Atlas - 20 003 434 - Boxcar, 53 Foot, Evans Double Plug Door - Fox River Valley - 13116

Body Style Information: Features: 70-ton roller-bearing trucks; Blackened metal wheels; Two-piece underframe; Separate brake cylinder; Air reservoir; End platforms; AccuMate® couplers.

Prototype Information: This 53' boxcar was manufactured in the 1960s and '70s by Evans Company and was used primarily to haul produce, wood and paper products, and canned goods. This railcar is an insulated RBL (Railcar, Passenger Service, Insulated) featuring a 16 foot opening and double plug doors.

Road/Company Information: The FRVR was launched in 1988 as a spin-off from Chicago & North Western, running from a suburb of Milwaukee, Wisconsin north through Fond du Lac, Oshkosh and Appleton to Green Bay. There was also a branch from Green Bay to a point just south of Manitowoc and a short intersecting line between New London and Kaukauna which crossed the main at Appleton. Total length was 214 miles putting it between Bessemer & Lake Erie and Lehigh & New England in relative length. They had a fleet of 28 first and second generation EMD and Alco diesels. The FRVR was owned by Itel Corporation who also owned the connecting Green Bay & Western. The two lines shared a management team for a while. Both GB&W and FRVR were acquired by Wisconsin Central in 1993.

Brand/Importer Information: In 1924 Stephan Schaffan, Sr. founded the Atlas Tool Company in Newark, New Jersey. In 1933 his son, Stephan Schaffan, Jr., came to work for his father at the age of sixteen. Steve Jr. built model airplanes as a hobby and frequented a local hobby shop. Being an enterprising young man, he would often ask the owner if there was anything he could do to earn some extra spending money. Tired of listening to his requests, the hobby-store owner threw some model railroad track parts his way and said, "Here, see if you can improve on this".

Atlas has made a ton of wonderful products throughout the years and we often get questions one whether we have run a certain road name on a particular model. It should be noted that Atlas locomotives and rolling stock are greatly appreciated for their superior operating and running characteristics. Atlas products are also well known for their outstanding collectability not only due to their superior prototypical workmanship, details and decoration, but because there are relatively so few of them made. Each and every production run has been carefully built to market demand, meaning almost every piece in any given run is sold out by Atlas on arrival or shortly thereafter, thus creating a built in collectors market.