Atlas buys Walthers tooling

[asarge]

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

I had one I decided to try and do derailment damage and put it on flatcar. That didn't work out too well. pretty much melted one side of it.

[randgust]

I have the feeling this is going to turn into an exercise of 'perfection is the enemy of good' here.   The protos and the rivet counters can justifiably pick apart a lot of the LL-Walthers stuff, everybody has their favorite glitch.   So there will be at least some debate within Atlas as to whether they 'dare' to rerun a given item as is, or fix tooling, or simply park it, cherry-pick a few select items with some new roadnames and minor updates.

I don't think most of the LL/Walthers stuff was so awful that it can't be sold, particularly if the price is right.   They made a business decision here, they've essentially rescued a LOT of product, potentially, and need to get a return from it without a lot of backfire from here.   Atlas has shown an ability to evolve forward with models as needed, right?   We'll have to wait some of this out.    But think about it.   Do you really want to wait for X years for a certain model to hit the shelf again because it has cast-on handrails or a detail in the wrong place?   

Some of the work like the GP20's was just stellar.  I've got maybe 30 locomotives in Santa Fe on my 1972 layout, and one of about three that haven't been redone from factory paint is the warbonnet GP20.  Man, that's a nicely decorated unit, certainly as good as any Atlas, pulls better than any Atlas, and at least when I got themas LL's  was a lot less expensive.   Now, it doesn't have a cutout for sound, so will we wait for five years to see it again waiting for that feature?   And even the old F40PH was an EXCELLENT trainset engine, virtually nothing to break off in smaller hands.   The SW chassis, despite the weird pickups, has also evolved and is a pretty good takeoff, and the body tooling still compares well with current work.

I wonder if they purchased the naming rights.   They could simply call it "Atlas-Life Like", to distinguish the product instead of "Trainman".   That GP15 has a heck of a lot more mechanism design flaws in it than the GP20.

[learmoia]

Which LL GP38-2??

Is the old one still around?

~Ian

[High Hood]

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

It does have a better interior than the Atlas car, and the stirrups and ladders are much better in my opinion. I think the side panel/rib spacing is more accurate too, so there's some good parts.

The "shadow" you can see on the outside of the bays is not good, and the wierd underframe 

[cbroughton67]

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.

Did Atlas get the tooling for the GP9u as well?


Some GP16 rebuilds would be wonderful.

[Mark5]

It does have a better interior than the Atlas car, and the stirrups and ladders are much better in my opinion. I think the side panel/rib spacing is more accurate too, so there's some good parts.

The "shadow" you can see on the outside of the bays is not good, and the wierd underframe 

Agreed, but the weight of the car sux, fix that and you'd be much closer to a functional car. 

Mark

[Rossford Yard]

Did Atlas get the tooling for the GP9u as well?


Some GP16 rebuilds would be wonderful.

Would those be different enough from IM upcoming GP 10 to sell well?  I guess Atlas could make slight variants, but that was always said to be the problem with making chop noses, since many done in house by railroads themselves, getting them specific enough was  a challenge.  However, most mfg's are now coming out with several proto variations, so maybe.


For all the ease Atlas has in reissuing  LL and Walthers locos to develop product, IMHO, their biggest score would be to have a few gen sets come to market......not GP 38, SD 7, GP 18, etc.

[Bruce Bird]

brokemoto:
"LL did do #303 and #304 in the plastic frame.  You can adapt the plastic frame shells to the metal chassis, if you can find a WM in plastic frame at a show, or somewhere.  I was surprised that LL substituted L&Ns for the WMs when it went to the metal frame.  LL usually would run a road that ran into Baltimore, if said road had that power."
 
 I had heard that they originally had WM on the production list, but since they were producing A-B sets and the WM never had B-units, that they switched to L&N after production had started once they were clued in to the error. I don't think it's a coincidence that they picked an L&N scheme that was black and gold also, almost as if they already had the shells painted black....

[coosvalley]

 ..was always said to be the problem with making chop noses, since many done in house by railroads themselves, getting them specific enough was  a challenge.

EMD made a kit to chop the noses, and most proto bashes are based on that kit, though some roads used their own design..

[jagged ben]

LL did a GP9u?  Wha?

[thomasjmdavis]

LL did a GP9u?  Wha?

Life Like Canada, eh.
http://www.wig-wag-trains.com/Walthers/L-L%20Pages/Life-Like-Canada-GP-9-Product-Page.htm

Referred to as a "N scale Proto 2000"  - I thought Proto 2000 was an HO marketing thing.
Is Life Like Canada still a separate entity, or is it part of what was sold to Walthers and now to Atlas?

[learmoia]

Isn't the GP 18 also setup for high and low nose?
~Ian

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Isn't the GP 18 also setup for high and low nose?
~Ian

The LL GP18 shell was extensively retooled between the plastic and split frame runs. Pilots were filled in. The nose and hood became a single unit and the handrails were made much skinnier. I don't believe the shells are interchangable.

I know Walthers was working on retooling the low nose version at one point, but I think that project was shelved. I imagine Atlas will bring the low nose version out at some point.

The GP9U was LL/Hobycraft which later changed its name to True Line Trains. The LL Hobbycraft GP9 shared only truck, motor and shaft components with the standard LL line. I believe the C424 was originally a Hobbycraft project, but was later sold to LL proper, and should be part of the Atlas purchase.

One wonders if Atlas received any aborted projects from Walthers.

[JanesCustomTrain]

Would those be different enough from IM upcoming GP 10 to sell well?

Yes, that IM GP10 will be dipped in glue to hold everything together (like every other IM release so far).

Jane 

[Rossford Yard]

Yes, that IM GP10 will be dipped in glue to hold everything together (like every other IM release so far).

Jane

LOL. Stopped at Train Life/Exact Rail yesterday, and saw the bargain bin with a CNW grain hopper, and sticky note "glue issues".  So, even the mfgs with high reps for quality over use the glue at times.