The New Atlas N Scale 40' PS-1 Box Car
As a Chicago Great Western modeler, saying I was excited about this new model would be an understatement. While the Micro-Trains car has served N scale well for 30+ years, it can no longer hold up to the newer, more accurate and more detailed cars being produced today. And being such an important car in the overall freight car scheme, it was a good candidate to be redone. The PS-1 enjoyed nearly a 20 year production starting in 1947. Over those years there were several changes to the design. None of these changes were that significant on their own, but together they can create a notable difference.
So far I have identified seven areas to look for when modeling a PS-1 box car:
Sil tabs -The small tabs of metal along the bottom edge of the sides. The most noticeable are at the truck bolsters and under the door.
Roof Stiffeners - The 'Bow Tie' shaped reinforcements on the roof panels.
End Stiffeners - The six small rectangular stiffeners at the top of the ends.
Grab Irons - The grab irons located on the left side of the car and the right side of the ends.
End Ladder - The ladder located on the left side of the ends.
End panel seam - The seam where the upper and lower end panels meet.
Tack Boards - The small wooden boards located on both the doors and the ends of the car.
Even though I don't have hard dates for these changes, I think you can still break the PS-1 down into three main versions; Early, Mid, and Late.
Early Cars
The PS-1 started production in 1947. The CGW, always a big buyer of Pullman equipment , were among the first with their 93000 series.
Cars produced in the first year or so should be similar to the picture above.
'Mid' Cars
Changes to the Early design started as soon as 1948 where the roof gained stiffeners on the end panels. Then in 1949, the sil tabs were changes and no longer had the 'notch' but rather angled more straight down. Also in 1950, the end ladder changed from straight to having the last two rung widened towards the center of the car. Finally, the side and end grab iron were moved down slightly. This wouldn't be very noticeable except now the end grab was no longer right on the second corrugation but rather between the first and second.
Late cars
The 'late' PS-1 starts around 1954. The bolster sil tabs were once again changed. The angle was closer to 45 degrees which made the tabs a bit longer. The end seam also changed from riveted to welded. And finally, the tack boards were lowered.
There are of course cars that don't exactly fit into these three groupings, especially in the first few years, but this does give a good starting point when trying to identify your prototype.
So Where does the Atlas Car fit in? Good question! Based on the first photographs, the Atlas car is somewhere between a 'Mid' and a 'Late' car.
All model images courtesy of MODEL160.com
As you can see it has the Late sil tabs (door tab too, but I didn't include that because it's so minor), and as configured in the photo, the lower tack board on the door. Meanwhile it also has the high end tack boards (and no provision to lower them at the factory so far as we know), and the riveted seam on the end panels. You could say that this car is 95% 'Mid' with just the wrong sil tabs, but since the sides are the most readily seen part of the car and Atlas will certainly put the door tack board in the lower position where applicable , I think calling in somewhere between 'Mid' and 'Late' is appropriate. Finally a big thank you to Atlas for making this car. With the inclusion of 7' and 8' doors, N scalers will get a nice variety of these popular car for years to come.
Jason Kliewer