My first Atlas loco


R

Ronzzr11

Member
I went to a local train fair today, as usual, most of what was on sale, was British outline but I did find an Atlas loco,in Conrail colours,for a reasonable price, £25 ($40). The box was pretty shopworn, but the locomotive looked in very good condition.A tag on the polystyrene packaging, said it was "brand new". However once I got it home, the wheels told a different story, as they were filthy with black railcrud.It did run, hesitantly, but once the wheels were cleaned up, it ran much better.
Most of my locos are Athearn, so this Atlas is new territory for me. It runs very well, its much heavier than my Athearn locos, so it pulls really well.
After some running today, I,ve been impressed with it, and would happily buy more Atlas locos.
I,m modelling Norfolk Southern, so this loco fits into my stable quite well.
Ron
 
It used to be that Athearn locos were more 'reasonably priced' than Atlas models, although Atlas models were noted for their more realistic speeds. These days, who knows.

Atlas still makes a nice loco, although both Athearn and Atlas are made in China, perhaps even by the same company(I haven't kept up with all of that stuff).

I'd take a resonably priced Atlas loco from the late 80's on, any day.
 
What you have is an older Atlas locomotive made by either Roco or Kato. That locomotive was NOT made in China, but in Austria

Otiscnj, Atlas and Athearn do NOT use the same factories for locomotives. Athearns traditionally have been geared 12:1 while Atlas is 14:1, but the older Atlas locos such as this U36C have a 10:1 gear ratio, making it even faster than an Athearn.

Despite the gear ratios, you can make these engines run at a realistic speed with DCC.
 
Ronzzr11 said:
I went to a local train fair today, as usual, most of what was on sale, was British outline but I did find an Atlas loco,in Conrail colours,for a reasonable price, £25 ($40). The box was pretty shopworn, but the locomotive looked in very good condition.A tag on the polystyrene packaging, said it was "brand new". However once I got it home, the wheels told a different story, as they were filthy with black railcrud.It did run, hesitantly, but once the wheels were cleaned up, it ran much better.
Most of my locos are Athearn, so this Atlas is new territory for me. It runs very well, its much heavier than my Athearn locos, so it pulls really well.
After some running today, I,ve been impressed with it, and would happily buy more Atlas locos.
I,m modelling Norfolk Southern, so this loco fits into my stable quite well.
Ron
Click to expand...
I have 22 Atlas U30C's. They run well with the newer ready to run Athearn,Kato,and Walther's/P2K engines. Most of my Athearn BB have constandt lighting so they run slower than the Atlas. The U30's will out pull my 8-40C, though. Phil
 
diburning said:
What you have is an older Atlas locomotive made by either Roco or Kato. That locomotive was NOT made in China, but in Austria
Click to expand...

Thanks for the information, how can I tell where the loco was made?, the trucks have "made in China" moulded on them.
Ron
 
Atlas did move production to China later on, but depending on the locomotive, it could have been made entirely in China, or assembled from parts already made. Either way, it's an older Atlas, and is identical to the Austrian version.
 
The Atlas locos are a good value, even the old ones if they haven't been run into the ground. I have a total of six Atlas locos, three of which were made in the 70's (Two GP40's and an FP7). Two were made in the 90's (SD24, H24-66) and one made after 2001 (U30C). I have a second FP7 made in the 80's from Atlas parts by Con-Cor.
 
Thank you all for the answers, I,ve run mine enough now, to be satisfied with how it performs, I just need to paint the handrails, to make it look the part.
Ron
 
Heya Ronz

I bagged me a Geordie from up Newcastle way, and have been dragging her to train shows in the Washington DC area!!! Looks like you are near Blackpool which is where she used to go on vacation.

Atlas makes good stuff, but it looks like the guy who advertised it as new, didn't quite tell the truth. But if you clean the wheels and it is in good shape, Atlas are usually among the best runners in American HO train engines. Forty dollars is cheap for a new Atlas loco as they usually sell for about $70-80 these days, and older ones a little less. So I guess even if it was used but in good shape, the price wasn't that far off.
 
