Picked up the Kato first. Missing the right front side handrail, doh. Runs ok but frankly a bit noisier then expected. My first Kato acquisition and a tad disappointing. Road number 8446 and product part number 37701 (moulded into the bottom of the fuel tank right next to Made in Japan, no Atlas name anywhere. Kato name on the axle retaining clips.
It’s going back to my LHS now that I’ve found this:
Today at my LHS while ostensibly only buying yet another Walters curved turnout (those 24/30" radius turnouts are very handy) I found a NIB Proto 1000 RS2, road number CP 8407. DCC ready for a 9 pin. 2007 build sold by Walthers but packaged in original Lifelike box. Just has the Walthers name and address where you’d expect the LL name to be on the box.
Runs sweet as. Seems better made than the Kato, frankly.
A little further research shows the Kato for Atlas is an RS3. Battery boxes and exhaust stack differ. Plus the road number was an RS3 for CP. I guess I’ll be keeping it and fabricating a hand rail.