Time to get started... SD40-2s and SD35 trucks

[bnsfdash8]

Hate to ask a stoopid question but could someone post a side by side comparison of the trucks? I'm not quite sure what the differences are you all are talking about.
Thanks!

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Wait... I thought that I did make flexicoilds for the HT-C truck...

If you do a version for the atlas truck, I guarantee you an order for four of them immediately.

[crrcoal]

Thank you! Now I see what you guys are talking about. If worse comes to worse, could you just install the shock on the center of the truck to give the illusion of it being HT-C? Doesn't seem it would be too hard to do and would be a decent stand-in until a correct truck was available.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

We are doing the opposite. Conrail ordered SD40-2 and SD50 engines with flexcoil trucks, not HTC. Flexcoil trucks lack the center shock and the frame extension on the inboard side of the truck.

Atlas HTC trucks look like crap, and modifying them to look like flexcoil trucks just makes them look worse.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Atlas HTC trucks look like crap, and modifying them to look like flexcoil trucks just makes them look worse.

Damn! That's some shade there!

But yeah, I'd love an easy replacement/upgrade. I plan on writing up the steps to upgrade them for the Conrail Quarterly, so hopefully there will be some visibility for the whole thing too.

[cjm413]

Stretched SD35 chassis?

https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=28510.0

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Stretched SD35 chassis?

https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=28510.0

No way. I want to preserve the sound setup.

Honestly, I just need to bribe @dcutting to do an Atlas version of his Kato Flexicoil conversions.

[ncbqguy]

Not being an expert on "modern" units and never having researched the Conrail Flexicoils the photos appear to require new trucks.
The SD35 and earlier trucks are different than the Conrail versions applied instead of the HTC truck.   It looks like an entirely unique frame (possibly designed to use as many parts as possible common with the Flexicoils ?).
Check wheel centers; looks like it may be different than older Flexicoils which would require designing a new gearbox to reuse HTC gears and new pickup plates.
Charlie vlk

[cjm413]

Not being an expert on "modern" units and never having researched the Conrail Flexicoils the photos appear to require new trucks.
The SD35 and earlier trucks are different than the Conrail versions applied instead of the HTC truck.   It looks like an entirely unique frame (possibly designed to use as many parts as possible common with the Flexicoils ?).
Check wheel centers; looks like it may be different than older Flexicoils which would require designing a new gearbox to reuse HTC gears and new pickup plates.
Charlie vlk

I recall Athearn was able to offer CR SD40-2's and SD50's by putting Flexicoil sideframes on their GE Dash 9/AC4400 trucks that were also compatible with their SD40-2 chassis.

Off the top of my head, I dont know if there are any existing N scale powered GE trucks that will both accept Kato Flexicoil truck sideframes and fit a chassis designed for Atlas HT-C trucks.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Not being an expert on "modern" units and never having researched the Conrail Flexicoils the photos appear to require new trucks.

That's correct. They're entirely different trucks. In many cases, in order to approximate the right trucks, HTC trucks are often modified to look more like Flexicoils. That's what I've done on my Kato SD40-2 conversion and Atlas SD50s.

The SD35 and earlier trucks are different than the Conrail versions applied instead of the HTC truck.   It looks like an entirely unique frame (possibly designed to use as many parts as possible common with the Flexicoils ?).

Dammit Conrail... truly the descendent of the "Standard Railroad of the World".

Check wheel centers; looks like it may be different than older Flexicoils which would require designing a new gearbox to reuse HTC gears and new pickup plates.
Charlie vlk

There's definitely a difference. It's one of the challenges of doing the swap (especially for manufacturers). The good news is that it's not so bad you notice.

[cjm413]

That's correct. They're entirely different trucks. In many cases, in order to approximate the right trucks, HTC trucks are often modified to look more like Flexicoils. That's what I've done on my Kato SD40-2 conversion and Atlas SD50s.

Dammit Conrail... truly the descendent of the "Standard Railroad of the World".

There's definitely a difference. It's one of the challenges of doing the swap (especially for manufacturers). The good news is that it's not so bad you notice.

The Atlas SD35 trucks are compatible with Kato Flexicoil sideframes.

[Mark5]

You guys are confusing me  ... the Conrail SD40-2 units appear to use the same Flexicoil trucks that were used (in various configs) starting on the SD7 and ending on the 40 series C-C units.

At a glance they appear to be the same Flexicoil C2H truck that was used on late PRR SD45s.

http://utahrails.net/loconotes/loconotes-trucks.php

Mark

[Mark5]

The Atlas SD35 trucks are compatible with Kato Flexicoil sideframes.

Yup. I have units to prove it! (Robbman turned me on to this)

Mark

[Ed Kapuscinski]

The Atlas SD35 trucks are compatible with Kato Flexicoil sideframes.

Are the Atlas HTC sideframes compatible with the Kato ones?

[cjm413]

Are the Atlas HTC sideframes compatible with the Kato ones?

The Atlas HTC trucks can be upgraded with Kato wheelsets, but I'm not sure about the sideframes.