Price: $114.95
Manufacturer
Atlas O
378 Florence Ave.
Hillside, NJ 07205
www.atlaso.com
Era: 1929 to mid-1970s
Road names: New Jersey Department of Transportation; Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe; Chesapeake & Ohio; Chicago & North Western; Denver & Rio Grande Western; Long Island Rail Road; and New York, New Haven & Hartford. Two car numbers or names per scheme; also available unlettered (black or black and green).
Comments: A 60-foot, four-axle heavyweight observation car is the latest addition to the Atlas O Trainman line. The ready-to-run model has a one-piece injection-molded plastic body with a separate wall on the observation end, a plastic underbody with molded details, and factory-installed wire grab irons. Other features include sprung, die-cast metal trucks; rubber diaphragms; and interior lighting.
The model is based on the Jersey Central Lines observation car De Vico. The prototype was used on the road’s passenger train, The Blue Comet, that operated between Jersey City and Atlantic City, N.J. In later years, the car became New Jersey Transit car no. 1178, decorated in the scheme shown on our sample.
The car has a tan injection-molded plastic interior attached to the floor with screws. Brass contacts on the trucks pick up track power for the interior lighting. The wires are well concealed between the plastic interior and underbody.
The model’s paint is smoothly applied with sharp color separation, and the printing is legible. The lettering placement matches a 1976 prototype photo in CNJ/LV Color Guide to Freight and Passenger Equipment by Craig T. Bossler (Morning Sun Books Inc., 1994).
The car weighs 20 ounces, which is correct per National Model Railroad Association recommended practice 20.1. The scale 36″ metal wheelsets are correctly gauged. The couplers are mounted at the proper height per NMRA standards. The 60-foot observation car is a good complement to the 60-foot coach, combine, railway post office, and baggage cars already in the Atlas O Trainman line. Like those models, this heavyweight observation car can handle a tight 36″ radius curve making it a suitable passenger car for most O scale layouts.
Correction to what I sent in a few minutes ago: The Blue Comet’s terminus near New York City was Jersey City, not Newark.
Atlas O made an interesting choice of an observation car to model. Most observation cars are considerably longer. But the model appears to match the length of the CNJ’s observation for the Blue Comet. Certainly the number of windows matches photos of the full-size car at http://www.rr-fallenflags.org, George Elwood’s great website. Does anyone know what the infterior furnishings of the car were and/or are? The window spacing is typical for a coach. I believe the route served by the Blue Comet was between Newark and Atlantic City, which isn’t a very long distance.