Can someone tell if Atlas O gauge 2rail diesel engines are compatable with lionel track layouts?
Sadly, I think not - at least not without some work. Atlas 2-rail equipment, as the name suggests, is designed for 2-rail DC operation while Lionel-type O uses AC and 3 rails. You could probably add centre pickups to the Atlas locos and rewire them but you may also run into other problems - Atlas design their locos for the scale market, so they may not be able to handle the same curve radius as a Lionel loco and the couplers will probably be different (Atlas used the O scale Kadees last time I checked, Lionel use their own version of a knuckle coupler). Hope this is of use!
The Atlas 3 rail engines have AC motor, Lionel compatible wheels, and usually a much higher price.
Jim Bernier
Much as I personally wi***his were so, the opposite is true, that being the 2 rail is more expensive than 3 rail.
New 3 rail all have DC can motors, with rectification being done in the reverse board, of command control system.
Atlas converts their 3 rail locos to 2 rail at the factory, installing fixed couplers and pilots, NMRA “o” scale wheelsets, and DC/DCC compatable wiring harnesses. Some compromises were made in this style of conversion, the most natable is that the carbody sits too high on the frame, leaving a noticable gap between the frame and trucks. It is the fixed pilot issue that will not allow a 2 rail Atlas engine run on traditional Loinel curves.
Atlas “O” makes an excellent product, and is always willing to listen to what the customer base wants. I have the SD35 running on my display layout, for the past 5 years with out any problems at all!!!