Atlas - 20 000 109 - Boxcar, 53 Foot, Evans Double Plug Door - Keokuk Junction - 5254

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 Keokuk Junction (reporting marks: KJRY) launched in 1981 to take over operation of some former Rock Island terminal trackage in Keokuk, Iowa. In 1986, they bought 34 miles of former Toledo Peoria & Western line from Keokuk, over the Mississippi River, to LaHarpe, Illinois. Ten years later, KJRY’s parent company was purchased by the Pioneer Railcorp family of shortlines. In 2005, they tripled in size with the acquisition of 76 miles of line from LaHarpe to Peoria from the resurrected TP&W. There was a conflict with A&K Railroad Materials over who actually had control of the line. While court proceedings ensued, KJRY established the Peoria & Western Railway to operate the line. The conflict was resolved around 2011 and the PWRR was merged into the KJRY. In 2011, they added another 12 miles between LaHarpe and Lomax plus trackage rights to Fort Madison, Iowa. In total, KJRY operates 142 miles of line. The line has been home to Pioneer’s fleet of FP9’s for their last few years and they are used in regular freight service until their retirement in 2019. Disaster struck the KJRY in 2013 when their bridge over the Spoon River near Seville collapsed under a train. The locomotives made it across but six tank cars were dumped into the river. The bridge, which was built in 1890, has since been replaced.

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.