Dear Atlas...................

[randgust]

I was always pretty much on the fence with a lot of this until the newest GP7 came out, with the decoder up high in the short nose.  So that DCC version chassis won't work with any low-nose GP's, period.   The DC one with a smaller board is tight, but the DCC is a no-go, and the speaker area is under the radiator.

In the GP40, it was an odd bracket under the motor and in the fuel tank.  I thought they'd do the GP7 the same way.

So as a result, I've discontinued by CF7 conversions for the forseeable future, with no ability to do DCC. 

And the way that's designed, I'm no DCC guru, but it doesn't look like anybody else's board will work in there.  Maybe.  Someday.

I'm a DC luddite, but mostly because I was in N scale to move longer trains, not listen to recordings.  The new GP7 weighs half as much as a Classic.   If I want to listen to trains, I have a DVD library.   The more 'stuff' that reduces weight, the worse it picks up and the less it pulls.   You can get away with that in HO, but in N scale it's a pretty tough battle against physics.

In fairness to Atlas, I think there was some surprise in there to realize just how much it handcuffed them in he placement of the DCC board in the short nose.  Actually, the performance otherwise is excellent, the wired trucks are done really well with plug removal, it's dead silent. 

[brokemoto]

The original PA-1 was plastic with huge lead weights,

Why the complaint about the plastic frame with lead weights?  It made for  a real stump puller of a locomotive.  In fact, the plastic frame E/PA chassis would be better than reverting to the flexing wires soldered to pivotting trucks which is what the manufacturers have done  The problem with this is that the joints come undone.  The LL plastic frames had the needlepoint axles that made contact with bronze inserts that made contact with bronze strips, similar to what the split frames do.  The difference is that on the plastic frame, you must run wires to the motor. 

Thus, on the plastic frame, you already have the motor isolated.  You undo one of the solder joints, wire in your decoder and the power is ready for service.  At the manufacturing level, the factory runs a wire from the contact strip to the decoder then one from decoder to motor.  You eliminate the moving solder joint that will come undone, eventually.

and the revision never got body details correct for the various roadnames.

Plus they never did P&LE.............................

The second run of the 0-8-0 was very nice,

The problem with those things was the plug from the locomotive to the tender.  The wires would come undone from the plug and the thing would not run.

I'm sympathetic to those that want/need certain models, like the Erie-built; I'd pay a LOT for an FM H10 or H12 switcher in NKP paint (heck, I'd pay a lot for one in ANY paint and just repaint it if needed). 

Erie builts look better on larger pikes with broad curves.  Switchers are better suited to the smaller size and sharper curves of home pikes.  Like you, I would like to see FM switchers that run to the standards of to-day.  We even have an MDT that runs to the current standards. (although its small footprint does require some electrical contact "help").  Why no FM yard switcher that runs to current standards?

[jdcolombo]

Why the complaint about the plastic frame with lead weights? 

Well, lead is toxic, which means if you wanted to be careful when trying to fit a DCC decoder (or much worse, a sound decoder/speaker) in one of those engines, you'd need to put on a hazmat suit to mill out the lead weight.  I actually did this once, outside with an N-95 mask and rubber gloves, long-sleeved shirt, etc.  Not exactly fun, and I'll admit to handling lead sheet without these protections lots of times. 

But you're right - the plastic frame/lead weight PA's could pull 100 cars without a sweat.  I'd put them on the front of a 70-car mixed freight when our local club had its N-trak layout up and running for the public (no one seemed to mind, even if the PA's were technically passenger engines).  The shell, unfortunately, was crap.

John C.

[peteski]

Personally I think the dangerousness of metallic lead is quite overstated.  But YMMV.

As a kid I played with unpainted lead solders (and probably put them in my mouth few times).  I believe lead flashing is still used in roofing (I bought some to use as weights for my trains, and large portion of model RR equipment (in multiple scales) used lead as ballast for their model locomotives for a very long time.

[lock4244]

Does anyone have any inside scoop on the Atlas U23B? I'm pretty new to the scene and I didn't quite understand the whole pre-order thing at first. I "bought" a Chessie U23B a year and a half ago and then only later learned more about how it really works. I see Atlas' production schedule has just kinda given up with a "TBA", whereas most of the other stuff seems to get bumped from quarter to quarter.

The GP40-2's were in a similar TBA situation and I see that they were just updated to a transit date of April 5, so maybe there is hope yet.

@mkearns

Welcome to model railroad manufacturing in current year. Probably a host of reasons for the delay, but the fact that the manufacturing is done in China and the litany of issues that comes with that is the likely answer to the TBA on the U23B's.

If you were to ask around you'd find this is pretty common for our hobby, with some manufacturers better than others, and some downright laughable.

[mkearns]

Thanks. I’ve gathered there was a big problem in 2018 with the Atlas factory. Didn’t know if the U23B was a victim of that. Or other more general tooling or production issues for this specific model causing it to fall further behind more recent announcements. I’ve got other Atlas Chessie power in the meantime. No worries. Thanks again.

