Are Atlas HO Silver (diesels) adaptable to sound?


B

Brandt050

New Member
Pretty much what the header says; I've tried net-searching to find out if various Atlas HO Silver series diesels, being nominally DCC-ready, are also adapted to allow sound decoder and speaker installation, and also have holes pre-punched somewhere. No luck so far.

More directly I could buy a Gold series with QSI, but budget might not allow for that now.

Thanks for any replies.
 
Brandt050 said:
Pretty much what the header says; I've tried net-searching to find out if various Atlas HO Silver series diesels, being nominally DCC-ready, are also adapted to allow sound decoder and speaker installation, and also have holes pre-punched somewhere. No luck so far.

More directly I could buy a Gold series with QSI, but budget might not allow for that now.

Thanks for any replies.
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Welcome to the forum Brandt050.

It really depends on the Atlas locomotive that you are talking about. The Silver series usually has weights where the speakers would be placed in the Gold series. Here is a picture of an Atlas SD35 Silver series with the shell off.

View attachment 26289

As you can see in the picture all you have to do is loosen the screw holding the weight in place and then install your speakers either one or two, its your choice.

Most of the Atlas Classic series will not have speaker mounts like SD35's, U30B's and so on. Locomotives like the Atlas RS11, C424 and C420's have weights that will require some milling of the weight for the speaker to fit. Most likely you will need a square speaker instead of a round one like in the SD35. As far as the boards go you can just swap them out for a board of your choice. Soundtraxx has a nice DCC product compatibility matrix here:

http://www.soundtraxx.com/choose/step1.php

My reason for buying Silver Series is that I can afford three locos of the same series like SD35's at once before a particular roadname is sold out. This way I can go back when finances permit and sound equip one and put function decoders only in the other two. Saves me trying to buy three Gold Series at once. Who has that kind of money anymore.:rolleyes:
 
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Thanks for responding. I was considering, at least for now, a Silver GP40-2 either in Chessie or CSX scheme where Atlas carries both choices in the Silver series.
 
The Dash 8s also have the holes and removable weights for 1" speakers. For the regular locomotives (regular EMDs, GP40s and SD35s, for example), the TSU-AT1000 board would be fine. Many folks like the QSI sound for the GE units.

I did an Alco HH660 Silver recently that did not have a provision for a speaker. I milled the front weight to mount a TSU-750 (and use it as a heat sink). I ended up putting the speaker partially in the cab, and kept the original Atlas board (I soldered connections from the decoder to the board via a 8 pin NMRA harness).
 
Depending on when the model was made, "Silver" can either have or not have the speaker housings already in the loco.

GP40-2, Dash 8s, and SD26s (as far as I know) all have the speaker enclosure regardless of production run.

The GP40s did not get the speaker housings until recently.

None of the Trainman engines have the speaker housing.

This info is from what I've seen. Off the top of my head, I don't remember looking inside any other Atlas models.
 
I have the Atlas gold 40-2 and the sound is pretty good!
I was waffeling on getting it and am glad I did!
 
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I have two Atlas locos that came DCC equipped and one was 'sound ready' with the weights installed in the speaker enclosure. Just pop the weights out and put in the speakers and sound decoder and that would be it. In the case of mine that will never happen as I have no need for sound.
 
I am finding more and more, that if you really want sound than either get the DCC w/ sound version (if available) or be sure that a drop-in mobile sound decoder is available for the loco that you want to purchase. You can usually add sound to just about any loco but it may be a fairly difficult project depending on how much room is available and/or if the loco has a speaker housing.

Best regards,
Brian
 
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I bought an Atlas Silver Series C40-8CW about a year ago and put a Tsunami Soundtraxx and 2 28mm speakers in it. Somewhere on here there is a thread about it.

Anyhow, it was a pretty easy install. The Silver Series engines are basically Gold engines without the QSI decoder or speakers installed. However, they do have the sound speaker enclosures installed. Just remove the shell, remove the covers to the speaker enclosures, and install your speakers and decoder. Wire up the lights and your done.

They are great engines.
 
This is good news (great responses too). That's my druthers for the moment, basically track down a CSX or Chessie unit and then convert to sound later on.
 
I need help too. Just bought a ESU loksound decoder for my Dash 8, but the speaker won't fit anywhere. There is that enclosure with the weights, i've removed them but there's still the motor rod going right through it. The speaker can't fit in there with the rod in the way. Please help?
 
Joeygig said:
I need help too. Just bought a ESU loksound decoder for my Dash 8, but the speaker won't fit anywhere. There is that enclosure with the weights, i've removed them but there's still the motor rod going right through it. The speaker can't fit in there with the rod in the way. Please help?
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In the production model the ESU version the speaker fits on top of the rear weight. Drive rod would go under it. In the non-ESU version the speaker frames are integrated into the front weight. They go center firing in an A-frame configuration. The rod would go directly between them. You should be able to use either of those spaces, just have to have the right size speaker.

http://download.atlasrr.com/pdf/HODASH840CESU.pdf

http://download.atlasrr.com/pdf/PartsPDFs/HODash8Gold.pdf
 
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I've recently installed a Tsunami TSU-1000 decoder into one of the Atlas Silver MRL SD35's I got, with an iPhone 6s Plus speaker sitting on top. I didn't use the existing speaker casting. The holes are a bit big for 28mm round speakers (30mm looks like they need) but could probably be glued in. The shell is a close fit to the casting. Makes it a bit difficult to remove/install. The purpose is to form an as airtight fit for an enclosure.

IMG_0160.JPG

IMG_0154.JPG

They have SMD LED's on circuit boards fo the Head and Rear lights and all wiring to the original board is by plug and socket, so installing a wired type decoder such as the Tsunami TSU-1000 I've used or one of the ESU similar types, is going to require cutting the plugs off and soldering wires together with shrink tube insulation over the joints. I did other mods to the shell as well to make it easier to remove/replace, but it's quite a bit of work. It's now Athearn style.
 
I should mention that the bluetac the capacitor is sitting on, was only temporary. I replaced it with a small piece of automotive exterior trim strip, double sided tape to secure it not only better but to allay any possible heat problems.
 
CambriaArea51 said:
I had some first generation Atlas dash 8-40C that didn't have the speaker holes.You could add dcc but no sound.
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One of the other of the SD35's I have is like that. I have yet to "de-shell" it to find out what has to be done to get a speaker in. May need some weight trimming.
 
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