Atlas - 30812 - Tank Car, Single Dome, ACF 23,500 Gallon - E.R. Carpenter - 20034

Model Information: This model was introduced by Atlas in March of 2000. It features: Separately molded brake line plumbing; Ultra-thin handrails; Tank fittings and safety placards; 100-ton roller-bearing trucks; Brake wheel chain detail; Accurate painting and lettering; AccuMate magnetic knuckle couplers.

Prototype History: ACF® Industries built a general-purpose, single-compartment, 23,500 gallon, insulated, coiled, non-pressurized tank car from 1969 on. The cars are still in service today. A wide variety of products can be transported in this size and type of tank car. This includes asphalt, ethanol, fuel oil, metal sodium, molten phenol, paraffin wax, tallow, urethane polyol, and vegetable oil. They are mostly owned by the companies that produce the products carried, rather than the railroads themselves.

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.