rare find!
There is a difference between something being rare, and something being valuable. Sometimes there are rare items that draw little or no interest from collectors. Conversely, sometimes a relatively common item is in high demand and draws a good dollar.
Rare is one of those terms on EBay that is grossly overused.
"Rare" on that site is a red flag for me to chuckle to myself and move on to the next item.
Yes, an important distinction between "rare" and "valuable." There's a home-made pink Lionel engine and tender for sale on e-Bay at a very high price that I believe illustrates the point.
Yes, I didn't think too rare when I can go to my closet filled with new Atlas items and pull one of these new Milwaukee cars out. I was thinking maybe it was a short run of the paint scheme as I have seen Atlas scrub a run as too few pre-orders. But then looking at the car labeling it appears that it has been altered to meet the car inside and by what mentioned above maybe it was a special run by a store or mail order place.
If the Atlas OEM couplers actually worked...it would be rare!
I have two if you want them? 60' MILW Berwicks.. dan dan@m4cg.com
Some of the Atlas "Billboard" reefers are hard to find and among collectors considered rare , here again this is probably much more relevant to the 3 rail market [ matching correctly labeled OBs count also] 2 railers tend to buy and keep models that appeal to their particular hobby interest. JMO
Rick Bacon posted:If the Atlas OEM couplers actually worked...it would be rare!
Lolololololol 
When I read Ebay, I am immediately turned off by openings such as Rare, Wow, Vintage etc. I find it an insult to my intelligence. Doesn't the seller understand that we know what it rate and valuable among the items we shop for.
There has been an example that has appeared 2-3 times in the last year. Some misguided seller lists a Brass Gem PRR 2-6-0 for $950 without the tender and various parts including the pilot broken off but included. He adds all the comments about rare and collectible and vintage and all the falderole.
As an O scaler and PRR modeler, I know that loco in good condition, with tender generally appears for about $350 at shows. I have one because it is Pennsy and it was my first Brass loco. It is OK for its vintage, but the detail, and the mechanism are not at all comparable to modern standards. And it is probably of very little interest to a non-pennsy modeler.
This thing showed and was listed for a week or two. Then it showed up again about 3 months later with the same listing and wording. I believe it made its 3rd appearance in the fall, again at that ridiculous price.
hibar posted:Some of the Atlas "Billboard" reefers are hard to find....
Like the early era PRR dairy products reefer?
A noted and apparently honest seller is selling a cardboard box for seven bucks plus eight bucks shipping. He has had it for sale for a year or so. I think it was placed as the result of a bet.
If you ignore the buzzwords, and buy what you want, you will be happier.
I don't THINK? any Atlas Hoster beer reefers were made in two rail, but l saw one sold where the buyer stated he was going to immediately convert it to two rail. If any were made in two...?
I didn't realize there were so many special runs from these big hobby shops
There were some Natty Boh two rail cars; fewer than the 3 rail version. I would argue that they would qualify as rare.
I purchased the two Golden Spike Club Potash Trinity hoppers. I assume they had a smaller production run than their regular cars, but I'm not expecting them to help pay for my retirement. ��
As a follow on to my Hoster reefer comment, there were a number of shops doing "custom" short runs of Atlas reefers, such as the one in Elizabethtown, Ky., and l don't think those short runs were other than three rail. I think l did see an Atlas sample photo before a shop's production run, and it was two rail. That sample would not be common.
Atlas typically wanted a 250-300 car order for custom run road names, the breakdown on 2 -3 rail would be up to buyer, I suspect the "billboard" reefers were mainly 3 rail versions, if you associate price with rare then hard to find would be a better description of Atlas out of production models as many road names saw only one run motive power included. Some of the least produced "billboard" reefers have sold for considerably higher prices to collectors [3 rail I assume]. JMO
Gilly@N&W posted:There were some Natty Boh two rail cars; fewer than the 3 rail version. I would argue that they would qualify as rare.
Yep, that was on here... price reduced to $225!
https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/t.../fs-natty-boh-boxcar
I've got a small collection of colorful Atlas reefers for the garden railway we want to do. While I wouldn't call them rare some are seldom scene and thus the prices are a bit pricey. The Marhoefer I could not find in 2r so I bought it in 3r and it was still a $68 list price car. Some took a bit of searching but they are fun to try and find.
Don't know of any other plastic cars that are rare though I am sure there are some. The car in the OP is one I've seen a few times. I would guess that containers are the modern equivalent of steam era reefers so if I were a modern guy that wanted them I'd buy now or cry later. 
Oh if I could find a way to filter out "L@@K" I would. I've trained myself to ignore any ad that has that or rare in it.
Thanks for the replies as out here in Arizona not much doing in O scale and people to meet with in discussing O scale. So it is good to have these forums.
Rare trains?
Rare should only apply to steak/hamburgers!
2R DM&IR wood 36' reefer seems to be very rare.
And, yes, I get a kick out of the Sunset Great Northern 4-8-4's which seem to be described perpetually as "very rare", when I don't think there has been a day where one wasn't on ebay. Perhaps uninformed ladies selling their recently divorced poor slob husbands' brass collections !
I don't know about rare, but they do seem to be well done.
Rusty
atlasO 2-rail GOLD Sou Pac GP-35 seem to have sold within 3 months of the realease date. used GP-35 are hard to locate.
"rare" can apply to finding any AtlasO 4-axle diesel engines in western road names, except maybe UP.
phill posted:Thanks for the replies as out here in Arizona not much doing in O scale and people to meet with in discussing O scale. So it is good to have these forums.
I agree with this statement, in that for those of us who don't live near "hot beds" of O scale activity, these forums are our "life lines"...
Mark in Oregon
