I would just like to know which is the better roundhouse Atlas or Walthers and why?
My railroad is going to be set in the late sixties and the Roundhouse will still be used to store and service diesels like RS-1’s,RS-3’s,SW-2’s, and maybe even a steamer for fan trips.
thanks in advance
bill
That will probably depend on your choice of turntable. I have the Atlas roundhouse and turntable. The roundhouse is designed for this turntable. It has 15-degree stall spacing, and the “apron” between the turntable and the doors is an exact fit. It’s a 3-stall roundhouse, and you can get two kits and put them together for a 6-stall structure. You’d have to do a bit of cutting to make a 4 or 5 stall unit, though.
For the price, this is a pretty nice kit. I spent a lot of time painting and detailing it. The plastic of the walls is pretty thin, so I painted the interior walls black and then covered them with a card-stock “cinderblock” I printed on my computer. This model has no interior detailing other than the support girders, so I had some fun putting in my own. Woodland Scenics made the railroad workers, and those are Walthers bumpers. (Yes, the pin-ups on the back wall are historically-accurate playmates from 1967. If you look close enough, you can count Miss August’s, uh, rivets.)
I like the Atlas myself,here is my old round house:
The Vollmer roundhouse is far nicer than either the Atlas or the Walthers.
MisterBeasley you have a very good point, I was planning on using the Walthers 90’ manual turntable so maybe I should use the Walthers roundhouse.
p.s. your round house looks awesome!
Steamnut, the vollmers roundhouse is quite nice but a little out of my price range $119.00 for a 3stall[:O]
bill
Did you consider the Heljan roundhouse? I have it and I am still assembling it, but love it so far…
Brian
roadrat, your post is the most refreshing post I have seen in months; you are the first person to ever address a question inviting a comparison between Atlas and somebody besides Kato.
So help me, Hannah, I have been a member of this forum for just a few days longer than four months - no, I had trouble a week ago and wound up losing my two previous usernames so this current username is only six days old - anyway, I have been up here on the forum for a little longer than four months and if I have seen it once I have seen it fifty times, “Which is better, Atlas or Kato?” Sometimes this is worded, "Should I buy an Atlas or a Kato?’ or “Which would you buy: an Atlas or a Kato?”. Sometimes the poster gets things out of whack and gets it “Kato or Atlas”. There is, I believe, even an active “Atlas or Kato?” post floating around out there in the netherworld at this particular moment. I am a strong advocate of an “Atlas or Kato?” forum!!! There have even been a few occasions when Life-Like gets thrown into the mix but usually its just “Atlas or Kato?”
Almost as inane as the question are some of the responses and when I see an “Atlas or Kato?” topic posted I will bet you dollars to donuts that within five posted responses we will see, "Whatever you do don’t buy a Bachmann; they stink!'; the next thirty-eight posts will be devoted to a diatribe about Bachmann - and Life-Like - and Model Power - and Con-Cor - and (you fill in the name of your favorite boogie man here). So help me, Hannah! I don’t see how that company stays in business from one day to the next.
After about posted response number thirty I start scratching my head and go back and reread the original question; did I miss something? nope! it distinctly says “Atlas or Kato?” How in the sweet name of Laura Bush did Bachmann, or Life-Like, or Model Power, or Con-Cor, or whomever creep in there. Beats the you-know-what out of me!!!
roadrat, I haven’t meant
If you look at the Walthers roundhouse and the Heljan I think you’ll notice that they are the same. So are the turntable kits. I think that Heljan actually manifactures the kit for Walthers. (I could be wrong about this though)
Hey It’s great using the color and fonts that are available to me now that I’m using Firefox! Thanks Joe
Joe,
I don’t think they are the same. From what I have read, the Heljan roundhouse is designed with 7 ½ degree stall spacing angle vs. 10 degrees for the Walthers. However, they may be made by the same company with minor modifcations to dimensions, but I am not sure (I don’t have a walther’s one to compare) [:P]
Just my 2 cents…
Brian
That may be true: however, I had a bit of a problem building mine, and I’m not sure how to mount it on the lathe, as it is out-of-round[:D].
Because of this construction error, I was unable to use either the Atlas or the Walthers turntable, so I was forced to build my own.
Wayne