I have had one of the Yellow Box Atlas HO scale GP7’s sitting in the closet for quite some time. I beleive that this is a late 80’s early 90’s era model. It has the Kato chassis and motor/drive. I decided it was time for it to see the light of day and get a DCC decoder installed, LED lighting and Kadee couplers. I had forgotten how fiddly the springs are on a Kadee #38!
I have just put it on the track for its first run, and what a wonderful smooth running locomotive it is. Nice and hefty, great slow response, quiet and smooth. Detail, not on par with the latest super detailed plastic, but not at all bad either. For its day, it was a darned good locomotive, and frankly I would say that it runs a lot better than many of our more recent purchases. Certainly it is a lot better runner than current production Athearn R-to-R.
Every now and then I see these at train-shows and they seem to be selling at relatively low prices. If you can get them for a bargain, go for it, they are way better than I expected.
Nice work, Simon. The older Atlas locos are solid pieces of motive power. People complain about costs sometimes, but that’s for the latest and greatest. Sweet older models like this can be a bargain and with a little work be even better.
I know the feeling. I installed a Tsunami in an old Sunset K-36 that hadn’t run since the conversion to DC and the flood of new Blackstone motive power here. Now she sounds great and is easily the equal of the Blackstones.
I did this because they always say that if you want a manufacturer to announce a model, the best thing to do is build one, because they’re sure to announce is right after you finish it.[;)]
Won’t bother me. A lot of us are hoping that Blackstone announces their K-36 at the National Narrow Gauge Convention next month in Seattle.[|)]
That’s a good looking GP7 you have there Simon. They were made pretty solid back then. I just recently remotored three 70’s era Atlas locos myself and it was worth it.
I agree - nice looking loco! Saw a lot of these in Chicagoland when I was a kid.
I have 3 Atlas ATSF zebra striped RSD locos that I bought wayyyy back (early 90s??). Their Kato mechanism is sooo smooth! There were not cheap (for that time) but you definitely got what you paid for.
I have one of those Geeps myself, painted in pre-Chessie B&O colors (Enchantment Blue + Dulux Gold). It was one of the earliest locos in which I installed sound. There was plenty of space for a speaker inside the shell, since the entire lower body is solid metal and I didn’t need to add any weight.
This evenings project was to do the same thing to another Atlas Yellow Box. This time an Austrian (Roco) SD24. I’m not sure of the age difference between this and the Kato GP7, but this loco is much more of a second hand loco, not nearly as smooth a runner. So here are the brethren together.
The SD is well used, and shows it. It was an Ebay purchase from years ago that I was never all that happy with, not least because I had a terrible time with sagging couplers. Part of this evenings project was to file out the coupler pockets and install some Kadee 38’s with my new found prowess at installing the springs. Now it does not uncouple all the time I think it will get some use.
I agree with Lee - before they “improved” the forum software, the poster’s location (if the poster desired it) and post count was shown beneath the avatar. And I’m an “old guy” as well - I get cranky when change is too radical and sudden. [:)]
hey Simon, remember the backbone of my motive power fleet is a bunch of the early Atlas Geeps like yours. i prefer them to P2K and with a little lube now and then, they just keep on keeping on.
also, an occasional Atlas GP-7 rotated out of the road pool and assigned to yard service makes the best “drill engine” on the layout, smooth as the Kato NW-2’s but more powerful.
This is my original Atlas SD24 purchased back in '74 and the way I solved the coupler issue was to patiently file out the coupler slot so I could insert an assembled KD #7. It has been reliable ever since.[C):-)]
Thanks Don, yep that is essentially what I had to do. The opening was way too small for the #38/37 draft gear so some patient filing was in order. The Kadee installation guide says to use a #37 for this loco, but I found that the center shank coupler was right on the correct height.
Thanks everyone for keeping my thread alive with the discussion of location!
Another way of enhancing those older Atlas/Roco puppies is apply Canon cab, cab base and nose. I also cut away the delrin handrails from the stancions, drilled a small hole through each stancion top, and inserted brass wire for the handrail. She looks a bit better than with those large indestructable delrin handrails Atlas originally applied.[C):-)]
The Atlas GP 7 and RS 3 are the backbone of my fleet of Reading and CNJ Loco’s. They are also easy sound decoder projects. I have standardized on Sountraxx with Tony’s “Dream oval speakers”.
Yes, they are a little dated in the detail area but they make up for it in performance.
I am much the steam fan, but the Gp7/9\s just seem to appeal to me and I own several, not Atlas, I wish tho, Athearn the oldies, and they look just fine. And run quite well. I took a pair and made one a B unit and painted into a test Maroon colors for the club with the club name on it, looks similar to the maroon N&W geeps.
And you know me I put micro 1.5 volt bulbs with my own constant lighting circuit directional lighting in DC mind you. Now I have to mod-em to DCC…heh
I am not currently a diesel guy and for the most part, never was, but in the late 80’s and early 90’s I fell in love with the newly released Atlas RS-1 and would ultimately come to purchase 4 of them by 1995 for my old HO layout. They were the only diesels I ever owned and they were a dream to run as even the best of my steam, back then, could barely replicate their operational velvet smoothness on DC.
I got back into MR only 2 years ago and went over to a long held dream of HOn3. I have a large, three rail dual gauge oval on a 4X8 table in an outbuilding as a test and run-in track for new, repaired and converted DCC locos. I still pull out some of those old RS-1s to just watch 'em glide along the rails on DC. I have never run a single one of my 30 or more HO steamers packed away since 1995.
I’ll second the emotion on those fabulous old Atlas yellow box diesels.
