Atlas - 20 003 436 - Boxcar, 53 Foot, Evans Double Plug Door - Roscoe, Snyder & Pacific - 2032

Body Style Information: Features: 70-ton roller-bearing trucks; Blackened metal wheels; Two-piece underframe; Separate brake cylinder; Air reservoir; End platforms; AccuMate® couplers.

Prototype Information: This 53' boxcar was manufactured in the 1960s and '70s by Evans Company and was used primarily to haul produce, wood and paper products, and canned goods. This railcar is an insulated RBL (Railcar, Passenger Service, Insulated) featuring a 16 foot opening and double plug doors.

Road/Company Information: The Roscoe, Snyder and Pacific Railway Company was incorporated August 31, 1906, to construct a 230 mi (370 km) railroad from Roscoe, Texas, to the New Mexico state line near Portales. The full line was never completed but a 31 mi (50 km) line was opened to Snyder in 1908 and extended another 18.5 miles (29.8 km) to Fluvanna in September 1909.

The line was abandoned between Snyder and Fluvanna prior to 1945, and passenger service ended in 1953. The line between Roscoe and Snyder was abandoned in 1984 because of deregulation associated with the Staggers Rail Act of 1980, which made it difficult for the company to compete. A small portion of the line that connects to the Union Pacific near Roscoe still serves a railroad car rebuilding facility and provides storage of rail cars awaiting repair.

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".

Atlas has made a ton of wonderful products throughout the years and we often get questions one whether we have run a certain road name on a particular model. It should be noted that Atlas locomotives and rolling stock are greatly appreciated for their superior operating and running characteristics. Atlas products are also well known for their outstanding collectability not only due to their superior prototypical workmanship, details and decoration, but because there are relatively so few of them made. Each and every production run has been carefully built to market demand, meaning almost every piece in any given run is sold out by Atlas on arrival or shortly thereafter, thus creating a built in collectors market.