HO FWWR GP50

Athearn Trains (1550 Glenn Curtiss St., Carson, CA) announced June 16 that it will manufacture a GP50 in the Fort Worth & Western Railroad blue and yellow scheme in HO scale. The models will be released in December.

Two road numbers - Nos. 2008 and 2009 - will be available. The models will retail for $79.98

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HO Well Cars

Atlas Model Railroad Co. (378 Florence Ave., Hillside, NJ) released this spring a newly tooled HO 48' all purpose well car in three roads names.

Cars feature floor with correct ovals and cutouts, two hitches, four IBC pins, accurate paint schemes, etched walkways and detailed brake components. The models run best on a minimum 24" radius, according to the manufacturer.

Road names include TTX (Nos. 456200, 456274, 456312, 456428), BNSF (Nos. 210001, 210002, 210003, 210004) and Coe Rail (No. 5052, 5054, 5066, 5078). An undecorated unit is available.

Painted units retail for $24.95; undecorated $19.95.

N Anderson-Pritchard Oil Tanker

Micro-Trains Line (351 Rogue River Pkwy, Talent, OR) recently released an N-scale ACF 3-dome tank car in the Oklahoma-based Anderson-Pritchard Oil Corp. scheme.

The car is painted aluminum on the upper part of the tank and black on the lower. Lettered in black with Bettendorf trucks, this tanker was built in January 1932 by American Car & Foundry in Milton, PA. The vast majority of tankers through the steam era were single-compartment cars for transporting 6,000 to 10,000 gallons of one commodity. The three-dome tank cars were designed to carry smaller quantities of multiple products, such as several grades of motor oil, gasoline or chemicals to be shipped in one car.

The car retails for $22.70

HO ACF Plastics Hopper

Atlas Model Railroad Co. (378 Florence Ave., Hillside, NJ) released in May a 5,800-cubic-foot ACF plastics hopper in five roads, including Occidental Chemical Corp, which is headquartered in Dallas, TX.

Occidental Chemicals Corp., is the top chlorine and caustic soda maker in the U.S., according to the company's website. Caustic soda is used in bleach, plastics and pulp and paper.

The hopper evolved from the earlier 5701 series for transporting bulk plastic pellets. Most of these hoppers were acquired by private companies, including makers of chemicals, oil and plastics.

The model has nine panels with 10 welded seams, a transverse mounted air reservoir, roller-bearing trucks, body-mounted AccuMate couplers, etched metal roof walks and blackened metal wheels.

Other roads available include ACF Industries, Chevron, Dow Chemical and Westlake Polymers. Retail price is $29.95.

N RS3 BURLINGTON NORTHERN LOCOMOTIVE

Alas Model Railroad Co. (378 Florence Ave., Hillside, NJ) released in April new paint schemes and road numbers for its RS3 line of N-scale locomotives. Included in the release is two new road numbers (4056, 4064) in the Burlington Northern green and black scheme.

Well over 1,300 RS-3 road-switcher locomotives were built by ALCO between 1950 and 1956. These 1,600hp locomotives were powered by an ALCO 244 V-12 engine which was complemented by rugged GE electrical components.

The versatile RS-3 could be found in virtually every type of service from passenger and commuter runs to heavy-haul and local freight assignments. Original owners of the RS-3 tended to be in the eastern and central regions of the US (with heavier concentrations in the northeast and southeast).

Other roads available include the Green Bay & Western, Jersey Central, Lehigh & Hudson River, Long Island, Ontario Northland, Rock Island, Rutland and Spokane, Portland & Seattle.

Retail price is $104.95.