Overall, the loco was in good condition, I think lightly used would have been a better description, rather than brand new.It has a snow plow fitted which I think is an add on part. I,ve repainted the black handrails Conrail blue, with the handrails next to the steps in white.
I,ve been pleased with the loco, and would,nt think twice now, about buying more Atlas locos.
riogrande
Yes, thats right, I live about 50 miles from Blackpool.

Ron
 
I love my Atlas locos! Have about 4 now and plan to add more. I can also vouch for the fact that they are quite tough. I had a Silver series Dash-8 40B sitting on my fireplace mantel and while at work my stupid cat knocked it off! It fell about 4' unto hardwood floors. The only damage consisted of some small super detail parts and cab coming off. The loco was otherwise intact and ran fine after the event. Maybe I just got lucky.
 
My first Atlas loco's were bought back in the early 80's slightly used and at a good price from a no longer existing train shop a GP7 and S-2 in SP they ran great . I always bought Athern before this. Then I got a slightly used C424 D&H from another place all i had to do was get on gear case gear back in place and it was good to go. Then I got a RS-1 and an RS3 and another S-1 . I kept going because at the time they were reasonable and I did not mind the cast on grabs all that much. I got a few FP7's and two more C424's . Then one RS-11 with a warped shell so I got a new shell and then another RS-11 Then later when they came out with the China models I got two S-2's and an RS-3 the only thing I liked better on the RS3 was the frame mounted couples and add on grabs.

Now all I have left is one S-4 in SF as made or roco and two FP7's which were SOO and have the same motor as the S-2 has they are the later run by roco.

I wish I had kept them all but I got into re-builds and needed money to do those and I was not about to cut into Atlas shells and for some reason AStlas shells are difficult to glue I know I did one RS3 hammerhead.

Now days I don't have much left , never had a layout I was just into building and detailing and kitbashing and re-builds.

They never did change the S-2 even the China version still had the same cast on grabs and all the same parts other than the motor being a different color and the wheel copper pickups slightly different .
 
Ronzzr11 said:
Overall, the loco was in good condition, I think lightly used would have been a better description, rather than brand new.It has a snow plow fitted which I think is an add on part. I,ve repainted the black handrails Conrail blue, with the handrails next to the steps in white.
I,ve been pleased with the loco, and would,nt think twice now, about buying more Atlas locos.
riogrande
Yes, thats right, I live about 50 miles from Blackpool.

Ron
Click to expand...
When you flip the loco over on its back, you should see a label saying "Made In Japan", "Made In Austria", or "Made In China". The "Made In Japan" (Kato) generally runs better, the "Made In China" generally looks better, and most of the "Made In Austria" (Roco) stuff has seen the state of the art pass it by.
 
My first Atlas was in N-Scale in 1969. I don't remember the first HO model, but I'm guessing it was one of the SD24s in 1979. I immediately saw the superiority over the Athearn BB units and had a saying for swap meets if I see a BB for $10 or an Atlas for $20 it is a good deal. Then in 1984 I got one of the "new" RS-3s. I think I paid an outrageous $35 for it. It was wonderful. I later got bunches of the U33Cs. Now I've got so many I can't count, but I can say reguardless of Roco, Kato, China, or current - they have been good to me. I've only been disappointed once. It was an Atlas Master. I had heard in the new scheme of things the Master series had sound. The one I got didn't. It was a couple months later they started the Gold and Silver packaging - probably because of my loud complaints. Be mindful that there was nothing wrong with the unit, it was just that I paid a "sound" price for a "non-sound" loco.

I will always choose and Atlas over other brands if all other things are equal.
 
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I have six atlas locos. These are my favorite two, 8601 and 8607, pulling the containers. :)

Mike
 
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