Atlas ACF 5250 Covered Hopper

[tony]

Atlas has 5 or 6 different body shells for this model.  Any ideas on which bodies match the Rock Island cars?

[platec]

Mar 21, 2023 7:24:00 GMT -8 tony said:

Atlas has 5 or 6 different body shells for this model.  Any ideas on which bodies match the Rock Island cars?

Rock Island didn't have any 5250's.

[lyonwonder]

Mar 21, 2023 12:44:53 GMT -8 platec said:

Mar 21, 2023 7:24:00 GMT -8 tony said:

Atlas has 5 or 6 different body shells for this model.  Any ideas on which bodies match the Rock Island cars?

Rock Island didn't have any 5250's.

RI did have 4-bay ACF 5250's according to this.

[drolsen]

According to Eric Neaubauer's A History of the Center Flow e-book, Rock Island had two small groups of ACF 5250s:

RI 13978-13997 (20) Built 1966-1967
RI 13998-13999 (2) Built 1965 (ex-JMHX 4000-4001)

I can't find any photos of them online, but as 1965-1967 production cars, they would have the horizontal side stiffener with the smooth top cord below the eaves. The Cosden Chemical and Rocor Resins schemes from the latest Atlas run have those features:

Atlas HO ACF 5250 Covered Hopper

That's most likely this version:

HO 5250 COVERED HOPPER BODY 1 EARLY ITEM# 52500101

Dave

[platec]

Interesting, I don't think I've ever seen a photo of these. Thanks for the correction.

[onequiknova]

There is a picture of one in the Rock Island Color Guide to Freight and Passenger Equipment. As mentioned above, it has the large stiffening rib.

The description in the Rock Island equipment register I have here is as follows..

13978-13986 covered hop., Stl Center Flow, 8 round hatches and 4 pneumatic discharge outlets, lined.

13988-13997 covered hop., Stl Center Flow, 6 round hatches for loading, 4 discharge hop. Centerline of car, Fluidized discharge, lined.

13998-13999 covered hop, Stl continuous through hatch, Center Flow, gravity pneumatic discharge, 4 discharge hop, center line of car.

[Colin 't Hart]

Mar 21, 2023 15:18:58 GMT -8 drolsen said:

According to Eric Neaubauer's A History of the Center Flow e-book, Rock Island had two small groups of ACF 5250s:

RI 13978-13997 (20) Built 1966-1967
RI 13998-13999 (2) Built 1965 (ex-JMHX 4000-4001)

I can't find any photos of them online, but as 1965-1967 production cars, they would have the horizontal side stiffener with the smooth top cord below the eaves. The Cosden Chemical and Rocor Resins schemes from the latest Atlas run have those features:

Atlas HO ACF 5250 Covered Hopper

That's most likely this version:

HO 5250 COVERED HOPPER BODY 1 EARLY ITEM# 52500101

Dave

When did ACF stop using the wrap-around ladders? Does Atlas have tooling for those earliest cars?

[onequiknova]

If you join the Rock Island rolling stock group on Facebook, there are two pictures of the their 5250's in the photos section.

[edwardsutorik]

Mar 22, 2023 23:21:07 GMT -8 Colin 't Hart said:

When did ACF stop using the wrap-around ladders? Does Atlas have tooling for those earliest cars?

I assume "wrap-around ladders" refers to the end ladders that go fully to the top deck of the car (instead of stopping half-way up).

Cars ordered after April 1, 1966 or cars delivered after October 1, 1966 could not have the "high" end ladders (and consequent high-mount brake wheel).

ACF started production of the 5250 four-bays in November of 1964.


I doubt Atlas has the true early 5250's. Though I sincerely hope and wish they did.


THAT version was produced by AHM in the olden days, and is of about the same quality as the Athearn 5250.

Here's a photo of an end of the AHM car:






Ed


CORRECTION::

Oops, the END ladders stayed tall. It was the SIDE ladders that were "lowered" in '66.

Here's a shot showing the HIGH side ladders on an AHM car:




And the LOW side ladders on the Athearn:

[fr8kar]

I did a version of this modeling a carbon black hopper starting with an Atlas 4650. I don't know if all the modifications I made would be appropriate for a 5250, but the ladder work at least was easy to do:

[packer]

Mar 23, 2023 8:40:40 GMT -8 fr8kar said:

I did a version of this modeling a carbon black hopper starting with an Atlas 4650. I don't know if all the modifications I made would be appropriate for a 5250, but the ladder work at least was easy to do:

What size styrene was that for the upwards part of the ladder?

[riogrande]

It will be interesting to see what road names are announced next by Atlas.

[fr8kar]

Mar 23, 2023 9:13:19 GMT -8 packer said:

Mar 23, 2023 8:40:40 GMT -8 fr8kar said:

I did a version of this modeling a carbon black hopper starting with an Atlas 4650. I don't know if all the modifications I made would be appropriate for a 5250, but the ladder work at least was easy to do:

What size styrene was that for the upwards part of the ladder?

I don't remember, but it was some strip either 0.010" or 0.015" thick. I chose whatever was closest to the width of the other ladder stiles on the model. The rungs are Tichy parts.

[onequiknova]

Mar 23, 2023 9:54:01 GMT -8 fr8kar said:

Mar 23, 2023 9:13:19 GMT -8 packer said:

What size styrene was that for the upwards part of the ladder?

I don't remember, but it was some strip either 0.010" or 0.015" thick. I chose whatever was closest to the width of the other ladder stiles on the model. The rungs are Tichy parts.

You don't have a part number for those grab irons, do you? They look pretty handy.

