Hi everybody,
This time I will write about what, exactly, should be included in an Atlas
car kit for those who are interested in collecting them and want to be sure a
kit is complete.
I will list the contents of a complete kit:
Cardboard box with the Atlas "N Gauge" logo in the top right corner and a
depiction of various Atlas cars in lines diagonally on track.
The car body
Instruction sheet (same for 40' and 50' boxcars and 40' stock cars, unique
for ore cars). The sheet for the box and stock cars is white (or nearly so after
all these years) with black printing. The sheet for the ore cars is pink with
black printing.
Either a paper-backed cellophane package (early) or plastic bag (later) with
the car weight, four coupler springs (Atlas supplied extra parts in the kits),
and two coupler retaining clips.
Box and stock cars only - A black plastic sprue containing the underframe,
roofwalk, and two (extras again) brakewheels.
Ore cars - A black plastic sprue containing the weight cover and two
brakewheels.
Two black plastic sprues each containing a truck frame, two truck pins, and
two couplers.
Two black plastic sprues each containing two wheel/axle sets.
That's about it. However, Ross Fink and I discussed, today, whether Atlas may
have supplied an extra set of trucks with metal wheels in the later kits. We
have both bought a kit each that have these included. While it could be
possible that the original owners stuck the trucks into the box with the intention
of substituting them for the original trucks with plastic wheels, Ross
suggested, and I agreed, that it really wouldn't make sense. Why would somebody, who
obviously wanted the car to be built for running, go through the trouble of
putting the metal wheel trucks into the box and then not building the kit?
I am going to look through some magazines from the time period to see if
there was ever a reference made to this inclusion either by Atlas or the
publishers.
Regards,
Doug
