Atlas - 50 006 045 - Gondola, Difco Dump - Amtrak - 13973

Specific Item Information: The Atlas Difco Side-Dump Car is an integral part of any work train. The railroad equivalent of a dump truck, the Difco car is designed to carry up to 100 tons of ballast, fill or rip rap. Each prototype car is fitted with large pneumatic cylinders and side doors, and can dump to the left or right of the tracks. While used primarily in work train service for dumping, Difco Side-Dump Cars can also be used in revenue service to carry sand, gravel, cinders, coal, limestone and other loose bulk materials used in industry. This car features a detailed injection-molded body, accurate decoration, appropriate 100-ton roller bearing trucks and magnetic knuckle couplers.

Model Information: First released in February 2007. Re-run several times.
Walthers ready-to-run N Scale Difco Dump Cars feature a detailed, injection-molded styrene body mounted on a heavy diecast metal chassis with realistic hydraulic cylinder detail for a low center of gravity and reliable tracking. Details include fine-profile end stirrups and factory-installed wire handrails. Each car comes fully assembled and features Accumate® working knuckle couplers mounted on appropriate free-rolling trucks. Cars are available individually and in limited-run three-packs for a total of four roadnumbers per roadname; an undecorated version will also be available.

Matching Rip Rap Load: Walthers 933-802

Prototype History: These very distinctive cars are the railroad equivalent of a dump truck. Designed to carry up to 100 tons, they are fitted with large pneumatic cylinders and side doors, and can dump to the left or right of the tracks. While used primarily in work train service for dumping ballast, fill and rip rap, they can also be used in revenue service to carry sand, gravel, cinders, coal, limestone and other loose bulk materials used in industry.

Road Name History: The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak, is a passenger railroad service that provides medium- and long-distance intercity service in the contiguous United States. Founded in 1971 through the government-sponsored consolidation of most of the remaining U.S. passenger rail companies, it is partially government-funded yet operated and managed as a for-profit corporation.

Amtrak operates more than 300 trains each day on 21,300 miles (34,000 km) of track with select segments having civil operating speeds of 150 mph (240 km/h) and connecting more than 500 destinations in 46 states in addition to three Canadian provinces. In fiscal year 2015, Amtrak served 30.8 million passengers and had $2.185 billion in revenue, while employing more than 20,000 people. Nearly two-thirds of passengers come from the 10 largest metropolitan areas; 83% of passengers travel on routes shorter than 400 miles. Its headquarters is at Union Station in Washington, D.C.

The name "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "trak", the latter itself a sensational spelling of "track".

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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.