Just received this from Atlas about an hour ago, and I’ve been really wowed by it.
I’m a fan of the old IR trolley (I still have three earlier models from 2001-2002 that see occasional use), and this has the same look - but better decoration and graphics.
It comes with a very nice built-up passenger station platform with some add-on detail pieces, the new 30-watt power supply, and the Star of the Show, the new Industrial Rail track system.
This features “T” shaped rails (think GarGraves), Gargraves-style track pins, and the plastic roadbed has that terrificly grainy texture that S-Helper Service’s modular track system has. It fits together very snugly and it already has me fantasizing about re-tracking a mainline (but not before the come out with O-72 track …).
Our sample is the New Jersey set (for non-New Jerseyites the Public Service decoration is generic enough that you could run it without anyone asking why a Joisey car is running in Mississippi or Alaska).
Everybody who has taken a look at it (Carl, Kent, and even our ex-, Neil) has thought the trolley was pretty nice, and I think everyone was surprised by the high level of quality of the passenger shed.
The track - again - is great. Visually, this might be the ultimate compromise in track systems – tinplate rail with uber-detailed roadbed.
We’re trying to wrap of the february issue, so it will be a few days before I can couple the track, power, and trolley, but the first impression is darned positive.
“I’m a fan of the old IR trolley (I still have three earlier models from 2001-2002 that see occasional use), and this has the same look - but better decoration and graphics.”
Glad to hear you like it Bob. The new Atlas IR stuff seems to be selling well according to what I am now hearing, though I have yet to be wowed with a couple things I have actually seen. The EL box car is far too dark a grey for my liking (and way darker than the actual cars too). And the on the Hooker tank car the white is applied so thin that you can see the orange color of the car showing through. I’m not fussy about a lot, but I do like the paint to be applied well and colors to be somewhat correct.
The Reading double door box car is nice though and I may have to add that one to my layout. I’m still hoping for some modern roads like the new BNSF “swoosh” logo in orange lettering to appear on some frieght cars.
I also like the look of the new Refrigerator Car (at least as much as I can say from the website illustration), especially the Swift one.
But does anyone know if Atlas has modified the former IR coupler so that it no longer binds on certain 027 curve combinations. This WAS a problem with the IR cars and I know I’m not the only one who had it. I’ve had many a comment here that folks were unhappy with their IR cars for this reason until they tried my fix… then they were fine.
As much as I liked the former UMD IR cars (modern roads like NS and BNSF), I found I had to modify every single coupler with a Dremel tool to open up the space inside the closed coupler to prevent derailments from the couplers.