ATLAS BUYS INDUSTRIAL RAIL LINE

[Bob Keller]

A release from Atlas O:

Press Release for Immediate Release April 5, 2006

Atlas O Announces Industrial Rail™ Purchase

Thomas W. Haedrich, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Atlas O, LLC, has announced the purchase of all O scale assets of Industrial Rail™, formerly owned by Hobbico, by Atlas O, LLC. The rolling stock line, which includes freight cars, a trolley and handcar, will form the foundation of the newest line of Atlas O products – O-27 Traditional Sized Line - which already includes the high-end Master Line™ and mid-level, affordable Trainman™ line.

“The agreement was signed, sealed and delivered during the last week of March,” Mr. Haedrich said. “Industrial Rail™ has been a very successful, rugged and reliable line for those who have carried it in the past. This value-priced line can be enjoyed by modelers aged eight to 80.” Atlas O’s purchase includes the transfer of the domain name, www.industrialrail.com and the Industrial Rail™ trademark.” (Before Hobbico, Industrial Rail™ was owned by its creator, United Model Distributors.)

Industrial Rail™ rolling stock features die cast metal trucks, wheels and couplers, accurate painting, needle point axles, and detailed brake wheels and under frames. They are made of steel and ABS plastic. They are compatible with existing Atlas O 3-Rail products, and are only offered in 3-Rail.

“Industrial Rail™ products are well built and offer value and good quality in their price range,” said Jim Weaver, vice-president of Atlas O. “The acquisition of this O-27 Traditional Sized Line expands our appeal to all aspects of O gauge model railroading. We will be reissuing six of the freight cars in all new paint schemes in Fall 2006.”

But that’s just the beginning, according to Mr. Haedrich, who said the competitively priced line will offer parents more options for equipping layouts shared by family members of all ages. Separately sold locomotives, track and accessories, as well as complete train sets will all be part of the O-27, Traditional Sized Line. Watch the Atlas O, LLC website –www.atlasO.com, and the online Atlas RR Report, for future breaking news on this latest exciting development from Atlas!

[Dr. John]

This is VERY good news indeed! I have a number of Industrial Rails cars and enjoy them for their traditional size, quality and low price. Hopefully, Atlas will keep the prices low as they seek to appeal to O-27 collectors and operators.

I am intrigued by the announcement of "separately sold locomotives, track and accesories, etc." Apparently Atlas O will be offering some new items not previously made by Industrial Rail. I do hope they offer the IR Trolley again.

[Anonymous]

That's great news! I'm looking forward to seeing their new products.[:)]

[cnw1995]

Hurray! I can't wait to see what they do with this line.

[wrmcclellan]

Good news! Hope they do another run of the yellow UP (oops licensing issue) stock cars!

[Buckeye Riveter]

Great news!

Atlas we want log cars!

[choochin3]

This is good news indeed!
I have one of those IR trolleys with (all metal gears) what a bunch of BS!
This trolley I have has a broken PLASTIC axle gear, I hope Atlas will have parts available
for their original line.
I really like their line of O27 size items.

Carl T.

[Anonymous]

I second on the logs cars. The ore cars were also interesting. These two seemed from a different earlier era than the other offerings. When Atlas releases them again it would be great to see some Arch-bar trucks on these two.

One of my favorite features was the way IR offered different #'s in different production runs of any given paint scheme It made it pretty easy to make a train of like painted cars and they were fun to chase down the different #'s. I hope this is extended to the new line. It was really fun.

I am really happy to see these cars offered again. I really liked the Industrial Rail line products offered in the past. Seems that the hobby was one low cost down after the end of K-line now it is great to see a new one filling the vaccum. Great news.

[palallin]

The times, they are achangin'. This move allows Atlas to develop an entirely new segment of the market with relatively little investment in money and time. They may soon be where K-line wanted to go.


I just hope they change their attitude with respect to replacement parts.

[Anonymous]

This announcement should make brianelO27 happy!!![swg]

[jefelectric]

Glad to see this purchase. Atlas seems to have the best handle on the business side of the train market. They rarely overproduce and have to sell at discount. I know a lot of guys would disagree but we need healthy companies in this hobby if it is to continue.

[laz 57]

Great news.
I have the hand car it is one of my favorites and looks to scale better then any other handcar out there.
The trolley stinks, can't get it to reverse will only go in one direction, when it hits just stops. I took it apart and seems like a switch problem.
Log cars are great I picked up a 3 pack for $20.
laz57

[BMRR]

This is great news !! Most of my O scale trains are Lionel, but I do have some Industrial Rail. I can't wait to see what they have to offer.

