Atlas buys Walthers tooling

[C855B]

I assume that Atlas will cherry pick the models that fit into their existing lines. Some are "master" quality, some are "trainman", others might not get released by Atlas.

I think most of the Lifelike/Wally split frame locos are quite good so we'll likely see most of em. As for rolling stock, only a handful of the Wally cars interest me.

I concur with this assessment. LL garnered a low reputation for fidelity and other quality issues in the early days, but in the '90s there was clearly a big effort to improve their image. However, that improvement seemed to be concentrated in their locomotive products. I have the [possibly incorrect] impression that the rolling stock was mostly left alone, that the original "lesser" tooling carried on and has subsequently outlived its usefulness.

[johnb]

Got to believe that reissuing PA's is going to be low on Atlas' list, given the other ones out there.  Similarly, I wouldn't look for a LL SD7/9 ever - Atlas already does the SD7/9 series, and the LL version was plastic frame.

I can see Trainman Sd's and Master SD's.....giving some kid a good entry point.

The old plastic frame locos are above par of the Bachmann train set stuff, and about the same pricepoint.

[bbussey]

My worry is that since if the cars: NACC box, PD5000, ballast hoppers are too crude and Atlas will abandon them rather than spend the money to update them. The NACC box has rivets 6+ inches LONG in some places near the door. Both hoppers would need totally new end details plus a roof walkway for the PD car. The ballast car has very bulky weights and I doubt it could be remedied easily.

I think the bay window caboose is on the cusp: new under frame, window glass and end rails. But they could sell. These are the same prototype that Bluflord is making.

The Thrall container cars are a no-brainer. They need milled articulated joints and etched details replacing the crappy plastic. A good model would easily sell $100 at the shop.

The cryo body is excellent but the under frame is garbage. That would be a fairly easy fix. I imagine they could also do a refrigerator conversion as well.

The PS covered hopper won't need much to be in the Trainman line.

The side dump, Greenville hopper and Russell plow could make it to the master line with little modification.

Maybe we'll see the rebirth of the 50' autobox. Without warped doors this time.

Does this mean Atlas will have X72s?!

The cars could go into the Trainman line. That makes the most sense.

You’ll have proper X72s shortly. 

[asarge]

I concur with this assessment. LL garnered a low reputation for fidelity and other quality issues in the early days, but in the '90s there was clearly a big effort to improve their image. However, that improvement seemed to be concentrated in their locomotive products. I have the [possibly incorrect] impression that the rolling stock was mostly left alone, that the original "lesser" tooling carried on and has subsequently outlived its usefulness.

A couple of silly comments from them made no sense whatsoever. One was that N scalers didn't want DCC and I know for a fact they did say that. The second one I'm not 100% sure of but they didn't do a lot to help their cause and that was reported as being that N scalers didn't care about detail. While we can go over board in detail for to produce the Berk and then doing the C&O without flipping the sand dome was a pretty good confirmation that they might have said that.

[asarge]

Another interesting aspect of that. Atlas NOW has a mechanism that can support chop nosed GP7s and GP9s. They've shown their willingness to do oddball units before (SD26s, SD60Es), so we may still some day see weird stuff like Paducah Geeps from them.

I would hope they would do Hi-Hood GP30's, 35's and 40's. Some may or may not consider those odd balls but come on....,....

[peteski]

What'd I miss about Deluxe?  Was there a thread on that?

Not a separate thread, but the info was posted in the NSE convention news thread in this post, and few more posts scattered later in that thread.

[Specter3]

This gives me hope that someone will now make a Greenville 100T woodchip car like this:

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

Walthers has them in HO and I feel sure no one wanted to commit to them with Walthers still hanging around. Now that they are out I am hoping someone will pick them up. Every southern railroad had a whole bunch of these or similar. But with Walthers still making them in HO it is still a long shot.

[nscalbitz]

Quote from: OldEastRR on Today at 02:30:09

    As to other Walthers freight cars: 42' wood side gon

I'm pretty sure that is the old Roco car so it isnt in this.

Mark

Correct.
And the B.mann version is near indistinguishable 'cept for screw mount trucks, so why would you not just get em?

