Atlas - 31793 - Covered Hopper, 2-Bay, PS2 - Boraxo - 31061

Model Information: This model is first mentioned in the 1994 Atlas catalog as 'Expected February 1994'. It was announced in seven road names and an undecorated model. In the 1996 catalog it is shown with 28 different road names. Apparently, it was a very popular model from the time it was launched. This body was one of the first models to be launched from China (most other contemporaneous Atlas products were made from molds sent over to China that had been used in previous USA releases).

Prototype History: Like their PS-1 boxcars, PS-5 gondolas and other car designs, Pullman Standard applied the PS-2 classification to all of its covered hoppers. Pullman Standard built covered hoppers in many sizes and configurations. But say “PS-2” to railfans and it is this particular car that usually first comes to mind. The 2003 cubic foot car was one of the first, smallest and prolific of the PS-2 cars.

Pullman began building its standardized freight car designs with the PS-1 boxcar in 1947. Next up would be a standard covered hopper – hence PS-2 – shortly thereafter. Although covered hoppers are among the most common cars on the rails today, in 1947 they were a rarity. The PS-2’s primary competition wasn’t other covered hopper designs but boxcars. Grain, cement, sand and dried chemicals were carried mostly in boxcars prior to the 1950s either in sacks and bags or poured in bulk through hatches in the roof. The theory here was that it made more sense to utilize a single car for a variety of products. The car could carry bags of cement one way and then cut lumber the other. Of course a car that could do many things often couldn’t do many of them well.

The PS-2 2600 cu ft covered hopper first entered service in the 1960s. The car was popular for cement and sand service and could still be found in use well into the 2000s. The most common service was cement and sand. Occassionally used as buffer cars in instances were a bulk load was not protected by a bulkhead, for example an uprotected lumber load on flat car would require a buffer car between the load and the locomotive.

Road Name History: Boraxo began as a product of the former Pacific Coast Borax Company (later bought by U.S. Borax), and became known as one of the sponsoring products of the long-running radio and television Western, Death Valley Days. While future President Ronald Reagan was host of this program, he frequently did commercials for it, including one at his ranch involving his family.

Until about 2010, the product was sold in a cylindrical, foil lined, paper tube can having a rust-resistant bottom. The bottom had a white, paint-like coating. This worked well such that a container left on a counter that regularly got wet never rusted or left a ring. Prior to this packaging, during the 1960s, the product was packaged in a distinctively-shaped seamed steel can with upright vertical sides and an oval cross-section, with a small rotating non-removable steel cap centered on top which had a small offset oval hole facing upward, which allowed the product to be poured when the cap's hole was turned to align with a hole beneath it and the can was inverted and shaken. Besides the distinctive 20-mule team logo, the can bore a three-step instructional narrative which concluded with the words "Your hands are now smooth, soft, and beautifully clean."

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.