Hi all,
I’m looking for some opinions on Atlas diesels, primarily their classic S2 and RS3 models how do they compare with P2K, Kato and other fine diesel makers. I’ve never owned an Atlas diesel, the only diesels I’ve owned have been P2K and Athearn, the former I very much love.
Alvie
The early Atlas diesels, Mid 70’s, were made by Roco in Austria for Atlas. During the 80’s and into the 90’s they were produced by Kato. They have since been produced in China, using designs that closely resemble Kato products drives.
For plastic diesels they are still considered as top of the line, as they have been since they were first produced in the 1970’s.
I’ve had mixed results with Atlas products. Their GE U33C models of several years ago were really a mixed bag. Some good and some bad. Their latest Master series locomotives are very high quality, but I had one that they forgot to put the road name on one side and it took several months of e-mail and phone call exchanges to get the problem rectified at considerable cost to me.
Alvie,
The only Atlas I possess is a Gold HH600/660 and it’s terrific; both running-wise and detail-wise. It crawls like a champ. The older Atlas S2/S4s will run well but won’t have as nice detailing as a Proto 2000.
I have a couple of Athearn RS3s. While the detailing is beautiful, it doesn’t run as well as it looks. As much as I like detailing, most of the time I’ll take a lesser detailed locomotive that runs well over a locomotive that looks better but doesn’t run quite as well.
Alvie, I think you’ll be very happy with whatever Atlas you choose.
Tom
The “red box” atlas from the early-mid 90’s can be uneven, but every Atlas loco I’ve seen that came out of a box labeled Classic, Master, Gold, or Silver has been an excellent model that runs like a swiss watch.
Not familiar with the trainman line, but they’re supposed to have the same modern mechanism that they put in the Silver/Gold locos, so they should run fine.
Hi Alvie
I have several of the older Kato-made Yellow Box locos, including some RS3’s. All are still excellent runners and great values. My Red Box U23B & Silver C420 are hands-down the best performing engines I own.
The Atlas engines have comparable pulling power to Protos but run more quietly. They’re superior to my Athearns in every way. I highly recommend them.
Jim
I have both the S-2 and RS-3 from the “yellow box” era. Both are excellent runners - smooth and quiet, and relatively easy to convert to DCC. The Roco/Kato/Atlas drives are all superior to the Athearn, and the “fit and finish” IMHO is superior as well (no need to tear it down and re-wire prior to 1st use, as with the Athearn RTR RS-3) The Yellow box models have cast on details, so in that regard they are a step back from the Proto’s and RTR Athearn. Also the yellow box RS-3 has a body mounted coupler, which is less than ideal. The newer “Classic” model has switched over to a frame mounter coupler.
Alvie,
You can’t go wrong buying an Atlas diesel. As mentioned the early ones of the 70-80’s were built by Rocco S2, GP38/40 SD38 etc and later GP7-9s, RS 1/3, and others were Atlas Kato (yellow box). These lacked detail and the drives were great for the time. There were the first China made 'Red" box U33/36 that I’m not that thrilled with. Since then all the red box, Classic (DDC ready) Newer are Silver , the black box Master Series (Dual-mode) and the Gold and Platinum series are some of the finest in detail and the best running quality you will find.
80% of my roster Is Atlas, mostly Master or Classic that I added decoder. I don’t really do the sound, so those series I’m not familiar with. Some of these locos are over 10 years old and have been run in a club envioronment where they have been used for countless ops sessions and run for extended hours during open house and shows. The only better drive, in my opinion, is the Kato used in those early yellow boxes, and of course the Stewart/Kato drives in their F units, IM (Regal) and some Genesis.
Four of my locos are Atlas models. Two 70’s era GP40’s, a SD24 and a GE U30C.
I have 4 Atlas, two trainman, a gold and silver, the gold is sound equipped from the factory and it runs and sounds like a champ, the same for the trainmans. They run great and pull like a champ. My Silver series BNSF Dash-8 is another story. It was one of their early DCC locos and I bought it new from the LHS but the chip was loud and I replaced it and it still makes a weird vibration sound when going forward that I cannot figure out what it is but runs fine in reverse so I use it in MU’s and all is great. I would buy more Atlas locos if they made more modern 6 axle locos.
The Canon and Buehler drives in the current Stewart diesels aren’t too shabby either.
