Atlas - 6243-4 - Tank Car, Single Dome, Trinity 17,600 Gallon Corn Syrup - GATX Corporation - 4451

Body Style Information: The 17,600 Gallon Corn Syrup Tank Car was built in large numbers by Trinity Industries between 1984 and 1998. They are commonly used in the transport of corn syrup, liquid sugar and molasses from processing facilities to bulk distribution centers. Over 7,000 cars were built and most remain in active service today.

Features: Three separate styles of manway / platform / ladder arrangements (used as appropriate per road name) Fine scale railings Separately applied brake rigging Separately applied manway “clamshell”-style cover (used when appropriate per road name) 100-Ton Roller Bearing Trucks Accurate painting and printing Full stand-alone brake system details Bottom outlet valve detail Stand-alone heater coil pipes Highly detailed body with prototypical jacket seams See-through top platform grating AccuMate® couplers

Prototype Information: The 17,600 Gallon Corn Syrup Tank Car was built in large numbers by Trinity Industries between 1984 and 1998. They are commonly used in the transport of corn syrup, liquid sugar and molasses from processing facilities to bulk distribution centers. Over 7,000 cars were built and most remain in active service today.

The cars followed a common bent-barrel tank design that helps the product drain and unload easier. These cars are jacketed and insulated, and have exterior coil pipes to heat the commodity to promote faster unloading. Midland food-grade butterfly unload valves and Midland exterior spring safety valves were common appliances used on these cars. The biggest variation in the car production was in the manway / top platform arrangement. Several arrangements were specified by large shippers; for example ADM, Cargill, Corn Products, GATX, MCP, and Staley to name a few.

These tank cars are commonly used to transport varying grades of Corn Syrup, Liquid Sugar, and Molasses from processing facilities to bulk distribution centers and other end-users throughout the US and Canada. They are a very common sight on today's railroads, and they have been for two decades. This initial release features three of the most common manway/top platform arrangements as specified by ADM, Cargill, and Corn Products (among others).

Road/Company Information: GATX Corporation (NYSE: GMT) is an equipment finance company based in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1898, GATX's primary activities consist of railcar operating leasing in North America and Europe. In addition, GATX leases locomotives in North America, and also has significant investments in industrial equipment. GATX derives its name from its primary reporting mark for its North American railcars, "GATX". The mark itself was derived from GATX's prior corporate name, General American Transportation Corporation. Since all non-railroad owners of railcars must append an "X" to the end of their mark, GAT became GATX. The General American Transportation Corporation became GATX Rail Corporation, a unit of the GATX Corporation, on January 1, 2000.

GATX mainly applies the GATX mark to tank cars, although the mark has been used in other examples such as with hoppers; GATX's primary freight car marks are GACX (for general-service freight cars), GGPX (for coal cars), GIMX (for intermodal cars), GPLX (for plastic pellet cars), GMTX and LLPX (for locomotives), and GPFX (for pressure-differential cars). GATX also owns a number of other marks, including GABX, GAEX, GFSX, GOHX, GSCX, IPSX, and TRIX. Many GATX cars carry a large "GATX" logo in the upper right-hand corner of the car regardless of the reporting mark they carry; this logo is applied for marketing reasons and does not have any operational significance.
GATX engages in both full-service and net leasing of railcars. In a full-service lease, a GATX-owned mark is applied to the car, and GATX maintains the railcar and pays for any required property insurance and property taxes. In a net lease, the lessee applies its mark to the car, and the lessee pays for any required property insurance and property taxes. Often, on a net-leased car, there is no evidence of GATX ownership, although some net lease cars carry a GATX logo.
The most common type of car in the GATX North American fleet is the tank car; other major car types include covered hoppers, open-top hoppers, and gondolas. GATX invests in nearly every type of railcar operated in North America. In Europe, tank cars also make up GATX's largest fleet, but unlike in North America, GATX's European fleet includes substantial quantities of intermodal cars which are owned in a GATX joint venture called AAE Cargo. In contrast, GATX's North American intermodal car fleet is relatively small. This is true of most North American operating lessors; historically the bulk of the industry's intermodal investment has been made by TTX Corporation, which is jointly owned by North America's Class I railroads. X Corporation, which is jointly owned by North America's Class I railroads.

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.