Atlas - 1774-2 - Boxcar, 53 Foot, Evans Double Plug Door - Louisiana Pacific - 18049

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 Louisiana & Pacific Railway was incorporated in Louisiana on June 6, 1904 with an authorized capital stock of $200,000, and was controlled by the R. A. Long interests of Kansas City, MO. All of the tracks of the Louisiana & Pacific were originally constructed as logging roads.

With the lumber mills of the Long-Bell Lumber Company closing down and with the agreement between the Louisiana & Pacific and the Lake Charles & Northern coming to an end on October 31, 1926, the railroad applied to the I. C. C. on October 11, 1926 for permission to abandon operation over the Lake Charles & Northern between De Ridder and Lake Charles and to abandon its connecting tracks at De Ridder and Lake Charles, amounting to 1.1 miles. Permission was granted on October 30, 1926, after which the Louisiana & Pacific went out of existence.

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.