Dave

[BOK]

The Walthers CryoTrans body could be used to replicate one of their newer, RBLs. They have 25-50 of these cars to handle high value commodities like wine. Attachment included.

I too would look forward to seeing Atlas producing a new underframe for this car and adding a reefer unit on one end to model their reefers. I have previously, discussed this with Paul, a while back, and suggested he might produce a similar car using the former BMLA reefer as a possibility...maybe even as "foobie"?

The CryoTrans cars are some of the most colorful of modern cars.

Barry

[nkalanaga]

Sound for mechanical reefers:  Instead of trying to convince manufacturers to add sound to all of the different models out there, most of which would require either floor or body modifications, why not a stand-alone sound generator, battery and/or track powered, that could be added to any car?  Someone, Aztec maybe?, used to make one.  I have it, in an ancient Atlas reefer from the 70s.  The only change was that the builder replaced the floor with an MDC floor, drilled some holes in it for sound and a small slide switch, and glued the button-battery powered sound unit to the inside of the floor.

The metal floor seems to be unneeded, unless one wants weight for track pickup, so the same technique could be used for an aftermarket device.  Drill some holes in the floor of your reefer, add the sound unit, and go.  With today's electronics, I'm sure it would sound better, and could probably be tailored to the various makes of reefer units.

Actually, I don't remember ever hearing a mechanical reefer make noise.  There were a lot of them in Pasco during the fruit harvest, but from normal viewing distances, there wasn't any obvious reefer noise.  It just blended in with the other yard and traffic noises, if the units were running at all.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Let's talk about duplicate entries:

SD7/9 The LL has a scale width hood and the detail is comparable. The Kato unit had end grab irons that the LL unit lacked, but this seems like only a small tooling mod to update the LL unit. If the LL unit was put on a split metal chassis and updated handrails, I think this would be better looking than the Classic unit now on sale.

GP38-2. Different phase than the Atlas models. Adapt the hood and cab to the Atlas Sound equipped chassis. Maybe use the walkways to update the GP40-2.

100T hopper. Will they just toss these molds? Didn't LL just copy the Atlas tooling in the first place?

SF offset cupola caboose. The LL version has a separate cupola with better fore and aft windows. Rivets are also much smaller than the Atlas model. I would sat Atlas should toss the Atlas version and update the LL version with finer end rails and window glass. (Proper trucks would help as well)

40' Stock car. These are very different models. Not sure if one should be retired or not.

50' Reefer. The LL version has a larger door but similar. Atlas could better match paint schemes to prototype.

50' Double Door box. These two models have similar proportions as well as side panels and skirting. The Atlas skirting is noticeably narrower but taller. The LL car has a very different door style.

40' ARA box. Kill the old LL version.

[James Costello]

I think most of the Lifelike/Wally split frame locos are quite good so we'll likely see most of em.

Put the LL GP20 or GP60 chassis against an Atlas GP and tell me LL didn't just walk into the factory and say "clone this"......

[ai5629]

Let's talk about duplicate entries:

GP38-2. Different phase than the Atlas models. Adapt the hood and cab to the Atlas Sound equipped chassis.

The issue here is that the LL models come with either a large or small fuel tank.  If you simply stick an Atlas mechanism under the LL shell, you get sound but the fuel tank is now potentially the wrong size depending on the road name.  Atlas has never offered a small fuel tank for its N scale GP38 lineup, and adding sound would seem to reduce the chance they ever will due to them needing the space for the speaker.  The LL GP38-2 mechanisms run extremely well.  I would prefer if they attempted to add sound to it and keep the correct small fuel tanks where appropriate.  Thank you.

Jeff

[asarge]

Let's talk about duplicate entries:


100T hopper. Will they just toss these molds? Didn't LL just copy the Atlas tooling in the first place?

If your talking about the Greenville 100 ton Aggregate hopper, no. I thought the old LL coal hopper was long gone.

[Mark5]

If your talking about the Greenville 100 ton Aggregate hopper, no. I thought the old LL coal hopper was long gone.

The old LL 100Ton hopper isn't worth resurrecting in my opinion (I have a few lying around)