Info wanted on latest release Atlas N RS3

[mecgp7]

I picked up two new Atlas RS3 shells and they are from the newer release. Rutland and CN if it matters. I assumed they would pop right onto an existing Atlas RS chassis from China, but no go. They are constructed differently than the others. I think I could make them fit with modification, but am curious as to what the chassis looks like that they do fit on. Could someone post a picture?

The primary issue is in the cab glazing which goes all the way to near the bottom of the cab and has a tab which I assume holds the shell onto the chassis.

[peteski]

I wonder if this is all related to the fact that Atlas now owns Life-Like/Walthers/Atlas RS-2s?
Maybe the are using the RS-2 chassis?

http://spookshow.net/loco/llrs2.html
http://spookshow.net/loco/kators3.html

[reinhardtjh]

I don't think so.  Not yet anyway.  According to the Atlas Archives, the last release of RS3's were in 2016.  I think that's the announcement date so delivery date could be several years later.  I could not find any delivery announcement in the TRW archives.  The CN and Rutland schemes were both last done in the Atlas release of August 2014 although both had been done in earlier releases as well so they are definitely pre-Walthers. Atlas bought the Walthers/Life-Like models in 2018 so the timing makes it unlikely that any changes were made on the RS3 chassis which were influenced by the purchase.  My most recent RS3's were from the 2009 run.

[thomasjmdavis]

Just a thought, but will the "glass" from an older model (that fits on your chassis) fit in the newer shells that you want to use?

I ask because, although Kato is not Atlas,  new Kato F unit shells (for the DCC chassis) can be used on old non-DCC chassis by swapping the "glass".  (also works for putting an old shell on a new chassis)

This is not to say that Kato and Atlas went the same direction with their newer chassis, but certainly seems possible.

[mecgp7]

I could easily modify the glass, but that isn't the entire issue. The shell fits too tight. Not a comfortable fit.