Aztec - TS1107 - Boxcar, 40 Foot, Steel Plug Door - Maintenance of Way

Specific Item Information: Includes your choice of one Cratex®, canvas, or Handi Wipes® covered roller. See Which Roller Is Right for Me?

Negotiate a 9" radius track. The roller is positioned at one end of the car. This allows the Eliminator to operate on layouts with tight radius curves without hitting scenery or switch machines.

Better tracking and ease of running. The Eliminator, with its body-mounted couplers, was designed to run behind the locomotive (most of which also have body mounted couplers). This allows the car to follow the locomotive in a more prototypical manner than truck mounted couplers, and provides better tracking with less possibility of de-railing.

Three brushes dust the top of the rails. This helps remove any residue left behind by the roller. The magnet picks up loose metal objects. It rids your layer of stray track spikes, nuts, bolts, springs and other magnetic items.

Exclusive special run car body. The hard black anodized aluminum chassis cleaning mechanism is housed in a special run Atlas® 21000 series boxcar. It is painted MW (Maintenance of the Way) gray, and printed with “MW” and dimi data. Space is provided for you to add the road name and road number of your choice (decals not included). NOTE: Road names may vary depending on availability.

Equipped with Micro-Trains® trucks and body mounted Magne-Matic® couplers. (9" minimum radius)

Model Information: Atlas first released this model in 1976. It was originally produced in their New Jersey factor. It replaced a similar model made by Roco for Atlas from 1967 - 1975. The American-made Atlas tooling was launched with an amazing 24 different road names. In the 1997 Atlas catalog, this model is referred to as a 40' Plugdoor Boxcar. However, the earlier Roco model had been referred to alternatively as a "Reefer" (1967, 1969 and 1971) as well as a "40' Insulated Plugdoor" (1975). Sometime in the 1990s, the tooling was moved to China. From September 2006 onward, this model was considered part of the 'Trainman' product line.

Prototype History: Plug-Door boxcars are usually insulated and typically carry products such as canned goods that require protection from extremes of temperature but do not require refrigeration. Plug-style doors were normally used to ensure a tight seal in the insulation. Designed for transport of both perishables and large loads, plug doors allowed box cars to be sealed from outside dust and dirt. Cars like these were manufactured during the 50s and 60s.

Whether you consider this a reefer or a boxcar is a matter for angel-pinhead-counters. There seems to be a bit of a blurry line during the transition era between the idea of a steel ice reefer and an insulated boxcar. I guess an ice reefer was meant to hold ice for cooling but I doubt this is a cut-and-dry distinction. Modern "mechanical" reefers are a different breed as they contain a refrigeration unit which quite distinctly sets them apart from "boxcars".

Road Name History: Maintenance of Way is a generic term that encompasses all activities and equipment related to maintaining railroad tracks in good condition.
Equipment is highly specialized and diversified. A non exhaustive list below:

• Ballast cleaner
• Ballast regulator
• Clearance car
• Crane
• Dynamometer car
• Grinder
• Road–rail vehicle (Hi-Rail)
• Rotary snowplow
• Scale test car
• Stoneblower
• Tamping machine
• Track geometry car

Brand/Importer Information: Aztec Manufacturing is an aftermarket decorator originally based in San Mateo, CA, now in Carson City, NV.
Historically, Aztec was known for their excellent quality aftermarket decorations of other manufacturers' rolling stock. Aztec repainted models by many different manufacturers including Life-Like, Atlas and others.
In the recent years, Aztec's focus is on track cleaning cars DCC-Ready frames for locomotives and high quality pad-printed freight cars.
Following retirement of its owner, Aztec closed its business in 2018.