A-Stack Container SFCM 950003 Kit HO

The Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad built seven of these containers in 1982. Three were made of aluminum, while the other four were of fiberglass. The container is equipped with trough hatches on the roof similar to a covered hopper as an experiment in bulk material containerization. They were designed to be double stacked on the Santa Fe's Fuel Foiler spine cars. The cars were modified to have no trailer deck, rather they have low mounted container pedstals on transverse beam assemblies. The Fuel Foiler car design was eventually purchased and sold by ITEL as their IMPACK model. A modified Athearn or Walthers kit with scratchbuilt container pedestals would be able to carry the containers.

The strange shape of the container allowed it to effectivly wrap around the spine car's spine and be low-slung enough to be double stacked and still fit within the loading gauge. The units were 45 feet long and were not interchangeable with standard ISO containers, which understandably led to their demise. The container pedastals that are normally on 40 foot centers on regular containers are closer together on A-Stack containers. Three of the A-Stack containers are preserved at the Western America Railroad Museum in Barstow, California.

950003 is one of the fiberglass containers. Its defining feature are the vertical slots that are on the side of the container. They are presumably part of an interior structure in the container.

In order to build a complete model, you will need:

• A-Stack container model (this product)
• Santa Fe trailer decals
• White paint 
• Silver paint

Model Assembly:​

1. Paint the model - The fiberglass containers were painted white. The thin trim piece that runs around the top edge of the container is painted silver on this unit.
2. Decal the model - The containers were painted in the same scheme as some Santa Fe trailers with the large "Santa Fe" blue billboard lettering. Decals for those trailers would be appropriate for the containers.