China Strikes Again!

I just opened up the box of my N scale Atlas ACL SD35, only to discover it's trucks no longer attached and the body all split open and shattered due to the expanding pot metal frame halves. The shell is a total loss, as are the frame halves, so I guess it's only good for parts. I also have it's twin in SCL black & yellow, I wonder how long before it suffers the same fate? I know this has been a problem with some of the old Bachmann N scale stuff, and even the Atlas/Rivarossi N scale steam locos, but this is the first I've heard of this problem with modern day production items. Has anyone else noticed similar problems?

Bill in FtL

 

Never heard of anything like this. You say the frame expanded??

 

The ACL locos were made in both 2000 and 2009 while the SCL locos were made in both 2005 and 2009.
What production runs (years) are your locos from?

 

I'm not sure what China has to do with your situation.
Unless you're a forensic specialist and know positively that because this product was made in China that it's somehow inferior to the kabillion other locos that have been made in China (for Atlas and other manufacturers) that work wonderfully.
This is an Atlas company concern.
Issues like this happen with products made in America, too.
In my experience (both amateur & professional), Atlas is very responsive to customer concerns and issues.
Contact Atlas and I'm sure they'll help you get a running loco in your hands as soon as possible.

Otherwise cut out the sensationalist headlines and share what you've done to actually solve the problem.

 

The old locos wouldn't explode.......the chassis just crumbled into dust. It sounds like your loco definitely "exploded". But metal doesn't just explode. My guess is during assembly something didn't get aligned right and when the screws were tightened it placed stresses on the frame. Eventually the stresses got the better of the frame and it snapped. You didn't say if this was a new/new to you/you've had it for a long time loco. I'd send it in to Atlas and see what they say......sounds like it's pretty well destroyed, so you aren't out much if they don't warranty it.

 

The last time I ran across a classic case of what I call Zmactitis was with some replacement Bmann 4-4-0 tender trucks. And Heaven only knows how long they had lain in the parts department. It is a problem that used to exist with a number of European produced locomotives in the early years and the only time one sees it today is some of the old vintage junk that shows up on the auction site. I have seen my share of it and I am sure a number of other old timers here have too. What would be nice is to see a couple of decent photos of the offending chassis up close and sharp before we make a call on the what and why.

But as posted just previous to this I second the idea to call or contact Atlas reference the issue and see what they have to say about it. There is always the possibility that it could have been a bad batch of metal with impurities that was involved in the casting and may just be a rare occurrence.

 

Could it be an aftermarket DCC chassis?? I have Atlas locos from the mid 90's with no frame problems. Bob.

 

I have never had this happen with Atlas power. As others have stated, with RR power, the chassis either cracks or turns to powder. I have had both.

One similar thing did happen to me with C-C smoothsides (those based on the Hill Lines protoypes that RR made, originally and C-C has sold for years). I took out a few from a plastic storage box. I had not run them in years. They appeared warped. I had thought that the house heat had warped them because the plastic storage container retained heat. I then took one out of the box to salvage some parts for bashing. The weight/undercarriage popped out, hit the floor and broke into three pieces. The car, still in hand, was suddenly in its proper shape. I picked up the pieces of the weight and they appeared to have been distorted. It appeared that this weight/undercarriage had been distorted thus distorting the shape of the cars. I had three other cars like this. I took the weights out of the other three. Two of them popped back into their proper shape; one did remain distorted.

While I am not surprised at this from C-C, it does surprise me from Atlas. I can not imagine that Atlas would tolerate the use of inferior materials by the factory. I would send the thing to Atlas, ask them to examine it and see if the factory did use substandard materials. If it did use substandard materials, Atlas can take appropriate action.

 

The metal frame halves have many small cracks and show signs of warping and deformation, and the SCL unit has similar problems, but not yet severe enough to have destroyed the shell, although the frame was so tight it was almost impossible to remove the shell. The SCL unit still runs, but seems rather slow. I know that I purchased these over a year ago, and after that much time there is no warranty, but warranty not withstanding, it seems like the metal shouldn't self destruct over any amount of time.

These were not aftermarket or even modified frame halves, strictly OEM. A new pair of frame halves might make the SCL unit good as new again, but the only part of the ACL body that wasn't destroyed was the fuel tank, so beyond saving the motor and trucks for the parts bin, it is a total loss. I guess I'll be testing all my N locos (all brands) this weekend for similar problems. When I last ran these two less than a year ago, they seemed fine, so problems like this can come about pretty quickly, and there is no guarantee that even new replacement frame halves won't do the same thing over time. From the damage to the shell, it looks like the frame expanded in length, splitting it wide open and even breaking the walkway apart.

