What Year for Yellow Box Atlas locomotives?

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Good Evening to all,
I recently purchased one of the “Yellow box” Atlas locomotives (GP40) road #3084 off of ebay. Was curious if any of you Atlas gurus out there might know between what years were these “yellow box” editions produced? I believe that some were made in Austria and some in China? I have not received the engine yet so I cannot check any marking on it as I do not have it in my hands yet. Thanks in advance.

Regards,
Brad

2

I’m going to guess mid to late 1980s… SOME yellow box models, had Kato drives as well. The GP7,9, RS11, RS1, RS3, F3,7,9 (did I miss any?)… I’d suspect your GP40 is an Austrian made version, similar drive to Athearn (Blue Box) though much quieter as I remember it…

edit: Sorry for the error, the F units with Kato drives are Stewarts (late 1980s early 1990s)…

3

1975 was the first year. Check out the Atlas trains collectors resource

4

Brad,

The link dingoix provided is about the best site for info right now. It only lists the 1975 road names; the second Atlas and the Con-Cor runs were not included.

Here is some info concerning the mechanisms. Over the years there were 4 different versions of the GP-38/40s. They are, in chronological order:

  • Atlas/Roco - 2 flywheels w/o circuit board, 10T gearing.
  • Atlas/Roco - 1 flywheel w/circuit board, 10T gearing.
  • Con-Cor/Roco - 1 flywheel w/circuit board, 10T gearing, updated Roco motor.
  • Con-Cor/Roco - 2 flywheels w/new circuit board, motor, frame and 14T gearing.

Note:
Versions 1-3 are interchangeable concerning parts.
Version 4 shares only the body and truck side frames with version 1-3; the drive train is the same as the second run of the Atlas/Roco FP-7.
Versions 3-4 has “Made in Austria” ground off the bottom of the trucks; some have a sticker on bottom of frame “Assembled in Mexico”.

Hope this helps,
Jim

5

Jim, thank you so much. Now I know why my FP7 has only 1 flywheel. How do I tell if it’s Atlas / roco (version 2) or Con-Cor / roco (version 3)?

6

You can also find information about older Atlas train engines at the following link. There are diagrams and reference information available.
http://www.hoseeker.net/lit.html
Larry

7

dingoix, you are welcome.

Con-Cor never sold the FP-7. Atlas ran these twice with the versions as follows:

  • Atlas/Roco - 1 flywheel w/o circuit board, 10T gearing

  • Atlas/Roco - 2 flywheels w/ circuit board, new motor, heavier frame and 14T gearing.

Note:
Only the body and truck side frames are interchangeable between the 2 FP-7 versions.
The second version of the FP-7 uses the same drive as the last version of the Con-Cor/Roco GP-38/40s
I have not seen the ER Models version of the FP-7, it may be the same as the second Atlas version. Perhaps someone who owns one can comment.

Larry, you have a good site there.

Jim

8

Thanks. It sounds like I’ve got an old one.