Stan.

[brianel027]

YES, this news does make me happy. And it will please me more if Atlas has the wisdom and the common sense to follow the Industrial Rail formula to success. Of course this includes several factors, but one was the inclusion of MODERN CURRENT Class A Railroad roadnames (that were almost totally ignored by all the others until the IR cars came out) along with the standard popular roads.

Norfolk Southern box car
Industrial Rail - Yes
Lionel - Never
K-LIne - Never
MTH Rugged Rails - Never

BNSF box car
Industrial Rail - Yes
Lionel - Never
K-LIne - Never
MTH Rugged Rails - Never

BNSF tank car
Industrial Rail - Yes
Lionel - Never
K-LIne - Never
MTH Rugged Rails - inferior version only after IR

Outside of the single Train-19 blue CR box car, K-Line did do some other current CR road named cars, but only as exclusive CR employee only sets.... huge mistake!!!

And Lionel only offered a NS hopper, a poor looking BNSF ore car and a CSX box car in the past year.

I hope Atlas recognizes there are more railroads other than the Pennsy and New York Central and that 027 operators also want current modern roadnames, and in the continually changing car numbers that IR offered. The former president of K-Line told me in no uncertain terms that he hated the Industrial Rail cars. Sure, because they probably took a big chunk out of sales of Train-19 cars. But Industrail Rail figured out modern road names as well as price and quality are important.... something K-Line NEVER figured out and Lionel still hasn't really figured out either.

[artyoung]

Nice to hear good news in the hobby for a change. Hope to see the streetcar and handcar again, maybe with better paint jobs on the streetcar with more roadnames.

[alton6]

It would be swell to see the "for hire" boxcars with short line names and decoration from the seventies(?) and eighties appear. Perfect for the double-door cars. This would be logical and not hugely expensive to do. We still see these cars along the way...

A smaller boxcar and/or flatcar offering might please the S gauge folks, too.

Carl

[mpzpw3]

Wouldn't it be great, if the O-27 track line was to be a reproduction of Lionel's Super O track?

[mackb4]

I hope it is a good move on Atlas O's behalf.With the quality and detail that Atlas offers's I hope people don't expect to see Atlas details for the I.R. price.I'm sure with the good marketing ability that Atlas seems to have,that they will make the right decisions .So good luck to Atlas and the staff from Industial Rail that may tag along.Wonder if they will use any previously unreleased I.R. products ?

[Jumijo]

Excellent news! IR made some of the best looking rolling stock I've seen. The couplers need to be reworked to prevent derailing, but that is the only knock against them. Let's hope that Atlas continues to price them as reasonably as IR did.

Jim

[fwright]

As far as track goes, I would be very happy to see Atlas expand its O27 lineup to include O27 switches. They already have the curves.

My 2 cents
Fred W

[trigtrax]

I find this interesting in terms of the shake out and consolidation that has been predicted for the O-Gauge Market. It's also notable that this acquistion as the previous expansion of the Williams Line and the proposed marketing deal with Lionel/K-Line all focus on the lower priced segment of the Hobby.. Has everybody realized we have an abundance of up-scale trains and real growth lies at the bottom?

[Anonymous]

Paint schemes that are sorely missing in the Industrial Rail Line are these for the Covered Hoppers:

SOO LINE's 1959 Ortner 4-Bay Covered Hoppers with the then new Soo Line image.

Chicago & North Western in an accurate 1980's Safety Yellow Scheme like the TrainMan Line Extended-Vision Caboose. Officially Licenced from the UPRR

SOUTHERN 1959-1960 Magor Car Co. Aluminum Hopper with Bright Red Lettering

SEABOARD and L&N Magor Car Co. Aluminum Hoppers with Black Lettering.

PRR to PC Magor Car Co. Aluminum Hoppers.

ILLINOIS CENTRAL GULF with a Bright Orange Body.

For the Box Cars, Jim Weaver and his staff can choose from real schemes on PS-1 50' Boxcars from railroads like the ILLINOIS CENTRAL and Grand Trunk Western.
The experimental scheme applied on the SOO LINE 1961 series of PS-1 50' Box Cars could be run exactly as it appeared, instead of the revised version that was on the first run of INDUSTRIAL RAIL Boxcars.

Andrew F.

