Atlas - 50 004 909 - Open Hopper, 3-Bay PS-3 2750 - Detroit Toledo & Ironton - 1727

Model Information: Atlas first announced this model in 2013 with a target release data of 2nd quarter, 2014. It is part of the Atlas Master product group. Atlas uses this body style to model both 2750 and 2960 c.f. 3-bay open hoppers as made by the Pullman Standard company. Pullman produced over 16,000 prototype cars. The model features:

• Fifteen Panels;
• Sixteen Side Posts;
• Die-cast hopper and center sill construction;
• Late 20th century prototype (New cars were built from 1954-1971);
• Optional heap shields;
• Friction- or roller-bearing trucks.
  
  

This model features body-mount couplers and some nice detail in the end platforms and around the brake wheel. It does, however, lack metal wheels and much of the fine detail work we expect from higher-quality models. The ladders and grab-irons, for example, are molded details, which sets this model as squarely inferior to similar models from the BLMA product line.

Prototype History: During the 1950s, Pullman-Standard began to develop a “standardized” line of freight car product types that were marketed in “families”. Starting with the PS-1 boxcars and PS-2 covered hoppers, the PS-3 was rolled out with several offerings, the most prolific being this 70-ton, 3-outlet coal hopper with a cubic capacity of 2750 cubic feet. First purchased in 1957, Pullman-Standard not only had an effective marketing message with the “PS” series, but developed simultaneous production capability at both its Bessemer AL and Butler PA manufacturing plants, providing customers with a rapid response for coal hoppers that were produced at a rate of more than 13 cars per weekday during peak supply. Such rapid-production was made possible by new welding techniques that arose from the World War II period, although this was a relatively new innovation for open hoppers at the time.

Buyers for the PS-3 hoppers varied widely across US freight car buyers – in other words Class I railroads. The largest purchaser of the PS-3 was Louisville and Nashville, who settled on Pullman-Standard produced 2 and 3 bay hoppers as their fleet standard for coal originations prior to the 1970s. While they placed several orders for PS-3 hoppers, for a total of more than 8,000 cars(!), here is an example of one of the cars from the L&N 1959 order wearing fresh factory paint, where the cars from that period carried the “Dixie Line” paint that lasted into the 1980s.

Road Name History: The DT&I was born in 1905 with the sale and reorganization of the Detroit Southern Railroad. Beginning in Detroit, the DT&I carved a huge northwest to southeast arc around western Ohio, serving Lima (like the bean, not Peru), Springfield, Jackson, and finally the Ohio River port of Ironton on the Kentucky border. Toledo was reached via a short segment of trackage rights on the Ann Arbor.

In 1920, as part of a complicated solution to realigning a shipping channel that served Henry Ford’s River Rouge plant, Ford bought the DT&I. The Ford years brought a ban on facial hair, uniform white hats and an expectation that crews keep their overalls clean and tidy. He also strung catenary and bought heavy electric locomotives for a 17 mile line segment between his River Rouge plant and Carolton, Michigan. During this period, the DT&I closed for business on Sundays. In 1929, Ford sold the line to Pennroad Corporation, a holding company affiliated with the Pennsylvania Railroad.

The steam fleet of the DT&I was a pretty homely lot. 2-8-0s and Russian Decapods were the kings of the road for the first few decades. As the tide of traffic turned from coal and minerals from the south end of the line to automobiles from the north end of the line, DT&I went to Lima Locomotive Works for faster stronger 2-8-4 Berkshires. Although the DT&I Berks were light and stumpy by Berkshire standards, they were a bit too much for DT&I’s physical plant so their final steam orders were for very heavy Mikados ( 20 tons heavier than USRA Heavy Mikes.) By 1955, they had completely dieselized with 37 EMD GP7’s and GP9’s setup for short hood forward operation (interesting given their ties to the Pennsylvania Railroad who preferred long hood forward operation) and 24 various EMD switchers.

The DT&I diesel fleet has always been solid orange but the logo on the long hood was smaller and more reserved in the 1950s. Second generation diesels included 8 GP35’s, 21 GP38’s, 6 GP40’s, 5 SD38’s (used in hump service,) 8 GP38-2’s, and 20 GP40-2’s. Features included a general lack of dynamic brakes and nose mounted gong style bells (a feature familiar to fans of Chicago & North Western.)

The freight car fleet was very, very colorful. Often, special colors were used to identify groups of cars for large customers. Ocean blue boxcars were for General Mills, Army green went to a paper mill on the Soo Line, yellow went to Campbell Soup, and of course, the auto parts cars which came in sky blue, cypress green, and magenta.

In 1963, and with control having been passed from Pennroad to The Pennsylvania Company (another holding company at arms length from the PRR,) the DT&I gained control of the Ann Arbor from their parent Wabash, turning the AA orange. This was part of the complicated arrangements made in the run up to the Penn Central merger. PRR needed to end their control of Wabash but wanted to hold onto DT&I and Ann Arbor. DT&I control ended in 1973 when AA declared bankruptcy.

In 1976, the DT&I was profitable even though parent Penn Central was in bankruptcy. Therefore DT&I was not included in the Conrail consolidation. In fact Conrail gave DT&I trackage rights on their lines from Springfield to Cincinnati, which gave DT&I even more Ohio River access as well as friendly connections with Southern and Louisville & Nashville. Meanwhile, The Pennsylvania Company, stripped of its Penn Central parent, put the DT&I up for sale. Grand Trunk Western offered to buy it and Chessie and N&W offered to jointly buy it. The ICC went with Grand Trunk Western and the sale was completed in 1980. Some locomotives were painted in GTW blue and red but with DT&I logos. In 1983, the DT&I officially merged into GTW.

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.