Atlas Winter 2025 Catalog

[R L Smith]

Regarding the D&H units: those were rebuilt by either Morrison-Knudson or GE/Hornell - I'll dig into my library tomorrow to check.

The Atlas announcement states these are Phase 1 models.  I'm pretty sure the D&H 45x units were originally Phase 1, but the rebuild made modifications to some of the spotting features (such as removal of the number board boxes from the rear).

I would not expect Atlas to incorporate those changes in their initial run. Hopefully a later release will include them - specifically Bath & Hammondsport # 422.   

Ron

[jdcolombo]

The catalog announcement doesn't have many details about the new Berk, but I certainly hope Atlas fixes two major problems with the original LifeLike version.

1.  Traction tires/weight distribution.  The original LL was (and still is) a superb runner, smooth as silk under either DC or if converted to DCC.  But it didn't have a traction tire, and it's tractive efforts is . . . highly limited.  As in maybe 10 cars on a good day on level track.  I've "modified" mine by putting double-sided tape around the 4th driver set, which increases pulling ability to about 25-30 cars, although at maximum load, the front of the engine has a tendency to lift on even fairly generous (15" radius) curves.  Atlas needs to provide traction tires and find some way to make the front of the loco heavier relative to the rear to keep it on the tracks.  A Berk needs to pull a minimum of thirty 40' cars or equivalent.  Otherwise it's not terribly useful to those of us looking for something mildly resembling a prototype train.

2.  The original LL version for the NKP did not have the Mars light on the smokebox front.  While the Berks were not delivered with the Mars light, all of the iconic photos of NKP Berks come from the 1950's, when they were all fitted with Mars lights.  Atlas, PLEASE PUT THE MARS LIGHT ON THE FRONT OF THE SMOKEBOX FOR THE NKP UNITS!!  And have it seprately lit.  Easy to do these days. 

3.  While not a major problem, finding a way to allow those of us with generous curves on our layouts to couple the tender at a more prototypical distance from the boiler would be a plus.  My Key brass 779 has a drawbar with two holes in it, one of which allows close coupling for layouts that can accommodate that.  If you're going to go to the trouble of producing a new Berk, do it right.

I'm not really concerned about the fact that the original LifeLike shell was for the original S class, and not the S-1 or S-2 classes that came later.  Yes the rivet counters would be displeased by seeing an S-version shell with S-2 engine numbers.  I don't care, as long as the engine will pull 30 cars AND has a Mars light.  If you're bothered by the lack of an extra sand line from the sandbox dome and roller bearings on the trailing truck, renumber the engine to the S class and be happy.  I only have 18 Berks for my layout (all LL units, except for the one Key brass that's a jewel and one Bachmann that I managed to get running decently out of the 3 I bought before I knew better).  The NKP had 80, so I need a few more . . . like 62 more 

John C.

[lock4244]

Disappointed with the C424 (the CP version), but not at all surprised. The body style technically is correct for CP 4200 (delivered as 8300) with the radiator overhand at the rear and headlight above the windshield, but not for very long. CP quickly standardized on a nose mounted headlight on anything with a low nose, and 4200 (and every other C424 delivered with headlights above the windshield) had it's headlight relocated there. Photos show it as delivered in 1965, however by 1972 it was in the nose, and it never wore action red with the headlight in it's as delivered position above the windshield. I want to say that the radiator and rear end of the carbody was rebuilt at some point to match the rest of the fleet (no overhang, smooth rear of unit without notches), but am unable to find pictures to back that up atm.

I do not understand why Atlas refuses to place the headlight accurately on the Canadian models (with the exception of their excellent GP40-2W's), while Scale Trains is somehow able to provide correct headlight placements across multiple roads in a myriad of locations and types in a single release. MSRP is a little higher than that of Scale Trains recent offerings in both sound equipped and silent versions, though Scale Trains's MSRP is the street price while Atlas's will hit the street a little lower. Clearly it's possible to do it correctly, so I have to assume that Atlas simply isn't interested in doing so.

Nit picky? Whiney? Maybe. But to correct it involves major surgery to both the shell and the chassis (major to me at least) and after all these years of collecting models that I'll have to fix (and never will), I'd rather not add to the pile.

[chessie system fan]

"All new tooling with accurately rendered cab and sills."

I haven't looked at a LL C424 in a long time, but I want to say the handrails didn't match the phase. Was there something wrong with the cab too?

[Missaberoad]

https://www.rr-fallenflags.org/cp/cp4200n26.jpg

It was eventually rebuilt but looks like it kept the original rear end into the early 80s. Good enough for me, and I've been moving headlights on CP engines since high-school. 

[lock4244]

https://www.rr-fallenflags.org/cp/cp4200n26.jpg

It was eventually rebuilt but looks like it kept the original rear end into the early 80s. Good enough for me, and I've been moving headlights on CP engines since high-school. 

I saw 4200 a number of times bitd but just cannot recall the rear. The pic you linked to isn't in the candy cane striping, so it's a later repaint and certainlymakes it more than likely it was scrapped with the overhang... any idea the date of that photo? It's too bad the first Century built wasn't saved.

If you provide a mailing address I'll send you a few dozen locomotives to move the headlights on 

[lock4244]

Ah, I knew they rebuilt 4200's rear to match their other C424's at some point:

http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/cp4200.jpg

Seemingly pointless endeavor though.

[Missaberoad]

Best I can determine it was changed some time in the early 1980s. There was no date on that particular photo.

I do agree you have to ask what's the point! But CP did odd things! 

