Just getting going in HO , been in N scale for years. Whats the difference in HO of an Atlas Trainman engine and Atlas Silver/Gold series engines.
Thanks Hal
From my understanding it’s the level of detail and the electronics. Otherwise they’re the same.
Not too much… a little lacking in detail but it appear you can order some of the detail parts from Atlas or aftermarkert. The real biggie is Trainman- DC, you have to install DCC chip, Silver, DCC equiped but no sound, Gold, DCC with sound. I have 3 trainman trains and they run like a champ and installing a DCC chip was fairly easy. I have B23-7 Gold, run and sounds great, just got a Dash-8 Silver and it too runs great.
Another thought… If you are running DCC, the cost of most Trainmans plus a chip will be about the same or really close to the cost of an Atlas Silver DCC already installed and will have more detail. Figure about $80 more for the Gold over a Silver.
I’ve bought an Atlas Trainman caboose. And later I’ve learned this caboose is a fake, never existed.
Wolfgang
There are a lot of companies that make foobies. Bachmann is an old pro at it.
I realize the original question was about locomotives, but since it has morphed over to rolling stock, it is worth noting that the Trainman line has produced some nice cars that were heretofore not available in plastic such as the Evans 52’ gondolas and short bulkhead flat cars. For the money, they offer decent detail, a variety of authentic roadnames and can be easily upgraded with wire grab irons, etc.
John Timm
I don’t believe that this is correct. As far as I remember the mechanicals of the Trainman, including the motor and light board, are the same. At least so far as the NMRA 8-pin socket is concerned. Unless they have changed something recently, the Silver Series does not include a decoder.
The extra money for the Silver Series gets you things like air hoses, coupler lift bars, windshield wipers, grab irons, and lift rings.
I suspect your are right. I am confused at looking at Atlas’s website about silver and gold series… Their website says Silver is DCC ready and Gold is DCC equiped. I know my box the train I just got says silver and it did have a DCC decoder in it and it does not have sound. I will have to check it when I get home tonight for the model number to make sure I am not going crazy.
DCC ready means different things to different manufacturers, and that topic has been beaten about often on this forum. In the case of Atlas, when they say Silver Series and DCC ready, it usually means that the loco has the 8 pin plug. The Gold series had a decoder of some flavor. I see now they have something called Master Series, and I believe that these come with DCC/sound.
But stuff seems to change daily anymore.
If you actually have a Silver Series with a decoder, I’m wondering if the decoder was added by someone else. Was the engine you got new or gently used?
There are basically four levels of Atlas locomotive…all share the same wonderful Atlas drive train, and with a few exceptions (notably the Alco S1/2/3/4 and RS 1/3 ) have an 8 pin DCC plug.
Trainman - lowest price, missing details like MU hoses, grab irons, windshield wipers, etc.
Classic - mid priced, usually has MU hoses and grab irons. Reissues of older Atlas units.
Master - Atlas’s new tooling releases. Railroad specific detailing. Come in two versions:
Silver - DCC ready
Gold - DCC/Sound equipped
Several years ago, the Master series came with dual mode DCC non-sound decoders. After the wide spread acceptance of DCC/Sound, the Master line split into the non-DCC Silver and the DCC/Sound Gold.
Nick
Nick got it right. [bow] I never did understand why Atlas came out with the Trainman line. They had the reputation of building very high quality and highly detailed locomotives and cars. The Trainman line really isn’t cheaper once you start adding up the details that need to be added to produce a nice model. That is if you go that route. They run just as good as the Silver and Gold Series but the lack of detail turned me off of them. I am looking forward to the new Genset that they are releasing, that will be me first Trainman loco.
And the new Genset model is NOT just a Trainman Model, it is a Trainman Plus Model !
See HO Trainman Plus NRE Genset Locomotive
Quoting that page -
I own an Atlas Trainman GP38-2 - it runs just as well as my Atlas GP38 - only the details differ - I’ve gotten a Decorated Body - a New England Central Railroad GP38 from Atlas (bodies are available on their site, the NECR GPs are sold out) to replace the Trainman body - at that point you shouldn’t be able to tell the difference between the 2 models.
Gil, known as Bill somedays …