Best GP9 in N scale?

[ednadolski]

Per the topic:  who makes the best EMD GP9 in N scale?   Atlas, Walthers, other...?   By 'best' in this case I mean things like tooling quality, accuracy, performance, and ability to take a sound decoder and speaker.   But not necessarily paint schemes or details that a modeler could install after-market.   (It also is preferable for something not made of unobtanium.)

TIA!

Ed

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Atlas makes the only GP9 in N scale.

So the Atlas one. 

[nickelplate759]

Atlas - most recent version.  There have been at least four versions.  You want the most recent one (I've had them all).

1.  Atlas / Roco.  Don't even think about it (although I was glad to have them way back when).
2.  Atlas / Kato - it's a Frankenmodel, on the RS3 chassis. Looks odd.  Ran well (and fast) for it's day, but not up to current standards. not DCC-ready (but can be done).
3.  Atlas/China rev. 1.   Not DCC-ready.  Looks good, runs well, still fast.  Updated at some point with "scale-speed motor"
4.  Atlas/China current (Master).     Really very good.  Getting sound in it might be a challenge, but I'll bet @jdcolombo has figured it out - or Atlas will offer it that way in an upcoming release.

Come to think of it, I don't think anyone else has offered a decent GP9.  Bachmann has a GP7, and the old Arnold GP9 (once sold by Walthers too) was more of a cartoon than a GP9.

[C855B]

Yeah... if Walthers had one in ex-LifeLike (I don't think they did - a GP18, tho'), it would have been sold to Atlas, anyway. I have three or four Atlas '9s. Yeoman performers, although one I just can't get to run right, so it's in the bottomless bench queue.

At one time Bachmann had a GP7, but it hasn't been cataloged since they went to sound models.

If were talking history here, I think Bobbye Hall offered a brass GP9, but those qualify as "unobtanium" and also not the best runners.

[cfritschle]

Come to think of it, I don't think anyone else has offered a decent GP9.  Bachmann has a GP7, and the old Arnold GP9 (once sold by Walthers too) was more of a cartoon than a GP9.

The old Arnold Rapido "GP9" was their GP7 with a dynamic brake blister.   

They were very durable, but loud!  I will have to get mine out of the retired locos box to see if it still runs.   

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Speaking of the Atlas one though, I'm waiting with baited breath for a new sound revision.

[Mark5]

2.  Atlas / Kato - it's a Frankenmodel, on the RS3 chassis. Looks odd.  Ran well (and fast) for it's day, but not up to current standards. not DCC-ready (but can be done).

This version was sooooooo horrible - I almost left N scale because of this release.

The old Arnold Rapido "GP9" was their GP7 with a dynamic brake blister.   

They were very durable, but loud!  I will have to get mine out of the retired locos box to see if it still runs.

I had one of these for a little while back in the early 70s - was a high riding monster with really big wheels and even bigger flanges! Sounded like it would be a good coffee grinder though. 

[Pomperaugrr]

Speaking of the Atlas one though, I'm waiting with baited breath for a new sound revision.

Same here.  I would love to swap out the chassis on my 2 Housatonic GP9's.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Same here.  I would love to swap out the chassis on my 2 Housatonic GP9's.

Yep. I have like half a dozen geeps that could use an enlouddening. lol.

I'm too lazy to go the @jdcolombo route, but a shell swap? Sign me up!

[u18b]

I know it is still vaporware because of pandemic and supply backlogs.....

But remember that Atlas will be bringing out a revised version of the Life Like GP20 with sound.

So........ when it gets here, you may be able to swap shells and make it a sound equipped GP9.

https://shop.atlasrr.com/c-1508-n214.aspx

[daniel_leavitt2000]

The hood on the Atlas is OK. I really wish they did something with the number boards because they never look right. The handrails suck and they need to go to separate handrail and walkway parts. The fuel tank is so basic that the LL GP18 blows it out of the water and the split frame version was released only 5-6 years after. These really need an update.

Also maybe a modernized still that would feature a cut back skirt and flat pilots with plows. Oh and a PIII would be nice too.

[w neal]

Aye. But will they do the ole Life Like c424s mit sound? Talk about chasis replacement!!

[Sumner]

I found the following install....

https://jtburketrains.sitelio.me/atlasgp7

... that didn't involve any milling (a little filing).  I'll probably be trying to copy it as I want sound in two Atlas GP7's/GP9's I have for two identical coal trains I need.  I'll post when I finally do it but if someone else does it or finds another install I'd like to see it.

Sumner

[tehachapifan]

The hood on the Atlas is OK. I really wish they did something with the number boards because they never look right. The handrails suck and they need to go to separate handrail and walkway parts. The fuel tank is so basic that the LL GP18 blows it out of the water and the split frame version was released only 5-6 years after. These really need an update.

Also maybe a modernized still that would feature a cut back skirt and flat pilots with plows. Oh and a PIII would be nice too.

Never quite understood the thick handrails on the GP9, while their GP7 has super-thin handrails (at least the one I have does). I guess the GP7 came out sometime later? At any rate, with so many similarities between the GP7 and GP9, you would think they could share design characteristics, if not actual parts.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Never quite understood the thick handrails on the GP9, while their GP7 has super-thin handrails (at least the one I have does). I guess the GP7 came out sometime later? At any rate, with so many similarities between the GP7 and GP9, you would think they could share design characteristics, if not actual parts.

The GP7 has the tube style stanchions, right? I always thought the Cross section on the GP9 handrails had to do with the depth of the channel in the stanchion and the drafting angle required to mold that properly.