[wmcbride]

Disappointed with the C424 (the CP version), but not at all surprised. The body style technically is correct for CP 4200 (delivered as 8300) with the radiator overhand at the rear and headlight above the windshield, but not for very long. CP quickly standardized on a nose mounted headlight on anything with a low nose, and 4200 (and every other C424 delivered with headlights above the windshield) had it's headlight relocated there. Photos show it as delivered in 1965, however by 1972 it was in the nose, and it never wore action red with the headlight in it's as delivered position above the windshield. I want to say that the radiator and rear end of the carbody was rebuilt at some point to match the rest of the fleet (no overhang, smooth rear of unit without notches), but am unable to find pictures to back that up atm.

I do not understand why Atlas refuses to place the headlight accurately on the Canadian models (with the exception of their excellent GP40-2W's), while Scale Trains is somehow able to provide correct headlight placements across multiple roads in a myriad of locations and types in a single release. MSRP is a little higher than that of Scale Trains recent offerings in both sound equipped and silent versions, though Scale Trains's MSRP is the street price while Atlas's will hit the street a little lower. Clearly it's possible to do it correctly, so I have to assume that Atlas simply isn't interested in doing so.

Nit picky? Whiney? Maybe. But to correct it involves major surgery to both the shell and the chassis (major to me at least) and after all these years of collecting models that I'll have to fix (and never will), I'd rather not add to the pile.

I agree on not wanting to add to one's pile of things to be fixed. While not modeling CN or CP or BCR, I have some engines from each (Rapido and ScaleTrains).

Atlas is just pretty generic which was fine for decades and, in may ways, still is. What one has in Atlas in a generic offering that usually runs quietly and reliably.

They have generally done a good job with their speaker enclosures (looking at you, ScaleTrains, as someone to do better). However, Atlas seems to have stayed in the generic past and things like headlight placement or, God forbid, ditch lights, is a bridge too far.

[pjm20]

"All new tooling with accurately rendered cab and sills."

I haven't looked at a LL C424 in a long time, but I want to say the handrails didn't match the phase. Was there something wrong with the cab too?

Spookshow lists some dimensional issues with the hood, perhaps those are addressed?

[btrain]

I’m hoping for some improvements too for the berk. If the shell is plastic, I’m not going to be too optimistic about its pulling power and what place it has with my NKP stable of engines.

@jdcolombo if Atlas misses putting on a mars light, I’ve had success with the Kato window kit for their Union Pacific FEF: https://store.katousa.com/product/fef-glass-set-includes-all-clear-lenses-and-window-pieces-n-scale/ The kit includes the headlight assembly. I can’t remember if the casing for it is a slightly different version than what the NKP had, but to my eyes it looked pretty close.

(My apologies for the grainy image, it’s a screenshot from an old cell phone video.)

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[jdcolombo]

@btrain
That looks terrific! - I had forgotten about Kato selling parts for the FEF.  I've used Kato parts in the past to "rescue" LL PA-1s with the correct side-mounted number boards I bought from Kato parts.  I'll have to get some of these.  I resorted to using a plain piece of brass tubing, painted black, set in a hole in the smokebox cover with a fiber optic "lens" on a few of my Berks.  Crude, but it works great from a lighting perspective, and not really noticeable if you're not within an inch of the engine.  If I want to take close-up photography, I just put my Key brass 779 on the front of a train and be done with it. 

You can dramatically improve the pulling power of the LL Berk by using thin strips of Scotch double-sided tape (the thin "photo mounting" tape that comes in a yellow and black dispenser) on the 4th driver set.  I've done a post about how to do that somewhere here on TRW.  It flat out works - my LL Berks pull 25 cars with no trouble on my admittedly completely flat layout.  But Bachmann found a way to get prototypical-ish pulling power without having the front of the engine lift on curves, so it can be done.  Which brings me to item #4:

4.  Improve the pickup system for the tender truck wheels.  I took the tenders from the Bachmann units I scrapped (because they ran so poorly at slow speeds) and used them in place of the original LL tenders on a couple of my Berks because the Bachmann tenders have far superior electrical pickup.  It's not a huge issue for me these days since I use a commercial keep-alive (TCS KA-1) in my sound installs in the tender, but better electrical pickup is ALWAYS useful in N scale.

John C.

[Chris333]

So is the Atlas Berk just the old LL Berk?

[Ed Kapuscinski]

The ride height on the C424s are correct. Atlas and Life-Like chose not to model the massive underframes that they sat on. I used evergreen channel beams to fix that problem.

Yep. Same!

[jdcolombo]

So is the Atlas Berk just the old LL Berk?

I think we're all assuming that Atlas is re-using at least some of the LL Berk tooling that they presumably got from the Walthers deal.  But honestly, none of us know for sure.  All speculation on our part.  The boiler and tender shells would still be good, but the chassis would need some alteration to accommodate DCC/Sound installation.  Probably not a lot, though.  Run a wire from the top and bottom motor brushes; thin wires to light the headlight (AND MARS LIGHT!!); a slightly revised piece of circuit board for the headlight (AND MARS LIGHT!!); and a traction-tire equipped 4th driver set and you're mostly there if you want to keep changes to a minimum.  The wires can be routed in channels in the chassis and out a slit between the shell and chassis bottom to a plug in the tender.  Everything else is going to go in the tender, and it has plenty of room inside.  This is the way I do my conversions now, and just cut a channel with a 1/8" ball cutter in a Dremel.  Such a cut could easily be done at the manufacturing stage.

I can't see Atlas investing in all-new tooling for a steam engine.  They don't do a lot of steam to begin with, so I've got to believe this is the L/L tooling brought back to life.

John C.