Atlas has been producing model railroad track products for over 80 years. A model railroad & hobby enthusiast himself, Atlas’ founder, Stephan Schaffan Jr. started producing switch kits the 1930s in the basement of his New Jersey home. Subsequently, Steve Jr. engineered the stapling of rail to fiber track, along with inventing the first practical rail joiner, flexible track and injection molded, plastic, ready-to-run turnouts. All of these products, and more, helped to popularize model railroading and assisted in the creation of a mass-market hobby.

Atlas’ first Customline turnouts were introduced in the 1950s. Through the years as significant improvements were made to the tooling, the newest release of turnouts was notated by being given a new number in the series of “Mark” turnout lines. The first of the revised turnouts was the Mark II series, with subsequent revisions resulting in introduction of Mark III and the current Mark IV turnouts. In the late 2010s, knowing that our Mark IV turnouts were approaching 20 years old, Atlas set out to bring modern features to this industry standard. 

Starting about two years ago, the process began in earnest. The Atlas Product Development team met with the designer and laid out all of the parameters that they desired for this next level turnout. Among the improvements requested were tighter tolerances throughout the turnout to match NMRA Standards and Recommended Practices, better detail on the guardrails and spike heads, and an easier method to power the frog if the user desired. In an effort to ensure that these newly designed turnouts would be seamlessly integrated on existing layouts, the tie size and color would remain unchanged and match the existing HO Code 100 track geometry. 

With plans in hand, the designer set to work, and returned a set of drawings that fulfilled the Product Development team’s requests and more! In order to create the highest level of detail, the guardrails were designed as separate parts. This allowed for the guardrails to have the correct rail shaped profile and fine spike head detail, but also to be molded in a color that represented weathered rail. Satisfied with the drawings and happy to see that their ideas were one step closer to fruition, the Product Development team sent the final drawings to the Atlas factory, where work commenced on cutting the tooling. 

After several months, the factory sent Atlas’ team the first test shots of the new turnouts. There were some details that needed to be improved before testing could begin, so revisions were undertaken – multiple times in fact – until satisfied with the results. The refined samples were then installed on Atlas’ in house testing layout and trains were run through them for hours - in every direction and at different speeds - to make sure their performance was up to par. When the team was satisfied that the new turnouts met or exceeded both customer expectations and Atlas standards, the factory was given the production green light. 

Order Due Date: February 28, 2021

Anticipated Delivery Date: March 2021

Looking for more Atlas HO Scale Accessories, Parts & Track? Click here!

Looking for more Atlas HO Scale items? Click here!