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Atlas - 3611 - Boxcar, 50 Foot, Steel, Double Door - Green Bay & Western - 15330

5  of these sold for an average price of: 27.3727.375 of these sold for an average price of: 27.37
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N Scale - Atlas - 3611 - Boxcar, 50 Foot, Steel, Double Door - Green Bay & Western - 15330
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Stock Number3611
Original Retail Price$2.75
BrandAtlas
ManufacturerAtlas Model Railroad
Body StyleAtlas Boxcar 50 Foot Freight Double Door
Prototype VehicleBoxcar, 50 Foot, Steel, Double Door (Details)
Road or Company NameGreen Bay & Western (Details)
Reporting MarksGBW
Road or Reporting Number15330
Paint Color(s)Yellow
Print Color(s)Black, White and Red
Coupler TypeRapido Hook
Wheel TypeNickel-Silver Plated Metal
Wheel ProfileDeep Flange
Release Date1977-01-01
Item CategoryRolling Stock (Freight)
Model TypeBoxcar
Model Subtype50 Foot
Model VarietySteel, Double Door
Prototype RegionNorth America
Prototype EraNA Era IV: 2nd Gen Diesel (1958 - 1978)
Scale1/160
Track GaugeN standard



Model Information: The first release of this body style was made by Roco in Austria for Atlas in 1967. Later, in 1971, Atlas moved the tooling from Austria to New Jersey and produced their own second release out of their own factory. I presume that Atlas owned the tooling because unlike other Roco models, this one did not later appear as an import by other brands such as Aurora, Minitrix or Model Power. Sometime in the 1990s Atlas again moved the production to China. As of the 2006 run, this model moved to the Atlas Trainman lower-grade range, reflecting its age.
Prototype History:
The 50-foot boxcar made its first appearance in the 1930s and steadily grew in popularity over the years, which further improved redundancies by allowing for even more space within a given car. Today, the 50-footer remains the common boxcar size. After the second world war ended, and steel became once again readily available, steel became the go-to choice for construction of boxcars. Pullman Standard and ACF were some of the most prolific builders of these cars.

Double Doors were frequently an option for most of the major North American railcar manufacturers in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. These cars were slightly more expensive to produce and maintain, but for many applications allowed faster loading and unloading times.
Road Name History:
The GB&W was the result of the 1896 reorganization of earlier companies connecting Green Bay, Wisconsin with the Mississippi River port of Winona, Minnesota. The line east from Green Bay to the car ferry port at Kewaunee was built as the affiliated Kewaunee Green Bay & Western. It wasn’t completely merged into GB&W until 1969. The 277 mile combined line bisected the state of Wisconsin. Railroad car ferries connected Kewaunee with the Ann Arbor, GTW, and C&O in Michigan’s lower peninsula. For a number of years, another subsidiary the Ahnapee & Western was operated as part of the GB&W but was sold to new owners in 1947.

Light rails and bridges put the GB&W about 20 years behind other railroads in steam technology. For instance, they were still receiving new 2-8-0’s in the late 20s. The biggest engines in the fleet were a half dozen light Mikados which arrived in 1937 and ’39.

In 1929, they established the Western Refrigerator Line to manage a 500 car fleet of reefers (presumably to serve the many packers of Green Bay.) Passenger service was always a low priority and ended entirely in 1941.

By 1950, they had completely dieselized, entirely with Alcos. For the second generation of diesels, GB&W concentrated on C424’s. Typically, there were 18-20 units on the roster at any one time. They would remain all-Alco to the end with first generation units set up to run long hood forward and second generation running short hood forward.

The bridge traffic created by the car ferry link to Michigan included high value auto parts. However, in the late 70’s, the car ferry traffic plummeted and GB&W began relying on paper industry traffic generated on line. In 1978 the line was purchased by Itel (yes, the per diem boxcar people.) Finally in 1993, the Green Bay & Western was merged into a subsidiary of Wisconsin Central.
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.
Manufacturer Information: 'Atlas Model Railroad' represents the New Jersey manufacturing facility for Atlas brand model railroad products. Atlas also imported European made models in their early years and those items will be noted as having manufacturers set appropriately. In the 1990s Atlas moved all their toolings to China.
Item created by: RoadRailer on 2017-02-02 16:54:07. Last edited by CNW400 on 2020-06-02 08:44:54

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