89' 4" Flat - Accurail v. Atlas


sushob

Entrepreneurial Teen
So immediately after reserving four 6-packs of the Twin 45 / Triple 28 flats Accurail announced (http://www.accurail.com/accurail/8951.HTM), I got the Atlas newsletter announcing what appears to be the same car (http://atlasrr.com/HOFreight/ho894flatcar.htm).

Is the Atlas car is based on the same prototype? If so, why would they invest in the tooling for a model somebody already did? Even is Atlas's version is a little more detailed, the Accurail cars list for $11.66 each in a 6-pack, and the Atlas cars list for $32.95 each. I don't know about you, but triple the number of cars seems a little more bang for your buck than some extra details.
 
Same goes for the F units: every manufacturer should have one in their catalog or so it seems...
If Accurails' 89-footers are less detailed, it takes only a few items to bring them up to par with the Atlas' cars. And my choice is made, I want to do some work on every single item on my HO railroad and add a personal touch.

Regards,

René
 
I'm going to go out on a limb and say, I bet Atlas has allot more planed then just that car. I'm hoping bi-level racks? I think the Walthers car is the same also, even though the do not do the RTTX triple 28 version yet, Accurail does to the WTTX car that Walthers has.

However NONE of them make a flush deck without the rub bars in the middle, there are 89'4" cars with the rub bars on the outsides.

In my mind, so I'm willing to place a bet that Atlas does well with theirs, despite the added cost. In fact I'll be buying one each. However, Nate, are you planning on selling that 6 pack in your store? :D
 
However, Nate, are you planning on selling that 6 pack in your store? :D

I'll have both the Accurail and Atlas cars up for reservation soon. :) I have a dozen or so orders to pack and ship today, then I want to work on my site and maybe send an email newsletter out.
 
Fella's,

I have already reserved a few of the Atlas 89'4 car. The Accurail cars that I have are nice. But the pre production photos I have seen of the Atlas cars show that they will be nice IMHO. So I am on the Atlas side of the fence.:D
 
The Accurail flat and the Atlas flat represent two different prototypes. The Accurail flat was originally tooled to be the base flat for the Custom Rail autorack (later Accurail), and it is the appropriate width for that application. The Atlas car is an ACF flat. It is also worth mentioning that the similar Walthers flat is a Bethlehem prototype.
 
I'd have to say the Accurail 6-pk is what i'll be going for. Atlas stuff is great, but so is Accurail. I built a twin 45 kit recently and although alittle different than my TTAX 85' flat car from Athearn, I like the details that the Accurail kit (also much cheaper) had to offer. My opinion is that both will be great, but I'd rather get more for less...

-Rich
 
Accurail has nice stuff, but this is Atlas we're talking about! They are the best. Accurail is closer to Trainman than to Atlas.

To me it is a question of money. If money is no object, I'd get six Atlas cars rather than six Accurail. If you want more cars for less money, get the Accurail cars. They look and run good, but I think Atlas will be the nicer car.

I'm a details freak, so my vote is for Atlas, even though I can't afford a huge fleet of them!
 
I also like Accurail in that they at least make an effort to manufacture things here in the US. Atlas is all overseas.

I'll be interested to see how they compare side-by-side when it comes to details. At nearly three times the price of the Accurail cars, the Atlas units better have good details (we're talking about an unloaded flat car for over $30 :eek: )
 
After nearly 48 hours of an inoperable site due to my host restarting an SQL server and changing something (they still refuse to explain what happened or even acknowledge that there was ever a problem :mad: ) I have my site back up and running.

The new flats are on the front page for the time being: www.sushob.com
 



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