Went to the Winchester, Virginia show today and bought a H.O. Atlas SD-35 in Central of Georgia. It has a 4-function decoder already installed but I have not had a chance to run it yet. I was wondering if anyone here has any experience with these engines. I gave $65.00 for it sealed in the box. I also got a Three pack of H.O. Kato covered hoppers for Twenty dollars, they were in Santa Fe scheme but I thought it was a good deal. They had alot of nice stuff for sale but my pockets were shallow. Most of these shows are neat as you can find a lot of things that are out of production , sometimes for a fair price. I would appreciate any imformation on the SD-35. I hope I made a good buy. Thanks Jim
The made in China Atlas SD35 models are excellent - in all respects: detailing, prototype fidelity and operation.
I purchased a couple of them over a year ago and they run great. Eventually I changed the decoders out and put sound decoders in. Good luck and have fun
Where did you locate the speaker?
I’ve had my Atlas SD35 about 3 years and it’s one of my best runners. But I paid LHS price.
You can find some great buys at train shows but if you get a lemon you can’t always take it back. If it’s a two day show, I like to buy the first day, take it home and run it, and return it the next day if there’s a problem. But this weekend I also bought one the 2nd day. Big mistake. It’s a bad one and now I’m stuck with it. Hopefully I can fix it.
I got a MRL SD-35 coming with sound. I can hardly wait. It sould be coming anyday now.
An easy thing to do to make sure a loco runs is to bring a 9 volt battery with you, and touch it to the wheels, it should run at least a little bit. I will take a couple of them, and if the loco doesn’t run with both of them pressed to the wheels, it’s time to talk the seller way down. Some of them that just hum come alive with both batteries.
I got a really good deal on an Athearn GP40 that was custom painted SP with a bunch of added details, it was dead, not even a hum came out of it. The guy selling it had bought it as part of a huge SP collection, and due to his age(At least 85), I guess he never even tried to fix it.
I got it for 15 bucks. I took the shell off in the car outside, and realized that the previous owner had converted it to DCC and removed the decoder and one side of the motor, the part where the brass strip is connected, wasn’t hooked to anything. I cut the insulaton off the middle of the wire that went from one truck to the other, and I touched it to the strip, and it fired right up. It runs great! Actually, of all the 4 axle Athearn locos I have, it’s the best running one by far.
An Atlas SD-35 some other old guy had was dead too, that was an easy fix, got it for 17 bucks, and it appears to be brand new. It looks like that guy had