Atlas TOFCs

[TrainReign]

The brown TT cars are an earlier prototype.  The yellow TT cars are correct, although some of the releases have not been in the correct reporting mark number series.

What is the correct reporting mark series for these car?

Thanks.

[nkalanaga]

White glue should work fine.  Another option would be Microscale's Kristal-Kleer.

[w neal]

The wheelsets on my cars were hitting the carbody and making very annoying scraping sounds, as well.    I was afraid there wasn't a fix without inserting a washer and raising the car height.  Thankfully, the FVM wheelsets seemed to have done the trick.  The car tracks better, too.  I couldn't get it to make a lap on my layout (admittedly, below Atlas' recommended minimum radius curve), but with the new wheelsets and long, body mounted couplered cars connected to each end, the Atlas flat is running reliably now on curves down to approximately 11" radius!

FYI, you do not use the FVM replacement sets for Atlas cars (0.553") on this car.  Interestingly, you need the 0.540" length axle, which are the wheelsets for MT cars.

Hard to believe that this got past Atlas' quality control.  But, it's easy to fix, and the extra work to get the Atlas flat running reliably is really no different than replacing the plastic wheelsets that come with most Atlas cars.

DFF

Sorry to dig up this old thread. I was trying to follow the above solution. I found that it did not work for me. The FVM 0.540 length axle is too long and does not seem allow any rolling.

Is there an updated solution for the above?

Thanks much.

[bbussey]

The FVM .540" wheels should have worked.  You may be using a mismarked batch of wheels, which you can check with calipers.  But you also can try BLMA wheels, which also are designed to be MTL replacements and have smaller flanges as well.

[davefoxx]

Try flexing the sideframes outward to relieve some of the pressure on the axles to allow the wheels to roll better.  Sometimes this will make a poorly rolling truck very free-rolling.  I had to do this with my ExactRail waffle boxcars, and they roll much better now.

DFF