HI. I have one of these nice ATLAS SD-60 OAKWAYs but took it out of the box, and the paint is chipped like a cheap car.. Its a only done 10ish laps of the layout in Sydney, this is first time in few yearsI have had it out of the box.. I remember an issue with these units elsewhere? Anyone remember what the go was? thanks Bruce
Sometimes the wheel sets get out of guage and causes these to slow in corners. Especially if you have taken them apart for cleaning/maintenance. Also the decoder chip has trouble making contact with the metal leads to the unit. I had to solder mine to fix this issue. Other than that they are good runners. Bryan
The issue with the paint chipping on the nose is a known problem. If Atlas has any left they will probably send you a replacement shell. E-mail Atlas' customer service department and describe the issue to them. csdept@atlasrr.com
If you get anything from Atlas, I would sure like to hear about it. When the cracked paint was first reported here, I looked at mine and sure enough mine were cracked as well. I emailed Atlas, knowing that many others had already reported the problem. The response was; there was no cracking problem, they knew nothing about it, and it must be something I did. I got pretty much the same response when I reported to them that the 8-32BWH locos did not fit in their box after you installed the sun shades supplied by Atlas un-installed. Their response was that they knew that and might change the box on future runs, but no offer to replace the mashed sun shades or send me a new box if they did change it. Basically, while they make good products as a rule, if there is a problem their attitude seems to be "tough, you bought it your stuck with it"
All of the wheels to my Atlas SD60M are in gauge but it slows horribly in turns < 14" radius. I have disassembled it and tried to find out where the binding is, but can't. No matter what I do it keeps going about half its normal speed when it meets a "broad" curve.
I had the "Chipped Paint" problem on my OKWYS. Emailed Atlas and they told me to return the shells. They replaced both. That was about a year ago. So far the "Paint" is holding on the new shells.
The curve slowing also deals with the gears on the axles. It is kind of a trial and error thing but make sure they are not rubbing on the frame. I started adjusting mine and it seemed to help. Like I said kind of a trial and error process but for some reason they got out of wack and it was a pain to get back in working order. Good luck, I hope this helps. Bryan
I found that the motor armature was shifting in the motor.See if you can wiggle the windings back and forth.If you can,I took a small screw driver and GENTLY pushed on the plastic nuts that go into the fly wheels to spread them apart.Leave a little play,but not much.I don't know why this works,but it worked for me.I was so fed u p with my atlas' slowing on curves,I was ready to swear off Atlas,but this worked for me. Now,if only they could make a 6 axle truck that doesn't pop it's gears out of place. Lot's of people had paint problems,and lots of people recieved replacement shells.I'm sure if they have any left,they will send you one,but this was a while ago and I would be worried about them being out of stock.
FYI got a mail back today... STUNNED! Hi Resend this e mail with your mailing address and the road number and I will replace this unit, Wayne Shortman Atlas Model Railroad Co. 378 Florence Ave. Hillside, NJ 07205 "Wayne Shortman" [ 24. February 2004, 10:11: Message edited by: virtual-bird ]
Just one of the reasons ATLAS is an outstanding N scale manufacture. The stand behind their product, and that is worthy of brand loyalty.
Yup 100% agree, I am really impressed, and actually shocked! Brilliant, you pay more for them, but hey this shows you its well and truly worth the extra. Thanks ATLAS... that name again?? ATLAS
I have 2 of the original SD60's with "stock" Atlas decoders. Both units have the same problem with the curves. I spoke to Atlas and they sent out 2 sets of replacement trucks. Unfortunately it really didn't help much. These units have the older motors - not the slow speed motors. My units run 100% better now that I replaced the lenz stock decoders with the digitrax decoders with BEMF. BEMF makes all the difference and quite honestly I don't buy any Atlas locos with the decoder as I would rather pay a couple extra $ to have a decoder with BEMF or dither control. If I didn't use DCC I would have mothballed the units or ordered replacement slow speed motors and check to make sure that there was not a lot of binding or shifting in the shafts to the trucks that can cause this problem with the curves as it definitely was not a gauging problem.
Well as I said, keeping you informed. the new shell arrived today! Its in a good box, well shipped. will check it out tomorrow, its a new shell, so CONGRATS TO ATLAS.. VERY VERY IMPRESSED.
