Atlas SD-35 shell Atlas Paul

[Bobster]

Greetings,

Just curious, I have the Jersey Central DCC because I was able to get the locomotive at an excellent price.  Are there any other shells currently available?  CSX or SP?  What else might there be?

Thank you,
Bob

[mcjaco]

I was actually wondering if there are any shells at all.  The store seems a bit light lately.

I'm looking for a replacement ATSF/BNSF GP38. 

[C855B]

Decorated shells as separate parts? Nothing currently available, at least not from Atlas. They don't normally stock decorated shells as parts. On rare occasion they have decorated shell specials, but those are typically overruns of specific models, and then not all road names.

Your best bet is to troll eBay or ask on the Yahoo group, N Scale Yard Sale.

[mcjaco]

^ I though for awhile they had shells.....but my mind has been lost in a fog since I had kids. 

I've got my first "super detailed" n scale loco, and it's just terrible to look at now, but the mechanism is good, so I'd rather just re shell it, and start over.  Off to troll those sites. 

[Bendtracker1]

At one time they did sell just decorated shells.
But since they've revamped their web site I haven't seen them.  You might contact Atlas and see if they still have them or Maybe Paul will chime in.

[Atlas Paul]

You can try here http://shop.atlasrr.com/d-144-n-loco-shell-sale.aspx  but right now it looks pretty barren.  The deco shells are put up periodically as our guys have time, and we locate things that are no longer necessary for warranty repairs.

[Denver Road Doug]

EDIT:  Ooops, the horses mouth jumped in while I was typing.  So there ya go...   

I may be wrong, but I think the decorated shells they were selling weren't a "planned product" but rather the result of leftovers.

They had the $10 geeps leftover from the Atlas/Kato geep partnership era and then some others like the SD60's and a few others that ranged from $10-20.  My understanding is those were simply "warranty stock" or less popular road names and after 3-4 years they just dumped them.

Selling decorated shells for less than $20 is not something that can be done as a viable product.   But it is nice to be able to have a few extras.   I wonder what the magic number would be to outright purchase a decorated shell as part of a run.  Guessing more than half of the MSRP.

[Bobster]

Thank you all for the prompt replies,

I E-mailed Atlas several months back but got no reply.  I didn't follow up because I wasn't in a hurry.  I got the SD-35 at a store closing and figured I could track down a shell on ebay.  After a couple years, and no luck for a decorated shell,  I thought I would try Atlas.   

As SP connected with the Rock Island and CSX now runs on part of the Rock island I thought they might work.  I am trying to find a plausible reason to put it on the tracks.  Jersey Central in the Midwest....unlikely.   Pennsy & N&W were both in Peoria, IL but aren't in my area of interest.  Besides these I can't think of which roads might be right for an SD-35 on an Illinois/Midwest layout.

All replies are appreciated,
Bob L.

[Kisatchie]

...As SP connected with the Rock Island and CSX now runs on part of the Rock island I thought they might work.  I am trying to find a plausible reason to put it on the tracks.  Jersey Central in the Midwest....unlikely.   Pennsy & N&W were both in Peoria, IL but aren't in my area of interest.  Besides these I can't think of which roads might be right for an SD-35 on an Illinois/Midwest layout.

How about an L&N SD35? Here is the link to a photo of an L&N loco in Dolton, Illinois (Middle column of photos, second from the top):

http://lnrr.org/photos/locos/Diesel/EMD/SD35/locos.html

EDIT: I checked out several more photos, and saw an L&N loco in Chicago as well as other cities.


Hmm... I need pictures
of SD35s working on a
banana plantation...

[Pathtimber]

Hey Bob, if you are interested in getting rid of that SD 35 shell from Jersey Central I have a home for it! I have been looking for one for sometime. PM me and we can go from there.

I have had great luck finding shells on eBay, sometimes they are too costly though.


Chris

[mecgp7]

Atlas has lots of decorated shells for sale. No SD35s though.  Just enter "decorated" in the search engine on the parts page.  Paul from Atlas gave us the heads up back when they switched their online store.

[Mr Z]

As SP connected with the Rock Island and CSX now runs on part of the Rock island I thought they might work.  I am trying to find a plausible reason to put it on the tracks.  Jersey Central in the Midwest....unlikely.   Pennsy & N&W were both in Peoria, IL but aren't in my area of interest.  Besides these I can't think of which roads might be right for an SD-35 on an Illinois/Midwest layout.

What about Conrail? Conrail restenciled a lot of units when they first formed up and a lot of these lasted into the early 80's.

Here is a picture taken in Altoona in the early 80's of an ex B&O SD40 that was purchased by CNJ and now restenciled Conrail.


Martin Z

[mu26aeh]

I have an extra CSX #4586 SD35 shell if you're interested.

[Bobster]

Greetings again,

Thank you for the additional responses.  I have sent out a couple private messages.  I didn't  realize Conrail had SD35's also.   I already have another Conrail locomotive, a dash 8 CW.  I'm going to investigate further but did all CSX SD35's have that blue fuel tank and blue trucks?  If I go the CSX way I would like some yellow in the scheme.   I also would not part with the shell until I had a new one.  For the right price I would consider selling the locomotive but I would really prefer to find a shell first.  The few laps I ran it on my little layout have me believing it is a pretty nice locomotive.

I'll be back Saturday,
Bob L

[mu26aeh]

Not many CSX SD35's made it very far into service with them before they were sold/retired.  A handful did at least get a yellow nose on them

http://www.trainweb.org/csxphotos/model_SD35.htm