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Atlas - 50 005 238 - Boxcar, 50 Foot, X72 - Conrail - 269198

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N Scale - Atlas - 50 005 238 - Boxcar, 50 Foot, X72 - Conrail - 269198 Image Courtesy of Atlas Model Railroad
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Stock Number50 005 238
Secondary Stock Number50005238
Original Retail Price$23.95
BrandAtlas
ManufacturerAtlas
Body StyleSanda Kan Boxcar 50 Foot Evans Hi-Cube
Prototype VehicleBoxcar, 50 Foot, X72 (Details)
Road or Company NameConrail (Details)
Reporting MarksCR
Road or Reporting Number269198
Paint Color(s)Brown
Print Color(s)White
Paint SchemeSmall Logo
Additional Markings/SloganBuy And Hold US Savings Bonds
Coupler TypeAccuMate Magnetic Knuckle
Coupler MountTruck-Mount
Wheel TypeInjection Molded Plastic
Wheel ProfileSmall Flange (Low Profile)
Announcement Date2019-06-19
Release Date2022-10-01
Item CategoryRolling Stock (Freight)
Model TypeBoxcar
Model Subtype50 Foot
Model VarietyX72
Prototype RegionNorth America
Prototype EraNA Era IV: 2nd Gen Diesel (1958 - 1978)
Scale1/160



Model Information: Life-Like worked with Sanda Kan to develop this tooling as part of Life-Like's push to move all production of rolling stock to China in the 1990s. As was common at the time, the ownership of the tooling was controlled by Sanda Kan which took advantage of this to manufacture this model for Industrial Rail as well as Life-Like. It has also been sold/decorated by Con-Cor, Bev-Bel and Eastern Seaboard Models, though I do not know if any of these other companies purchased the undecorated models from Life-Like or Sanda Kan directly.

Unlike many of the other Chinese models of this period, this one does not seem to be a direct copy of any of the earlier European made N Scale models. This series of boxcars models the modern, no-roofwalk 50' Evans high-cube prototype. It has been claimed that the model specifically targets the Penn Central X72 version of the Evans car.
Prototype History:
Between 1972 and 1973, Penn Central began purchasing the first of the 50' X72 boxcars from US Railroad Manufacturing (Evans) Blue Island, IL, plant. These cars would eventually find their way to Conrail in 1976, retaining their PC numbering series while getting CR reporting marks. However, many X72's can still be spotted in their original PC green paint scheme and PC reporting marks, though fairly rusted and faded.

There is only one subclass of the X72, the X72A. But as Jim Six points out in his Railroad Model Craftsman article, there appears to be no external distinction between the X72 and X72A. Both cars have welded panel construction, with 6-panel Superior doors. Yet I have photographed one X72, CR 269272, with a 6-panel Superior door with raised X-panels, for which no detail part is available.

The X72 is a general purpose boxcar that can be found in nearly every service, making is a very common boxcar. Some cars are equipped with DF Belt Loaders for assisting in loading and unloading of special equipment, while other cars are equipped with Dual Air Paks for shock control of goods, and pallets. These specially equipped cars are in assigned service to specific industries for specific loading.
Road Name History:
The Consolidated Rail Corporation, commonly known as Conrail (reporting mark CR), was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeast U.S. between 1976 and 1999. Conrail is a portmanteau of "consolidated" and "rail" from the name of the company.

The U.S. federal government created Conrail to take over the potentially profitable lines of multiple bankrupt carriers, including the Penn Central Transportation Company and Erie Lackawanna Railway. With the benefit of industry-wide regulatory requirements being reduced (via the 4R Act and the Staggers Act), Conrail began to turn a profit in the 1980s and was turned over to private investors in 1987. The two remaining Class I railroads in the East, CSX Transportation and the Norfolk Southern Railway (NS), agreed in 1997 to split the system approximately equally, returning rail freight competition to the Northeast by essentially undoing the 1968 merger of the Pennsylvania Railroad and New York Central Railroad that created Penn Central. Following Surface Transportation Board approval, CSX and NS took control in August 1998, and on June 1, 1999, began operating their portions of Conrail.
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.
Item created by: CNW400 on 2022-08-19 09:59:11. Last edited by baggedbird on 2023-05-28 02:18:48

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