Introduction to A1G, the Atlas "1st Generation"...

The "first generation" of rolling stock imported by the Atlas Tool Company, of Hillside, New Jersey, was the backbone of N Scale layouts everywhere during the late 1960's and early 1970's. Sourced from both Rivarossi (Italy) and Roco (Austria), the Atlas "first generation" consisted of a wide variety of body styles, a number of which had never been made before in 1:160, and a few of which have not been made since.

By my reckoning, the "first generation" of Atlas cars ended with the release of the 94 foot "whale belly" tank cars, and the "second generation" began with the release of the "beer can" tank cars, which were made by Atlas in the United States. However, there is a "one and a halfth" generation, some of which is here also: would you believe-- Atlas freight car kits?!? And the exquisitely detailed limited run cars made in China for Atlas, like the 33,000 gallon tank cars, really should be thought of as the "third generation" of their product line.

My first N Scale train set, a Christmas gift in 1969, was an Atlas product. And my first two additional cars, purchased at the legendary Model Railroad Equipment Company in midtown Manhattan, were also from Atlas. In the late 1990's, I realized that I had quietly accumulated nearly every freight and passenger car offered by Atlas in the first generation, and decided to complete the set. With the exception of variations of specific cars, I'm done, and the results are here for your enjoyment.

Meanwhile, there is also an excellent page discussing the Atlas Freight Car Kits (yes, kits!) that appeared in between the end of the "First Generation" and the start of the "Second Generation"-- so I call it the "one and a halfth generation". See that site, looked after by Ross Fink, here. And there's also the site of Doug Gosha devoted to the A1G locomotives, temporarily unavailable but hopefully back online soon (thanks for deleting it without warning, AOL!).

There has been increased interest in the "accumulation" of the A1G series among N Scalers. Part of the appeal is the fact that these items are now close to 30 years old! While not "collectible" in the sense that, say, Micro-Trains® are, the large variety of body styles and paint schemes make this group of rolling stock attractive. In addition, since they were sold for years, much of the series is quite commonly found at swap meets, flea markets and the Internet; although some cars are quite scarce in reasonable condition. In short, you won't go bankrupt trying to assemble a complete set...!

Atlas is of course not only alive and well, but prospering, today. They have changed their name to the Atlas Model Railroad Company and offer an extensive line of track, electrical products, handbooks, structures, freight cars and limited run locomotives in both N and HO Scales, plus their "Atlas O" line in O Scale and Hi-Rail. Click here to visit their official web site.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

The N Scale historical community owes a huge debt to the late Barry Wingard, who really got this started when he collated manufacturer data back in the early 1980's (!!!) and published "The Collector's Guide To N Scale" in 1985. Even today it remains a "must have" book for serious students of N Scale.

Other thanks to Ola Ahlström of Sweden for finding and scanning a whole bunch of pages from the 1971/72 Rivarossi/Atlas catalog and providing them to me; Bill Barr, Charlie Vlk, the late Don Brown and Kelly Cruise of the 'N'ternet community for data, advice and support, and Edward Bridges for gracious permission to use the scans that, among other data, form the 2303 variation page. Special thanks to Paul Graf of Atlas Model Railroad Company for granting permission to post images of the Atlas catalogs of the past.

Lastly and most importantly, thanks to my dad, for giving me that Atlas N Scale train set more than 30 years ago. It didn't keep me away from his HO layout, but it did get a lifetime hobby going, and my life would be far less rich without it.

The A1G pages will be updated intermittently as time allows and/or new information is located by or shared with me, so keep checking back or watch for announcements on several 'net venues for alerts on when new pages are posted, most notably the "A1G" list on Yahoo!Groups.

Now, let's have a look at the Atlas First Generation...