Atlas SD45's

[mark.hinds]

Molded-on grabs?   

Isn't that better than out-of-scale, sloppily applied separate grab irons?  I actually prefer the molded-on ones on Kato F-units to the separate ones on IM F-units, for that reason. 

MH

[jagged ben]

Well, this is news.
They did a good thing choosing original SP numbers instead of the rebuilt numbers that Kato did.
Hope there's a Kodachrome SP in the future.
Hope Soundtraxx is a copy paste error or at least there's a ready-made ESU board that will fit in these.  Not that I have time to mess with soundfiles, much as I wish I did.
Probably too much to ask that the headlight is lighted on the SP models, but at least it's there in the artwork.

[lock4244]

Isn't that better than out-of-scale, sloppily applied separate grab irons?  I actually prefer the molded-on ones on Kato F-units to the separate ones on IM F-units, for that reason. 

MH

The prototypes aren't equipped with grabs made out of 4" schedule 40 pipe, so I'd have to agree. The Atlas N scale GP40-2W has a three wire grabs on top of the nose, then the ladder up the nose and the rear are molded on. It's a strange hybrid but I won't complain about it, the grabs are nice and thin imo.

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[kiwi_al]

Well, this is news.
They did a good thing choosing original SP numbers instead of the rebuilt numbers that Kato did.
Hope there's a Kodachrome SP  SF in the future.
Hope Soundtraxx is a copy paste error or at least there's a ready-made ESU board that will fit in these.  Not that I have time to mess with soundfiles, much as I wish I did.
Probably too much to ask that the headlight is lighted on the SP models, but at least it's there in the artwork.

There I fixed it for you!   

[garethashenden]

Here is the response I got from Atlas.

Thank you for your interest in Atlas products. Regarding your concerns about the SD45:
 
The catalog mistakenly mentioned a 21-pin decoder. It will in fact have a Next18.
 
Regarding Soundtraxx vs ESU, we chose Soundtraxx since their Next18 decoder is small enough to fit in this application, ESU’s is too large. With ESU already working on the next interface (likely 24 pin) it seemed that they had no plans for a narrower Next18 decoder. So it was simply a hard numbers situation.

[reinhardtjh]

Here is the response I got from Atlas.

Thank you for your interest in Atlas products. Regarding your concerns about the SD45:
 
The catalog mistakenly mentioned a 21-pin decoder. It will in fact have a Next18.
 
Regarding Soundtraxx vs ESU, we chose Soundtraxx since their Next18 decoder is small enough to fit in this application, ESU’s is too large. With ESU already working on the next interface (likely 24 pin) it seemed that they had no plans for a narrower Next18 decoder. So it was simply a hard numbers situation.

I hope the board Atlas created with the Next18 connector has the same outline as the former ESU boards so that swapping an ESU LokSound 5 Micro DCC Direct or the LokSound 5 Micro DCC Direct Atlas Legacy is possible without too much work.  Otherwise a Nano will probably do for a wired install.  The 24-pin interface is a reality, it's used on the Nano.

[peteski]

Atlas response

Regarding Soundtraxx vs ESU, we chose Soundtraxx since their Next18 decoder is small enough to fit in this application, ESU’s is too large. With ESU already working on the next interface (likely 24 pin) it seemed that they had no plans for a narrower Next18 decoder. So it was simply a hard numbers situation.

I don't follow that.  ESU already makes single-board narrow V4 and V5 sound decoders (fitting Atlas, IM, Kato and other narrow hood models).   Or Atlas is bent on supplying models with a generic DC circuit boards with a Next 18 DCC connector, instead of just using a narrow-board sound decoder?   

Speaking of Soundtraxx, I wonder why Kato seems to have made the same move?

[ridinshotgun]

Atlas response
I don't follow that.  ESU already makes single-board narrow V4 and V5 sound decoders (fitting Atlas, IM, Kato and other narrow hood models).   Or Atlas is bent on supplying models with a generic DC circuit boards with a Next 18 DCC connector, instead of just using a narrow-board sound decoder?   

Speaking of Soundtraxx, I wonder why Kato seems to have made the same move?

I wouldn't mind a generic board.  I would hope you could at least you can plug an ESU 59818 into it.  That I can live with since I don't need sound.  But still not clear that can be done or did I miss it in their answer?

[peteski]

I wouldn't mind a generic board.  I would hope you could at least you can plug an ESU 59818 into it.  That I can live with since I don't need sound.  But still not clear that can be done or did I miss it in their answer?

If Atlas bothered to feature Next18 connector (that  iv verified few posts earlier) it woudl be really silly for them to onlyoffer that loco with preinstalled Next 18 decoder).  Other manufactures of models featuring a standard connector inside offer them in DCC or DC (with dummy plug) versions, or just with a dummy plug, so the owner can install a decoder.

[kscessandriver]

I wouldn't mind a generic board.  I would hope you could at least you can plug an ESU 59818 into it.  That I can live with since I don't need sound.  But still not clear that can be done or did I miss it in their answer?

If its a generic Next18 board, like what Scaletrains runs, there should be no reason they can't plug a ESU 58828 into it for sound. I wonder if Soundtraxx is selling decoders cheaper/at a loss, to try to make a run at market share in N scale?

[garethashenden]

If its a generic Next18 board, like what Scaletrains runs, there should be no reason they can't plug a ESU 58828 into it for sound. I wonder if Soundtraxx is selling decoders cheaper/at a loss, to try to make a run at market share in N scale?

If there is enough space in the hood. At 10mm wide, I'm not sure there is.

[DonSuro]

One can only hope- a CR bicentennial SD45 #6092, former EL #3632 

[kscessandriver]

If there is enough space in the hood. At 10mm wide, I'm not sure there is.

So is the Soundtraxx decoder that much smaller? Everything I see puts the TSU-N18 at basically the same dimensions of an ESU 58828

[Steveruger45]

According to their website the tsunami next18 decoder is 9.5mm wide so about 0.5mm narrower.
https://soundtraxx.com/products/tsunami2-digital-sound-decoders/tsu-n18/

Will need to know the actual internal width of the hood on the model.
But, the ESU micro could possibly be pretty easy to fit instead. It may be just a bit tight and the factory didn’t want assembly to be delayed finessing the esu in.

Just a thought

[signalmaintainer]

Here is the response I got from Atlas.

Kudos to you for going straight to the source. Much better than endless, wearisome speculation.