[690]

Mar 23, 2023 12:52:50 GMT -8 onequiknova said:

Mar 23, 2023 9:54:01 GMT -8 fr8kar said:

I don't remember, but it was some strip either 0.010" or 0.015" thick. I chose whatever was closest to the width of the other ladder stiles on the model. The rungs are Tichy parts.

You don't have a part number for those grab irons, do you? They look pretty handy.

Tichy #3062. I actually just bought some after seeing the above post.

[fr8kar]

The best part about them is they are styrene, so it's easy to make a solvent bond. The bad part is there is lots of flash and many will be broken, so only about half of them are usable. But Tichy parts are cheap so it's still a good deal.

[keiffer]

Is there a part sheet for these available?

I would like to purchase some spare parts from Atlas but there are no photos on the website….

[cemr5396]

Good luck getting parts from them.

I have been wanting some of the trucks they used on the Multi Max autoracks, to put on some of my Walthers racks with incorrect trucks. They have had them listed as an available part on their website for a couple years now, and....... nothing. They don't exist, they've never made them available.

[lvrr325]

I got coupler covers and boxes from them a while back when they had some in stock.

[drsvelte]

I picked up one of the new release Atlas 5250cf hoppers at a pretty ridiculous price.  It was offered at an initial bid of $30.00 with a buy-it-now price of $44.00.  I first thought about buying it outright, but decided to enter a bid and watch how high it might go. The lowest price I have seen is $36.00 at yankeedabbler, but not for an SCL which I wanted.  Most are in the mid-fifty range.  I was amazed that I was the only bidder and got it for $30.00 - several others sold at that price as well.  I've never purchased from this seller, but they seem legitimate, have good ratings, and operate two b&m stores in Pennsylvania.  Some of their other Atlas offerings seem very reasonable.

[riogrande]

I only have one Atlas 5250 and it's because MBK discounted it to $36.99 so I bought a Chemtrex. Not much from the corrected 2nd run so passed on those but for the lower price I was willing to over look the end cage flaw.

[fr8kar]

I picked up one of the new Atlas 5250cf hoppers a month and a half ago when Trainlife started blowing out their inventory, so I didn't have to pay anywhere near retail for it. I placed it next to an Atlas ACF 5701 (in red) to illustrate the difference in some of the details. The outlet gates are better, as is the draft gear, which actually does resemble ACF's distinctive striker plate even if it is a bit wide to accommodate model couplers. The end details are much better rendered and more thorough, including the brake linkage, wire ladder rungs and an etched crossover platform compared to the molded on details found on the earlier 5701. Another nice change is the area under the etched running board supports is free of the vertical plastic supports that are found on the previous Atlas ACF Centerflow models. Those supports should not be there.










Verdict? For my modeling needs, I don't have a problem giving $45 for this car. Retail though? It's a no for me dawg. It's not Bachmann level of overpriced but it's not that nice.

[randy]

I recently picked up one of the Atlas 5250's at a significant discount as seen here: shop.atlasrr.com/p-62428-ho-master-plus-5250-covered-hopper-citgo-5297.aspx

However, these cars don't appear in my April 1985 ORER. Were they renumbered by then? My ORER showed CSOX tank cars but nothing for CSPX. Any photos to be found anywhere? I was hoping to go back and pick up the other two but now wondering if I will be patching (or selling) the one I have?

Randy

[edwardsutorik]

A visit to:

www.nakina.net/other/report/report.html

perhaps the best reference for reporting marks, shows that CSPX was active from 7/1977 to 7/1984.

My May 1983 ORER shows similar cars listed.

Several hundred.



Ed

Edward Sutorik

[randy]

That's a very useful page, thank you for sharing! Now I just have to figure out where the CSPX 5250's went post-1984.

[edwardsutorik]

Citco is NOT Citgo. The former (the one that owned the prototype for the model) is an investment company. So they didn't actually have their own freight to haul. And so they didn't actually NEED any freight cars for their business.

So they can get into and out of owning freight cars rather quickly, if desired. I note that Citco isn't shown at all in a 1985 ORER, so it appears they didn't just change their reporting marks, but dumped the cars.

Ah, yes. But to who?

You might just fake it, perhaps patching the car(s) over to SHPX or ACFX, the manufacturer.


Here, by the way, is a photo of one of these with B&M 310 lurking in the background:








Ed

[packer]

archive.atlasrr.com/HOFreight/arc-ho5250.htm

Wasn't there some "issues" with some of the earlier 5250s? When did they "fix" these?

I recall atlas saying they WOULDN'T do GN/BN, but I'm suprised they didn't do SP, SSW, or DRGW yet. I'm curious how hard a GN/BN build would be

[riogrande]

Feb 1, 2024 7:40:11 GMT -8 packer said:

archive.atlasrr.com/HOFreight/arc-ho5250.htm

Wasn't there some "issues" with some of the earlier 5250s? When did they "fix" these?

I recall atlas saying they WOULDN'T do GN/BN, but I'm surprised they didn't do SP, SSW, or DRGW yet. I'm curious how hard a GN/BN build would be

I've been wondering about that too. I'd like to see those road names done. But the $75 MSRP gives me pause. Sure, that's not the street price but the street price is still pretty high.

[edwardsutorik]

The problem with the first batch of the 5250's was the width of the end cage. And it was fixed during the run-up for this second batch.

Altas is doing the low-brakewheel version. The GN cars had high brakewheels.

Building the GN/BN version is a matter of raising the brakewheel assembly, and re-doing the various ladders and grabs on the ends.

Might also be true for the other railroads.



Ed

[riogrande]

The thing that sucks about the first run with the too-narrow end cage is they had road names I preferred. The corrected second batch, not as much.

As of the present, I only have one Atlas 5350 and it's from the first batch because I was it was deeply discounted.