I have an Atlas Classic GP7 DC loco (48031 Santa Fe #2696). I found a good deal on a Atlas Master GP9 with DCC (40002967 Undecorated, with NCE decoder). From what I have read, the GP7 Classic shell should fit on the GP9 Master chassis, correct? Well, we shall soon find out!!! The deal was too good to pass up... Yeah, I know what that means.
Wow, one at a time please! For all of you (im)patiently waiting on the edges of your seats... The answer is a qualified "yes," the Atlas Master GP9 chassis fits in the Atlas Classic GP7 shell just fine. The light guides appear identical between the two shells, so the headlights should be fine. The non-torpedo-tube-GP7 Classic fuel tank required very minor surgery to fit on the Master GP9 chassis (an extra hump was on the cab end of the chassis bulge that fills the fuel tank.) The long hood end of the chassis bulge was already rebated to accept the shorter GP7 fuel tank w/air tanks. Sometime in the next few days, I will power it up and test run it (and check the light alignments), including assigning the road number to the long address. We now return you to your regularly scheduled railroading.
Well, in hind-sight, it probably wasn't the best choice to post in this specific forum. While the motivation for the question was DCC related, the question itself really is not... For the record, yes the shells swapped, but the fuel tank needed a little trimming to clear a bump on the cab-end of the frame bulge for the fuel tank. Luckily, the fuel tank bulge was rebated on the long-hood end, for the air tanks on that end of the non-Torpedo-Tube GP7's fuel tank. Live and learn...
