Warped under frames on Atlas Box cars

Die cast metal floors?   Then, the dreaded ZINC PEST!!!

Plastic floors?    Dunno.

Anyone else?

BTW....If it IS zinc pest, I'm not real confident anymore about Atlas solving this catastrophic issue re their upcoming shipment of (the former Weaver) Troop Cars.   ....and the suggestion that they might make replacement floors for the Weaver cars so plagued.

Dontcha just love the suspense of it all???...........

Look like 50-footers, correct?  If so, they have metal floors.  I had one a few years ago that did the same thing...first it warped, then it crumbled.  Zinc pest I suppose.

I contact Atlas looking to order a new floor (otherwise the car was useless) and they were kind enough to provide one at no charge.  Based on that, I'm guessing they were aware of this problem!

http://www.atlaso.com/opspd1.htm

Are these from the same time period as the Weaver cars with expanding frames?

That sorta looks like warping caused by the plastic being too close to something hot. Were the cars near some sort of heat source while on the storage track...such as a light bulb or some sort of trackside item that was overheating?

-Eric Siegel

Please contact Bill in our Customer Service department.  There were a lot of products from different manufacturers produced at the same factory about this time that have exhibited the zinc pest problem, including the Weaver Troop Sleepers.  That problem has nothing do to with the product design, or the frames we are producing for the Troop Sleepers at this time.

Please for those of us who are not aware,describe "Zinc Pest" Nick

Impurities in the process of casting zinc alloys causes the finished castings to deteriorate in a short period of time. The deterioration often causes the castings to expand. If a casting is contained, like in the case of a frame secured inside a car body, it warps as it tries to expand.

Zinc pest, which was a problem in the prewar period, and occasionally in the postwar period, in American production has resurfaced in Chinese production in the past 20 years. It's still relatively uncommon, but we have been sharing a few examples here. In fact, the topic has been discussed at length in the past two weeks and was still active just several days ago.

You might want to acquaint yourself with the search function on this forum. The answers are typically already there.

ericstrains.com posted:

That sorta looks like warping caused by the plastic being too close to something hot. Were the cars near some sort of heat source while on the storage track...such as a light bulb or some sort of trackside item that was overheating?

 

-Eric Siegel

Eric, the splitting of the metal seems to show where the bow up is in the second image as cracks.

Those are trainman box cars that have plastic floors.  They use the old Roco molds.  Is there heat or a radiator below that storage track?  This cant be Zinc pest as they are not die cast floors

Humidity does not affect consumer plastics like styrene and ABS (I'm sure that there are some exotics and/or some designed to interact with humidity). It affects metals only as an oxidant, if the metal is capable of oxidation ("rust").

I have heard that humidity can add to the "zinc rot" process, but I don't see how. However, I also am not qualified to say with certainty one way or the other (of course, on Forums - anybody's - that seems to not be an inhibitor for many).

Did I miss it, or do we even yet know with certainty what the floor/frame material is? 

bluelinec4 posted:

Those are trainman box cars that have plastic floors.  They use the old Roco molds.  Is there heat or a radiator below that storage track?  This cant be Zinc pest as they are not die cast floors

Thanks, didn't know Roco had made a 50' car.  I think these cars are Atlas O Master line.

http://www.atlaso.com/opspd1.htm

C'mon guys. Look before declaring your opinion. Those are not the Roco cars, which were made in Austria in the 1970s. Look at the picture. It clearly says "Atlas O" and "Made in China" on the length-wise supports.

I'd go along with the floor being made out of plastic.   Have to wait and see what the owner of these cars has to say.   Atlas description of these cars says "die cast chassis" which looks right.  The floors are obviously separate.. hmmmmm   I'll bet that they are made of plastic.

Jim : )

Paul Graf posted:

Please contact Bill in our Customer Service department.  There were a lot of products from different manufacturers produced at the same factory about this time that have exhibited the zinc pest problem, including the Weaver Troop Sleepers.  That problem has nothing do to with the product design, or the frames we are producing for the Troop Sleepers at this time.

 

Is this a change of heart? I spoke with Bill at York, The Big E, and email, and his general response was:

"          <<<crickets chirping>>>         "

I have about ten pieces of rolling stock I purchased in the 2010 time frame that had various truck components fall apart from zinc pest. I broke my 'No New Atlas' vow and ordered six troop cars. Are you saying Atlas is now acknowledging this and hopefully supplying replacement components? A little to late though as I've purchased new trucks for the damaged ones. Here's to hoping the Atlas troop cars will have better results!!!!!

I just found one of my DL&W hoppers had the diecast under frames on both ends with lots of cracks.   I foudn this because the screw mount nub just broke off, and the truck fell off.   

I have also had many problems with the steel reefers.    Atlas did provide replacement trucks for ones I still had, but by the time I got some feedback from them, I had thrown away 2-3 pairs that fell apart.

so far my 1937 boxcars seem OK, but I have not inspected them

Honestly I am afraid to to look at some of these underframes.   I probably have 200 Atlas cars which is a big investment, and this problem really scares me.

Jim R. posted:

C'mon guys. Look before declaring your opinion. Those are not the Roco cars, which were made in Austria in the 1970s. Look at the picture. It clearly says "Atlas O" and "Made in China" on the length-wise supports.

The post stated ROCO molds were used not that these are ROCO cars made in Austria. Please read the post correctly before you respond.

I don't see a response yet from the original poster to the question whether the frame/floor is plastic or metal. Until that is established, it sure would be nice to hold off on speculation about zinc pest or other causes.

If it's the 50' Master Line box cars, I'm gonna cry.  I've got many of these packed away and never thought there would be this problem to deal with.

Fred

Those are definitely the 50 footers. And, I have one of these that I never took out of the box. Now, I've got to go digging....