Atlas/ROCO O scale 40 foot boxcars

Those "Those ungainly  plastic oversized basic 40' boxcars" are a dead on scale model of a PRR X43c 40' box car thanks to the late Ted Stepek.  Ted was a long time member of the PRRT&HS and is recognized in the O Scale Kings Hall of Fame.  As a consultant to Atlas in the early 70's he acquired PRR drawings for the X43c that were provided to Roco for the Atlas O scale project.  For its day the Atlas/Roco box car set a new standard for prototype fidelity  with features such as door hardware, underbody detail, trust plates, and yes accurate rivet patterns.  A compromise on the body was cast on hand grabs and ladders that stood too far off the body - fixable with a little extra effort.   

I have lots of these unmarked white box kits, but I don't believe any are the 40' boxcar.  As I recall, I have the ore car, a few gondolas which appear to be based on PRR prototypes as well, and some wide vision cabooses that are closest to the C&O prototype. 

I have several painted boxcars in the original Atlas box that I enjoy running.  I never knew these were based on the X43.  Time for the paint shop on several!

Greetings  Keystoned Ed. your pennsy photo of 70117 is awesome! I know that they are a model of the PRR x43 c. When I said they were ungainly plastic oversized 40 ft boxcars My fellow modelers were comparing them to the other types of O scale two rail cars from that time. I added LOL because my O scale peers used to refer to them as that. I think they were great! I had painted them MEC, B&M, B&A early on. Weighted them and added KD’s and metal wheels. They looked great behind my All Nation diesel NW2 .  Alas all my early attempts at O scale have long since become somebody else’s boxcars. They looked great next to the All Nation 40 footers as well. I recall in the early 80’s the atlas/roco 40 footers cost me an average of $10 new undecorated  from “standard hobbies for men “ mail order discount house! about the same for the factory painted used ones at shows in the Tristate area. Wish I could find my old photos of them. I particularly like the refrigerator plug door one I painted red, white, and blue.  state of Maine products (potatoes) . My first big decal job! Did a couple of those.

Jonathan, I had a couple caboose, one gondola, and one ore car and above stated plug door model with the locked door could not open like the standard boxcar. I always repainted them.  They were fun to decorate for northeastern New England roads. Do you remember the stock car in that series of Atlas/Roco? I had one of them as well.

John, that pachyderm looks crowded  and ****ed off in that ungainly plastic oversized boxcar! Lol. I had dinosaurs in my stock car.  Cool picture, elephant misses the circus train. I like it.

it was nice hearing from you guys, also I enjoyed the memories.

any one have additional photos of these boxcars?

safe travels to you.

leroof

Well I learned something today. I always thought they were PS-1 boxcars and that Lionel used those molds for their first "standard O" cars. Maybe those were Pola cars?

@RoyBoy posted:

Well I learned something today. I always thought they were PS-1 boxcars and that Lionel used those molds for their first "standard O" cars. Maybe those were Polo cars?

Correct.  The first "standard O" cars used or were made by Pola, which produced cars for the AHM O Scale lineup.

Rusty

@GG1 4877 posted:

I have lots of these unmarked white box kits, but I don't believe any are the 40' boxcar.  As I recall, I have the ore car, a few gondolas which appear to be based on PRR prototypes as well, and some wide vision cabooses that are closest to the C&O prototype.

I have several painted boxcars in the original Atlas box that I enjoy running.  I never knew these were based on the X43.  Time for the paint shop on several!

The diagonal panel roofs and postwar dreadnaught ends on the Atlas/Roco box cars are amongst the best ever done.

I'd love to see the entire car 3d CAD prototyped with the huge plug holes for the ladders and running boards filled in and the molded on grabs removed since they are the only detraction to the car.

I concur with Ed - the cars are spot on for the x43c and with some work could be perfect for a bunch of other postwar 40' box cars.

And the Atlas/Roco gons are pretty darn close to the 14 panel g31e PRR cars.

Beatties, long gone store in London (yes, England), had Atlas 'sets' with the F9 in closedown sale for £10.00 (near enough $20 back in the good ole days...).  Got me started in Nth Am O-scale in the early 70s.  Still got the wide-vis caboose reptd D&H.

After Atlas learned about the finer differences between O-scale and 0-gauge, they took a break and the white-box versions arrived.  Weren't they all sold by Bev-Bel, some without box id?  Now they've taken another break, but that's till they 'fix' the MTH stuff they've acquired.  Isn't it??  I've risked an order for auto-racks (Masters), but the Premier Airslide, etc just need replacement wheels and couplers.  Don't they??

Come on Atlas, tell us more!!

Jason

I'm afraid my Atlas/Roco 40ft boxcar has seen better days....

But my Atlas/Roco wide vision caboose is still in service, if not absolutely 100% accurate for a SOO caboose it's close enough for me!!

The original plastic trucks were replaced with metal ones and pickups fitted to the wheelsets, so the beacon on the roof flashes.

the current "Trainman" series gondolas and boxcars from Atlas appear to be the same bodies as the old atlas cars.   The new ones have diecast underframes and metal trucks.    Visually the bodies appear the same.    It is hard to tell without measuring and inspecting them side by side to see if they are new designs.

I agree and believe they are the same.    I made the weaker statement for 2 reasons:    First someone who was representing Atlas told me at a train show they were different.   I can't remember if it was a vendor or Atlas representative.   They were rather indignant and emphatic in their statement.    Second in the past when I have made some statements on the forum, a number of members have jumped in and verbally chastised me for my stupidity and ignorance.   

I was trying to avoid the rants.

@prrjim posted:

I agree and believe they are the same.    I made the weaker statement for 2 reasons:    First someone who was representing Atlas told me at a train show they were different.   I can't remember if it was a vendor or Atlas representative.   They were rather indignant and emphatic in their statement.    Second in the past when I have made some statements on the forum, a number of members have jumped in and verbally chastised me for my stupidity and ignorance.  

I was trying to avoid the rants.

The Trainman cars are based on the original Roco tooled cars, but do not use any part of the original tooling.

@Paul Graf posted:

The Trainman cars are based on the original Roco tooled cars, but do not use any part of the original tooling.

Well then, I stand corrected and removed my post stating they were the same!  

I own plenty of the “old Atlas”/Roco and the new Trainman gondolas and 40’ boxcars, and have even gone as far as to line them up next to each other to compare them.  For years I believed they were the same.

Apparently I wasn’t sharp enough to see they were different.  Guess I’ll have to take another look!

@CNJ #1601 posted:

Well then, I stand corrected and removed my post stating they were the same!  

I own plenty of the “old Atlas”/Roco and the new Trainman gondolas and 40’ boxcars, and have even gone as far as to line them up next to each other to compare them.  For years I believed they were the same.

Apparently I wasn’t sharp enough to see they were different.  Guess I’ll have to take another look!

As stated, the new models were based on the old - so they are going to be almost identical.   The tooling Roco did in the 70s was excellent for its time, and has held up well.