I’ve been looking at this at my LHS for a few weeks. Finally decided I needed one.
Atlas Gold locomotives certainly are good value considering the detail and general quality. I now have three: Trainmaster, S2 (with ESU decoder) and this latest.
Very smooth runner and great sounds.
Very nice Mike. Those are one of my stand by locos for my shortline. I have owned at one time at least one loco from each of the runs Atlas did, until I simply got too many. Very robust and reliable.
Which roadname and number did you get?
I have that locomotive as well and have been very pleased with the detail and smoothness of the drive train. In fact I have a half dozen different Atlas diesels and they all run equally well.
Tom
Yes. Atlas’ gold line is a great buy. The s2 is my personal favorite, but I have a GP7 I got for $172 new. A great price for a great loco. I have other atlas models that are nice as well.
In the pre-DCC days, I thought Atlas made the finest diesel locos around. I thought enough of Atlas that they are the only ones I upgraded with decoders for my present layout. My loco roster is pretty full now but if I were to consider buying anything new, Atlas would be at the top of my list.
Canadian Pacific 1441. Acquired from SOO Line apparently. SOO may have bought it from American Steel???
Anyway, its fun to search the Internet by road name and number and find photos and other bumpf about the model you bought. This switcher was acquired with a view to working the yard during an 80’s to 90’s era we seem to be settling on. Road units are AC4400 and SD 40-2 red barns so far. I’ve got Genesis EMD SD 70 MAC rebuilds from the CPR SD90MACS on order which will be awkward era wise but since they may look more like the older 70 versions and it is our railroad we will make it work. One secret to multi era is no model cars or trucks allowed on layout. I’m a bit of a car nut. I can’t tell locomotives apart, yet, but an out of era car would stand out to me like a beacon from outer space.
I kind of like QSI decoders even though they are a bit odd. These Atlas Gold (and Master, now) are such nice runners with good detail it isn’t a very dumb idea to just fit a more modern decoder if desired. Even brand new locomotives are good buys in part because of the ease with which you can change the decoder to one you like better. DCC ready now should always include a basic speaker and connector equipped wiring imho.
I have two Atlas Master series locomotives, both somewhat dated. The latest was an RS-3 with a LokSound issued in around 2015 or so…not sure. The first was their truly fantastic FM Trainmaster H-24-66 with a QSI. So, yes, very nice and I’m glad to have mine.
I still have about 6 of my original 7 QSI decoders. Their indexing system is a bit of a bother, but once you know how to use it, those decoders still sound great to me. In fact, the Pennsy sounds and NYC sounds of the earlier BLI Paragon steamers are still my favourite. Why BLI accepted the sound files they substituted in their Paragon 2 series is beyond me; not even close.
Ran the new acquisition on the big DC layout in DC mode. This is one sweet little locomotive. I hemmed and hawed for three weeks and ended up buying it anyway so why not three weeks ago…
Been there. Sometimes it is better to delay that gratification and to at least play at rationalizing the purchse. Meaning, why I shouldn’t get it, and why I ought to get it. We can wink to ourselves now and then. At least, I do.
Running this little gem again in DC mode one can’t help but be struck by how smoothly it runs in DC. The low speed performance and built in momentum effects are really good.
Another thing I noticed is the DCC locomotives run much better when powered by our MRC 760 with a rated output of “21v” than they do with the MRC 780 twin throttle which puts out a more conventional 14v. The range of useful throttle is twice as long when using the 760.