Hello, all. My Atlas SP SD9's arrived yesterday. Here's photos below. (you can go to my Railimages Gallery, photos 59-67 on the 2nd page, and download the bigger version of the images if you want). www.railimages.com/gallery/johnsing Thx again to Colonel and the Railimages team for making this sharing possible. The engines run very smooth, slightly noisy but not objectionable at all. Good job, Atlas. To anticipate a question, I don't know for sure if the old Atlas SD7/9 shell would fit, but I think the answer may be 'yes'. Others on the forum will probably correct/verify me. As for the LL SD7/9 shell, I think the answer is 'with some filing and fitting'. My last 3 shots below compare the LL SD SD9 shell with the new Atlas SD9. Here's my first-impression comparision with the older LifeLike Bloody Nose SD-9 ( I have several of these ). The Atlas ScaleSpeed(tm)-motored SD9's run just a little faster than the average LL SD7/9. The LL's and the new Atlas SD9's are MU-able (in straight DC) if you don't mind the Atlas SD-9's leading and 'dragging' the LL SD9s a little bit. (I do mind and will be getting a 3d Atlas SP SD-9). Paint: the Atlas SP Lark Gray looks like right on the right colors. By comparision, the LL SD9 SP Bloody nose is a bit darker than it should be on both the grey and the scarlet red. Now don't you all go out there and buy up all the Atlas SP SD9s before I get my third unit! Enjoy. [ 06. January 2004, 16:29: Message edited by: atsf_arizona ]
As I have a batch of the old version, I'm wondering how the new ones will run with them? Any thoughts or information on this? Boxcab E50
Hi, BoxcabE50, While I don't have any of the older Atlas SD7/9's to compare and verify, I am pretty sure they had a motor that spins at a much higher speed (i.e. same speed as the 1996-era Atlas GP7s). These new Atlas SD9s with the ScaleSpeed(tm) motor don't run anywhere near that fast. So you'd need to either: - Swap motors - DCC speed match the engines Hope this helps!
It's the first side by side comparison I've seen of these units. I have a soft spot for SP myself, alothough the don't fit my area of Nothern Arizona either (yet I'd perfer to see SP over UP on my layout). I'm not a fan of high nose units, but these are a great looking model. Are you going to try your hand at weathering on these?
John Breen, Yes, I'm getting up the courage to start weathering! So far I've been chicken, not wanting to 'mess up' nice engines that I've spent a lot of time decaling. The Nov/December N Scale Railroading article by Bill Bowers about his LyNchburg Western layout, is inspiring me to try it. I bought the Kalmbach (Jeff Wilson) book couple days about about 'Weathering' and am getting up the courage to start. (smile)
Historical info on the Atlas SP SD9: To be exact, the Atlas SD9 #4341 and #4409 are SD9E's, which are early 1970's rebuilds of the original SP SD9. You can tell which ones are SD9E's because they are numbered in the 4300-4451 number range. From Joseph Strapac's classic 1997 book 'SP SD7/9's, page 70 and other pages, comes the following: "Sacramento and SP basically rebuilt the SD9 from the ground up with as many 645-series engine parts as could be used in the original 567B engine. Traction motors were re-wound to functional equivalency with EMD's then current Dash-2 offerings. No attempt was made to increase horsepower or modify exhaust flow or chop-nose; enhanced reliability was the goal instead of increased output." The LifeLike SD9 number 3900 was representative of the SP SD9s which were renumbered from their original numbers to the 3800 to 3966 in 1965. So it represents a SP SD9 in the timeframe of 1965 to whenever the 3900 was rebuilt in 1970-80 to a SD9E. The SD9E rebuild program took various SD9s in no particular order, and rebuilt them in the 1970-1980 timeframe. As they were rebuilt they were renumbered starting from 4300. Specifically, SP SD9E 4341 was rebuilt in 1971. SP SD9E 4409 was rebuilt in 1976. So for you rivet counters out there, if you run a lashup of both of the Atlas SP SD9E's 4341 and 4409, your timeframe is 1976 or later. Probably no one cares about the above, but it's been fun reading Strapac's book (smile!)
Never mind the loco's,I thought these photo's wher of a much larger layout,imagin my surprise.... John thats an excelnt little modual(?)Very nice scenery.
John, Why not try weathering with chalks? you dont have to seal them straight off so if you are unhappy with them you can wash the shells and start again. If you are happy then ust a quick spray of dullcote or hairspray and they are sealed. Actually from experience I have found hairspray to give a better result. Here is a link to my weathering page. I will also post a picture of one of my locos weathered using chalk by GATS (Gary) Weathering with Chalk Great looking models
John. They look just like my LL SD7's and I love them. They are very good and smooth runners at any speed.
I really need to try chalk myself. I've used washes and dry brushing with mediocre results. I'm encouraged to try chalk because of the "wash it off" part. You never know until you try.
