Why doesn't Atlas make more GP7s and GP9s?


ICG/SOU

ICG/SOU

HO & O (3-rail) trainman
I've worked on two and they have been a pleasure to put sound in. The chassis frame is all metal so you have a nice amount of weight that you don't have to remove, and can be easily detailed like a Athearn Blue Box can. The interior of the shell is wide open for both speaker and decoder, and you get a good motor and drive.

Are these out of scale or something? I think they're pretty nice.
 
hamltnblue said:
They offer what they find sells.
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That and just about everybody and their momma has done the GP7 & 9. Over the decades Atlas has offered more Alco's than the other manufacturers. A big part of today's hobbyists are modeling the latest in power and intermodal consists and as Hamilton points out that is what is selling. I agree that a well done run of either Geeps by Atlas in their Silver Series DCC ready or even Trainman line would be welcomed by folks modeling the 50's - 60's or shortlines. Look how popular their NE6 caboose was, enough to have several runs and the last was this Spring.
 
I guess in my town we have a lot of guys who model transition era, as I can nary find a GP7/GP9 on the shelf (unless it is some small roadname). I know, though, such isn't a scientific study that would be enough to go to the bank on.

I do like how Atlas will make things that others will not/don't readily make, the the Alcos. There are many shortlines that were up until recently running early GP power.
 
I have two that were custom painted in WP's Perlman Green and orange, one Sacramento Northern 712 and the other WP 706. I have Proto 2000 Gp7's and GP9's, and while they are nice too, I MUCH prefer the old Kato drive of the two old Atlas GP7's.
 
Athearn Blue Box, Athearn Genesis, Kato, Front Range, Railpower, Atlas, Life-Like Proto, Life Like, Bachmann, Lionel.... need I continue? All of the above manufacturers made a GP7 or GP9 or both in HO. I probably only listed about half of the manufacturers that ever made them.

Same thing with GP38-2s although no one really makes a decent looking one.

The market is saturated with them. Athearn thought that they could make money by releasing an accurate and highly detailed version, as well as rebuilt GP7s and GP9s since Front Range is out of business (Athearn is using the Front Range tooling with modifications to fix the flaws), Walthers has not re-released the Proto 2000 GP7/9s, and Atlas has been very slow to re-release the slightly retooled Atlas Classic version. All of the other versions are quite inaccurate (maybe except for the Bachmann, it's not inaccurate, just cheap).
 
I had heard that the GP7 moulds were just plain worn out and Atlas (because of competition) didn't feel like making new ones or fixing the old ones...I had heard that from my LHS when I bought one of the last runs, a D&TS painted one...
 
iomalley said:
I had heard that the GP7 moulds were just plain worn out and Atlas (because of competition) didn't feel like making new ones or fixing the old ones...I had heard that from my LHS when I bought one of the last runs, a D&TS painted one...
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I believe that Atlas made the announcement a couple of years ago. I have one GP7, and comparing the drive to the P2k and bachman, I prefer the Atlas. Body wise, the P2k is better.

From a business stand point, since B'mann has a lock on the lower end - needs different decoder and additional detailing - and Genesis new stuff has locked the high end - at a premium price, Atlas was wise to save their money.

I'll stick with my large fleet of P2k geeps that don't currently run. They need new gearing, and TCS LL8 decoders to work right.

Wojo
 
That's a shame. I came late to the GP7 craze, as the only ones I see are second hand units.
 
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