Atlas - 50 001 379 - Flatcar, 89 Foot, COFC - Texas Mexican - 400289

Model Information: Manufactured in two (mid and end) and three hitch versions, based upon ACF plans for the 1973 models, the Atlas replicas are packaged with two different styles of hitch, container pedestals, and the correct jack pads for that year.

The manufacturer's recommended minimum operating radius for these cars is thirteen inches.

Prototype Information: Introduced in the late 1960s, the ACF 89 foot 4 inch flatcars were designed to meet the growing need for versatile intermodal rolling-stock.

Used by Trailer Train and other North American railroads, the cars were designed to carry a pair of trailers or containers, or a combination of one of each.

Many of the 1960s and 1970s era ACF flatcars were modified in the late 1980s to accept longer trailer lengths, with the majority of those remaining in service today modified to accommodate three parcel pup trailers.

Prototype History: A flatcar (US) (also flat car (US) or flat wagon (UIC)) is a piece of railroad (US) or railway (non-US) rolling stock that consists of an open, flat deck mounted on a pair of trucks (US) or bogies (UK), one at each end containing four or six wheels. Occasionally, flat cars designed to carry extra heavy or extra large loads are mounted on a pair (or rarely, more) of bogeys under each end . The deck of the car can be wood or steel, and the sides of the deck can include pockets for stakes or tie-down points to secure loads. Flatcars designed for carrying machinery have sliding chain assemblies recessed in the deck.

Flatcars are used for loads that are too large or cumbersome to load in enclosed cars such as boxcars. They are also often used to transport intermodal containers (shipping containers) or trailers as part of intermodal freight transport shipping.

COFC (Container On Flat Car) cars are typically 89' long and carry four 20' intermodal containers or two 40'/45' shipping containers (the two 45' containers are carryable due to the fact that the car is actually 92' long, over the strike plates). With the rise of intermodal freight transport-specific well cars that allow double stacking, and given the age of most of these flats, numbers will decline over the next several years

From Wikipedia

Road Name History: The Texas Mexican name first appeared in 1881 during a reorganization of a previous three foot gauge line linking the Gulf port of Corpus Christi, Texas and the city of Loredo on the Mexican border. The line was 157 miles long putting it between Spokane International and Duluth Winnipeg & Pacific in relative size. The TM was standard-gauged in 1902.

Since 1900, TM was owned by the Mexican government through a trust administered in New York. The TM acted as a funnel for traffic to and from Mexico, in fact the end of the line was half way across a bridge over the Rio Grande west of Loredo. The bridge, which was completed in 1883 was the first direct railroad connection between the U.S.A. and another country (the first connection to Canada that didn’t involve a ferry followed six years later!)

TM completely dieselized in 1939 with a fleet of 7 Whitcomb boxcabs. These strange little diesels had four axels set in a rigid frame. That sounds a little, well rigid, by diesel standards but think of it as a diesel powered 0-8-0. A few years later, TM built a few diesels themselves with 4 powered axels in a rigid frame plus a pair of un-powered leading wheels – essentially a diesel 2-8-0. They even built another diesel from an old baggage car.

TM did go on to buy more sensible locomotives including Baldwin switchers, EMD F7’s, and 7, 9, 18, 28, and 38 series geeps. By the 1980’s, there were 16 various geeps on the roster. For a while in the 1980s, TM provided passenger service under the name TexMex Express between Corpus Christi and Loredo with some success.

In 1982, the Mexican government sold their stake in TM to a Mexican company. As the privatization of the Mexican National Railways (FNM) loomed, Kansas City Southern was assembling a system to take advantage of new traffic moving north and south due to the passage of the NAFTA treaty. KCS was positioning itself to acquire a large stake in the “Northeast Concession” (that would become TFM) in the privatization of FNM. Over a period of several years, shares in Texas Mexican were traded back and forth between KCS and companies in Mexico. KCS officially took control of TM in 2005 when they also purchased all remaining shares of TFM. That left a gap between Corpus Christi and the end of the KCS at Beaumont, Texas. KCS had already leveraged trackage rights over Union Pacific to bridge that gap in exchange for not fighting UP’s acquisition of Southern Pacific. Today, TM is a wholly owned subsidiary of KCS and operations are largely integrated into those of KCS.

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.