Atlas - 50 007 279 - Tank Car, 31K, Crude Oil, TrinityRail - Phillips 66 - 6-Pack

Specific Item Information: TANK CAR / BUFFER CAR PACK [GA 4180 AIRSLIDE HOPPER BNSF BUFFER CAR 808248 & 808251 / 31K OIL TANK CAR PHILLIPS PETROLEUM PPRX 663166, 663773, 664016, 664127]

Model Information: This model was originally produced by BLMA. It was later acquired in 2016 by Atlas when they purchased BLMA. The model features: Fine-Scale Detail; Separate Brake Detail; Accurately Painted/Printed; Prototypical Ride Height; BLMA 100-Ton ASF Ride Control Trucks; BLMA 36" Metal Wheels; and Body-Mounted Brown Knuckle Couplers .

Road Name History: Lee Eldas and Frank Phillips founded the Anchor Oil and Gas Company in 1904 with the assistance of John Gibson, Frank's father-in-law. . They obtained leases near Bartlesville in the Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory (present Washington County, Oklahoma), and opened a Bartlesville office in 1905. By 1917, Phillips Petroleum was incorporated, and the first Phillips station was opened in Wichita, Kan., in 1927. An important lawsuit that made its way to the Supreme court occurred in 1921 involving Anchor Oil, "Anchor Oil Co. v. Gray, 256 U.S. 519". The company’s research into the uses of natural gas received further impetus in 1926, when it won a patent infringement suit brought against it by Union Carbide over Phillips’s process for separating hydrocarbon compounds.

In 1930, Anchor Oil Co. began looking for a new name and logo – something that would include the Phillips name while reflecting a stronger connection with the automobile. They chose "Pillips 66"

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".

In those days, railroad modelers had to assemble and build everything from scratch. Steve Jr. created a "switch kit" which sold so well, that the entire family worked on them in the basement at night, while doing business as usual in the machine shop during the day.

Subsequently, Steve Jr. engineered the stapling of rail to fiber track, along with inventing the first practical rail joiner and pre-assembled turnouts and flexible track. All of these products, and more, helped to popularize model railroading and assisted in the creation of a mass-market hobby. The budding entrepreneur quickly outgrew the limitations of a basement and small garage operation. Realizing they could actually make a living selling track and related products, Steve and his father had the first factory built in Hillside, New Jersey at 413 Florence Avenue in 1947. On September 30, 1949, the Atlas Tool Company was officially incorporated as a New Jersey company.

In 1985, Steve was honored posthumously for his inventions by the Model Railroad Industry Association and was inducted into the Model Railroad Industry Hall of Fame in Baltimore, Maryland. In addition, Steve was nominated and entered into the National Model Railroad Association Pioneers of Model Railroading in 1995.

In the early 1990s, the Atlas Tool Company changed its name to Atlas Model Railroad Company, Inc.