Bill in FtL

 

I like to see a picture of the frames.

 

I would think the plastic shell would have melted first if that were the case. I too would like to see a picture of the damage.

 

What you have described is characteristic to my coined term Zmactitis. Cracking is observed, and upon close magnified observation, pitting can also be observed, and yes the frame can and does swell to the point where the mechanism becomes very hard to remove. The pieces of metal become very brittle as the reaction continues to the point that small pieces and whole large parts can and do crumble and break off when handled. The reaction that occurs causes the metal to swell thus becoming tight in its shell but I have never had a shell destroyed or even slightly cracked due to the reaction. But that may have been due to the fact that the shells were older and thicker than a lot of todays shells.

In non scientific terms the reaction causes the formation of what I shall call here metallic salts for the lack of a better term. In the process some moisture is absorbed which causes the swelling since the volume of those salts increases due to the absorbed moisture content. Folks who have done some repair to mechanisms that have been affected by this using ACC have had to grind excess from the chassis frame due to that expansion to get the mechanism to fit back into the shell. Humidity is not the culprit it just adds to the woes. The last time I ever experienced this with an Atlas loco was an old 4-6-2 that had been produced for them in Europe and many newer Atlas locos since then have bee free of any issue with the frame metal.

But as I stated before it is one of those things that I have to see to correctly diagnose and the prognosis of the 2nd loco suffering that fate is high if both are from the same run. Close-up photos still would be nice and even if the limited warranty has expired I would still contact Atlas about the problem. Whether Atlas still has frames in stock, shells, or even the loco model I don't know. A search of Atlas parts should reveal that.

 

Please do yourself and everybody else a favor and CONTACT ATLAS - use this contact page link:
http://www.atlasrr.com/communicate.htm

Use the Atlas CEO link on that page to get in touch with Paul Graf.

I think you just might be surprised at what Atlas might do!!!!

 

I always worry about that after they have been sitting on the layout overnight in single digit temps...and I go out there and turn everything on and power them up. Are they going to explode as soon as I turn the throttle knob and that freezing cold motor gets electricity to it and starts to turn...

:uhoh:

 

I have this visual image of George entering the train domain on a bitterly cold morning, firing up the power, and as he advances the throttle on a zxwc-99-2 it starts to smoke like an Alco, and then a sudden mushroom cloud appears, shrapnel flies everywhere, George has Nam flashbacks and returns fire, and when the smoke clears there is a foot wide crater in Lucky Penny Yard and a number of holes in the RV where he has returned fire.

Actually if the lube is lightweight in the locos should not make a difference at all. Might be just a tad sluggish starting out.

 

Yea John...

I have vision like this happening....

http://images4.fanpop.com/image/photos/17100000/Screencaps-unstoppable-17143313-1920-800.jpg

:teeth:

 

I just posted 5 photos of the Atlas N SD35 frames and the ruined ACL body shell. I noticed the ACL frame looked longer than the SCL frame, so I took a shot of them sitting together. I also measured them with a tape measure, and found that the ACL frame was about an eight of an inch longer than the SCL frame. All of my N scale locomotives are stored in an insulated, all concrete (even the roof) garage in Ft. Lauderdale. They are in their original plastic boxes inside corrugated and plastic storage boxes under the layout table. Temperatures never below freezing, and seldom above ninety five degrees (F). If the environment in a typical layout area is unsuitable for storing metal & plastic locos, I would submit they must be made using materials that are inadequate for use in production of model trains.

Over the next few days, I will be going through my locos, inspecting and test running each one, looking for similar damage. Like most modelers, I have more locomotives than I can run on my little T-Trak layout at one time, so they spend a good bit more of their life in their original boxes rather than sitting out on the layout. I also have the distraction of being involved in several scales and modular activities in HO and On30, as well as my S Scale layout, all of which live in the garage.

I will call Atlas regarding the availability of replacement SD35 frames, since the SCL loco could be restored with new frame halves, but without a useable shell, or a decorated replacement, I'm not sure repairing the ACL loco would be worthwhile. Recent changes to the Atlas website have made it a lot harder to find out what's available and what isn't.

Bill in FtL