Tom
Alvie,
The Atlas Classic RS3 is one of the best running locomotives on the planet. The detail is better than the Yellow Box Kato version, but since its drive is the same as the Kato, it runs the same. The Athearn RS3 is inferior due to its poorer drive. P2K does not make a RS, But proto does make an RS2 in its P1K product line. The detail is inferior to either the Altas, Kato, and Athearn RS3, and I suspect its drive train is not as good.
The Atlas S2 is an older design, originated by Roco of Austria. It is also very good. Very smooth over turnouts. Its shell is not up to modern standards, but I lstill like the look of those switchers. Very heavy and good pullers. It only has one headlight, the hood, not the cab. Neither Kato or Athearn offer an Alco S series switcher.
P2K offers an S1 and an S3, but not an S2 (or S4). Its shell is much better detailed than the Atlas and, since it has a kato-cloned drive, is very smooth. It has a headlight in both the hood and the cab. They are lighter than the Atlas and do not pull as much. Every one I have had tends to hesitate over my Atlas turnouts, due to its short wheelbase. The Atlas S2 does not have this problem. Because of this, I prefer the Atlas S2 over the P2K S3.
If you have a different brand of turnouts, you may not have that problem. Other than that, the P2K S runs just as well as the Atlas, but with superior detail.
IMO, Atlas locomotives run better than Athearn and P2K’s, and have better de
Quite right Tom, I forgot about my Baldwins. They are incredible smooth runners, however they are very light pullers.
My entire fleet is Atlas units.
My S2s weight a ton, run smooth, and will pull paint off the wall. Only down side is the detailing isn’t up to the that of the later units.
My Classic line C424s, RS3s, and RS11s run great, and are well detailed. I also have some of the older DCC equipped Master Line units as well, that are also very smooth.
Finally, the Trainman Line. Although not as highly details as the Class/Silver/Gold units, they all share the same drive. So you get great running units. They are however missing details like grab irons and MU hoses.
Nick
I have one P1K RS2. It runs just fine, though I can’t lash it up with my Atlases (I run DC) because it’s apparently geared a bit differently and runs slower.
Alvie… regarding Atlas S2 and RS3, I have one S2 (Burlington) and two RS3’s (Northern Pacific).
The S2’s main advantage is its metal frame allowing plenty of pulling power. Looks great, too.
The RS3’s are older, Kato models and run very smoothly.
I like recent production EMD models by Atlas, also.
As I convert to DCC, these engines will be retained and converted to DCC. I am thinning out my fleet of the non-keepers during this process. .
I have a small horde of Atls/Kato RS-3’s (4 of them) all undecs that I bought to detaila nd paint as Reading units. Great runners, and if I needed more I wouldn’t hesitate to buy more of them as I found them. The details are good but not state of the art - on the other hand I had to do a lot of tune up work to make my Athearn RS-3 run well. I don;t have any other Atlas models, but I have seen and run the Gold Seriers Trainmaster with sound, definitely a top quality loco and I suspect I will have one eventually as it is the only remaining Reading diesel type I do not have at least one copy of.
Not sure about the comment on the body mout couplers - there’s actualy a coupel of advantage of this - for oe you don;t have to take off the couplers to ake off the body shell - probably the most finicky part of putting a Proto2000 loco back together, holding the coupler box together and sliding it in the hole in the pilot. Secod, there’s no issue withthe frame and metal couplers - although the Atlas/Kaot locos do not ground the frame to one rail liek AThearn so there really is no issue with back to back units and all-metal couplers.
DCC install in Atlas locos is extremely easy, the older Kato versions have a simple board repalcement available from most decoder makers, although I go a little further and install individual lights for the front and rear. The modular weights on the Kato versions allow you to make room for a speaker without removing ALL the weight,
–Randy
I prefer body mounted couplers in most cases as I will detail the pilots especially for Chessie w/ that rock pilot and WM replacing the plows w/ Detail West.
You hit the nail on the head about the walkway distortion. I agree that the body mounting makes for easier assembly/disassembly, but there is not much to the walkway, and if you run long or heavy trains or MU you will notice the flex. I swapped out the old frame for the newer Classic frame - my personal preference.
Good info to know. I guess I’ve never owned a P1K RS2 so I shouldn’t make assumptions. I’ve owned the others and speak from experience there. I run DC too, so that’s my point of view as well.