[Anonymous]

The INDUSTRIAL RAIL Open-Top Two-Bay Covered Hoppers with Coal Loads would be great painted as an NS Aluminum Coal Car, a BNSF Aluminum Coal Hopper with Bright Green Ends & Deep Red Ends, a CNW Aluminum Coal Hopper with Dark Green Ends, and for the Seaboard System. Why not apply the Aluminum Coal Gondola and Aluminum Coal Hopper schemes on the Open-Top, Two-Bay Hopper?

The Flat Car with Bulkheads & Stakes has yet to be run for the Soo Line and Chicago & North Western.

It will iteresting to see what Locomotives and sets are produced for the INDUSTRIAL RAIL line now that ATLAS O has it.

Andrew F.

[brianel027]

Andrew F, now those last 2 are not only practical ideas but good ones at that. I've done this and they look great. I've even cut the bottom off the 2-bay hopper and made my own "bath tub" rounded bottom.

Again, I don't think the non-scale 027 buyer is nearly as fussy over precise prototype as the typical scale modeler, simply for the limitations of the tight radius curve.

Another simple idea I've done (and would be cool to see some one do) is to make my own "tupperware tops" as the Chessie had done. They converted open top hoppers to covered ones with a rounded cover dubbed as "tupperware tops." The Chessie and Conrail were the only 2 railroads I know of to have used this.

I've also used my IR flat cars as the basis for my own built coil cars. The flat side of the saide frame works better than the 11 inch Lionel flat car, along with the lack of the side molded brakewheel stand. And having gone to a train yard and measured myself, there are actual shorter length coil cars around 40 feet long. The Lionel 027 coil covers work well for this project combined with the IR flat car.

UMD did a fairly good job at balance when it came to roadname selection and era. I do hope Atlas will wisely do the same with the standard old favorites as well as the current (or recently current) new class A railroads.

[Anonymous]

Hello,

Shortly after the Soo Line Railroad Company took over the Milwaukee Road, TRAINS magazine ran photos of two experimental Candy Apple Red schemes by the Soo Line. A former MILW Caboose painted Red with the name SOO LINE across the top and a SOO LINE 50' Box Car painted Red. Those schemes are the types of color and graphic combinations that I would like to see on future INDUSTRIAL RAIL releases.

What about a Conrail Maintenance of Way Train consisting of a Gondola, Hopper, Flat Car, Covered Hopper, Box Car, and Caboose all in Bright Yellow with Black Graphics. No one has made that train.

Andrew F.

[waltrapp]

Sounds like O27 just might still be alive and well !!!!! YEAH, there's still hope for my layout :-)

- walt

[IRONROOSTER]

Good to see this line will continue. Anyone have information on Industrial Rail's HO and N lines? Are they part of this deal?
Enjoy
Paul

[Anonymous]

"Again, I don't think the non-scale 027 buyer is nearly as fussy over precise prototype as the typical scale modeler, simply for the limitations of the tight radius curve."
----------------

Boy, I sure hope not! I like the O27 stuff better than the scale items myself--at least for layouts the size that I'm able to have. And rivet-counting has most definitely never been a preoccupation with me no matter what scale I'm modeling in.

[Anonymous]

This is great news to hear! I've always agreed with brianelO27 and others that there needs to be more out there in O27 for beginners, especially in modern roadnames that are appealing to younger enthusiasts and, more importantly, that are affordable. I'm especially excited about Atlas' intentions to produce starter sets! Not only will it give the customer more choice and variety in the marketplace, but it will also provide competition for Lionel and MTH, which will hopefully make them work harder on their O27 lines. I'll definitely be folowing this story closely!

QUOTE: Originally posted by IRONROOSTER

Good to see this line will continue. Anyone have information on Industrial Rail's HO and N lines? Are they part of this deal?
Enjoy
Paul

Industrial Rail's HO and N products are actually just Life-Like cars that are packaged in Industrial Rail boxes. There isn't anything unique about them compared to the ones sold under the Life-Like name, they're the exact same roadnames and everything. The Life-Like logo even appears on the bottom. My local hobby shop has them in stock and what's interesting is that they are cheaper than the Life-Like cars they're selling.

[nblum]

The hobby can always use additional products that appeal to those who are beginners or on a limited budget. And Atlas has uniformly been a class act in an industry where that is a particular plus. I wouldn't count on real bargain prices, just value for money, like Atlas's HO and N gauge products in particular.