Aztec - TS1116 - Gondola, 40 Foot, Steel - Various

Specific Item Information: You can “have it all” with this complete track cleaning system: rollers to run either with or without fluid, a magnet to pick up ferrous objects, and brushes that dust off the rails. The heart of The Predator is its two piece hard anodized aluminum chassis. It houses one of three rollers, a magnet and three brushes. All three rollers are included with the Predator. They include one each of the original Cratex® rubberized abrasive roller which is to be run dry (without fluid), a Handi Wipes® roller to run with the liquid cleaner of your choice, and a canvas covered roller which can be used either with or without fluid. The rollers are easily interchangeable without disassembling the car. Comes in an Atlas® 42 foot gondola (in assorted road names) with Micro-Trains® trucks and body mounted Magne-Matic® couplers. NOTE: Road names may vary depending on availability.

Model Information: This car was made initially by Rivarossi under contract with Atlas. The tooling was moved the the New Jersey Atlas factory in the early 1970s. The 1971 Atlas catalog lists a C&EI, B&O and SOO release. These never materialized. They did, however produce a Wabash and Rock Island version as their first post-move release. Much much later, the tooling was redone and production moved to China. The Rivarossi and US releases use Rapido couplers. The early Chinese releases likely used Rapido couplers as well. More recent releases use Accumate couplers. See a video of this car on our YouTube Channel

Prototype History: In US railroad terminology, a gondola is an open-topped rail vehicle used for transporting loose bulk materials. Because of their low side walls gondolas are also suitable for the carriage of such high-density cargos as steel plates or coils, or of bulky items such as prefabricated sections of rail track.

All-steel gondolas date back to the early part of the 20th century.

Road Name History: This set of items is comprised of more than one name. Please look at the component items for details on the specific roadnames and/or manufacturers.

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.