[randgust]

I really want to see how they solve the sound+speaker+decoder problem on a low nose B-B chassis now.   

I could be easily brought back, it's not like I'm beyond taking out a speaker or other electrical stuff and putting in lead!  I've been pulling that stunt on Atlas units since the SD24 came out.  It isn't just on the tractive effort, that's the secret sauce on electrical pickup.

I do look at HO mechanisms and I'm frankly envious.   Look at all that empty air in there.  And they pull just fine.   I was working in a hobby shop selling HO in the blue box era and the major problem was on how fast the brass track would oxidize up.  Nobody complained about how stuff pulled, and just about nobody had room for a 15-car train on their layouts anyway.    40' cars, 18" and 22" radius.   

Meanwhile I'm trying to pack a decoder, speaker, and all the weight that will fit in a steam tender in N.

[peteski]

I do look at HO mechanisms and I'm frankly envious.   Look at all that empty air in there.  And they pull just fine.   I was working in a hobby shop selling HO in the blue box era and the major problem was on how fast the brass track would oxidize up.  Nobody complained about how stuff pulled, and just about nobody had room for a 15-car train on their layouts anyway.    40' cars, 18" and 22" radius.   

That is not really a fair comparison.  After all H0 is almost twice the size of N scale, so  of course the locos will have more room inside and be much heavier.  It is stating the obvious.  No need to envy anything. You could change your modeled scale.  Just look how many more structures, rand models in general are available on H0. Some N-scalers here have gone to the H0 side. 

[Lenny53]

Atlas Acquires True Line Trains Molds

Hillside, NJ – Atlas Model Railroad Company, Inc. is proud to announce that it has purchased certain molds and tooling from True Line Trains of Ontario, Canada.

Models in this acquisition include in HO scale the C-Liner and RS18 Locomotives, the Slab Side Covered Hopper, the 50' Newsprint Freight Car, the Fowler Stock Car, the Bulkhead Flat Car, the CN/CP Caboose and the 40' AAR Box Car. In N scale, Atlas has acquired the C424 and GP9 Locomotives.

"True Line Trains made some great models over the years that we are excited to now produce under the Atlas name," said Paul Graf, CEO of Atlas. "They will fit right in with the other high quality model railroad products we make in HO & N scale."

https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=50773.msg685640#msg685640

Their N scale RS18 ended up on an Atlas RS11 drive, sounds like Atlas has an opportunity here as the original run is highly sought after.

[Doug G.]

In the early days of N scale (mid to late nineteen sixties, nineteen seventies), even with the almost constant hassles between European manufacturers and American distributors (Atlas/Rivarossi/RoCo, Merzbach/Arnold, Aurora/Trix/RoCo, Revell/Arnold, MRC/Sekisui/RoCo, ConCor/Sekisui[Kato]), things were NEVER as bad back then as they are now.

Doug

[lock4244]

Their N scale RS18 ended up on an Atlas RS11 drive, sounds like Atlas has an opportunity here as the original run is highly sought after.

So you're saying I should sell my surplus and lock-in my profits?

My biggest complaint was that they didn't do multiple road numbers for the CN zebra scheme and that the only CP Rail units were RS-10's... a few years late for my era. Otherwise nicely executed for that time, not road specific or anything, but they are nice looking nonetheless and run very nicely.

[lock4244]

That is not really a fair comparison.  After all H0 is almost twice the size of N scale, so  of course the locos will have more room inside and be much heavier.  It is stating the obvious.  No need to envy anything. You could change your modeled scale.  Just look how many more structures, rand models in general are available on H0. Some N-scalers here have gone to the H0 side. 

Huge advantage to HO is constant parade of new products coming to market, especially if you're me, the Rapido line up and some of those Bowser MLW's and GMD goodies is so tempting.

Huge disadvantage to HO is constant parade of new products coming to market, especially if you're me, the Rapido line up and some of those Bowser MLW's and GMD goodies is so tempting. I'd be broke trying to keep up.

Have I thought about moving over to HO? Yup. But my N scale collection is large and I don't want to see just how much of a bath I'd take selling it off, so I'll stay here and just dream about M636's, SW1200RS's, GP9RM's, Canadian pig flats... plus HO models seem comically large after 40 years in 1:160.

[wm3798]

But when will we get a freshened up 0-8-0?

[kiwi_al]

But when will we get a freshened up 0-8-0?

Apparently that tooling went MIA - If my memory serves me correctly Atlas didn't get the tooling.

[garethashenden]

Apparently that tooling went MIA - If my memory serves me correctly Atlas didn't get the tooling.

They didn't get the Life Like 0-8-0 tooling. Lee's model is the Atlas 0-8-0 made by Rivarossi and introduced in 1967.

http://www.spookshow.net/loco/riv080.html
http://www.spookshow.net/loco/ll080.html