I saw this article in RMC I thought it was interesting, anyone else see this article? Now how about having one strictly focusing on the ATLAS / YUGOSLAVIAN Connection aka ATLAS a1g, with another strictly focusing on the ATLAS / ROCO Connection at a later date? The Author is Tony Cook. Tom
Since Tony Cook is one of the Editors for HO Scale Collector Magazine, we may see an article or two in HOC about Atlas's early years. The downside is the magazine only focuses on HO scale, but may mention Atlas N as a sidebar. I'm not sure if N Scale Enthusiast magazine has ever done a history on Atlas?
Point353, I will have to agree to disagree here it's all part of ATLAS's History and is possibly what got them started at improving there quality! Tom
While locomotive detail and accuracy and mechansim design have advanced by several orders of magnitude N Scale is fortunate to have started at very high level of tooling and proportion in rolling stock. Compare the really crude stuff from the first 50 years of HO vs.the same in N. Yes, some Arnold/Revell and Lima stuff were pretty crude but the bulk of Roco, Bachmann, Con-Cor, Rivarossi and the Mehano and Far East copy produced cars from 1967 onwards are Atlas Trainman level quality...no body mount couplers or add-on etched parts, but still usable. Sounds like I need to write an early days of N article..... Charlie Vlk
Atlas' FA-1s from the very late '70s or early '80s made by Roco were quite good and a notable step up at the time with their can motors (and flywheels?). The front pilot swung with the truck, but oh well. A few years after introduction, Atlas released a weight kit to increase traction. I have a handful of these in LV, RDG and L&NE (painted by me) and they still run well after 40 years.
Well, A1G already has a website devoted to it... Jim Kelly recently wrote a piece for Model Railroader about the 94 foot whale belly tank car, which was done by Roco for Atlas. I consider it to be the last of the A1G releases. Kelly basically skewered it-- "What were they thinking?" I was not amused. I suspect this is an example of "be careful what you ask for." I would much rather see a perspective of how the A1G series contributed to the growth of N Scale rather than a snarky comment about why a particular release was a bad idea in one person's opinion. I'll be the first to note that the technology was, well, the best available at the time. I have an example of this right on the A1G site, namely the difference between the Jumbo Tank Car (not to be confused with the above Whale Belly) as an A1G production and an "A3G" production out of China.
I had a couple of these. Solid runners. While that pilot did indeed swing, it was a big step up from the gaping hole/missing front teeth type open face we had known.
Sure, let's just stop the clock at 1963 and Lone Star. This reminds me of, let us say, uninformed commentator "on another network" who declared the Atlas/Kato RS-3 to be "junk." Obviously said commentator was not around when these were introduced in 1983! They were a watershed release in 1:160, and if you don't believe me, ask Mark "Spookshow"... who awarded the loco an "A"... http://www.spookshow.net/loco/kators3.html And mine still ran straight away after being in storage for 10 plus years. They've aged a lot better since 1983 than I have...
I was never impressed with the A/K RS-3 or GP-7/GP-9, but I do not recall ever designating them as hoon-kay. My RS-3s and GPs were finicky and stalled frequently. The only way that I could address this was to hardwire them in pairs. I did swap out the tyred wheelsets, but this did not help much. The RSD-4 did not stall, but, no road that I modelled at the time had RSD-4s. I understand that with the exception of the C-C Hudson and PA, they were better than anything else that was available at the time, The A/K SD-7/SD-9, however, is STILL one of the best running N scale diesel locomotives out there.
My first venture in N scale was with the Kato/Atlas GP30 and GP35. I have over a dozen of these still running today.
I'd really like to see that as well Charlie. I'm with a lot of others here. The Atlas/Kato RS-3 was a game changer and I can honestly say the reason I stayed an N scaler. I only have 2 of them but they were and are some of my favorite locos.
Please aim first and shoot second (or read more carefully before replying), George. While the title of this thread is "ATLAS / KATO Connection ...", note that the OP's first post is to suggest an article about the "ATLAS /YUGOSLAVIAN Connection" and the "ATLAS / ROCO Connection". Note that distinction and that I quoted this statement in my post/reply. How may locos do you have from the Atlas/Mehano/Roco era and how many still run and run well? The only ones from my accumulation that are close to operational are the Atlas/Roco FA1s - which are the only exception resulting in my comment (regarding locos from the Atlas/Mehano/Roco era) that "most of them would be better off forgotten." Again, note that this comment has nothing to do with Atlas/Kato locos - except maybe the original (RS3-based) GP7/GP9.
Same as I asked umtrr-author, how may N scale locos do you have from the Atlas/Mehano/Roco era and how many still run and run well?
And of course you have to bring up the origin of the universal N scale coupler (Rapido) and how it helped promote the scale. There is a great interview with Ted Brandon that includes this. The rest of the interview is here. http://davidksmith.com/birth-of-n/brandon.htm
Any opinion of any era of N scale equipment must be stated/written from a historical viewpoint. Technologies change and equipment ages. And, ALL of my Atlas/Rivarossi, Atlas/Mehano, and Atlas/RoCo locomotives run and run well. Doug