Ahh the heck with all the SD70dash 42 AbCs what about another run of the Shays, and better yet a three truck Shay, or a Class B Climax or Heisler
Dear Atlas, Please Do Not produce any new SD60s. I would feel horrible at not being able to buy any of them. Edit, oooops. BUT: Please Do produce ten new paint schemes beer can tank cars. That is my budget for the year. Thank you, Steve Goodenough
I have an Atlas GP40 with decoder I bought about the same time as the FVM. The Atlas has only been cleaned once. It just keeps going and going. The FVM is on the workbench more then the track ! Not all modelers want all them extra fine details that keep falling off. GP60M ring a bell ? Atlas has a damn good track record as far as reliabilty goes. The Trainman line is damn near good as the master line...minus all them tiny itty bitty glue em on parts. Atlas doesnt have sound yet...and I personally hope they dont go that route. JMO YMMV. Ther's some facts for ya !! BTW...If my dry sense of humor escapes you...nothing I can do about that
Exactly!!! Atlas NEEDS to make MORE locomotives in the Trainman line. I believe that was my contention with my original reply...hmmmmm.
I agree, sound in n scale does not work and I wish the new locos being offered did not exclusily come with sound. Besides, it really gets annoying after 5 minutes!
So, you're arguing the GP40 is good, (and I agree) which is NOT a Trainman loco...it's a Master Line loco. Apples and oranges. And moldy oranges at that. A Trainman loco is NOT EVEN CLOSE to another Atlas locomotive with regards to quality or performance. The GP15-1 is built like the old-school locos that ran "ok" out of the box, but once everything wasn't optimal (i.e. dirt on the contacts, worn contacts, etc.) then....look out. So if you're suggesting that "hey, Trainman locos are really Atlas, they're really just as good as the GP40" well, they ARE NOT. I'm not sure how else I can make it any clearer than that. I know you refuse to listen to good advice--I preached Unitrack to you for a couple of years before you would even consider it--but it would serve you well to do so here. As you know with your FVM loco, there is NO ROOM FOR COMPROMISE with an n-scale locomotive. As it stands, the really good locos now can barely pull a remotely prototypical amount of cars up a very slight grade. Backing off "state of the art" does not improve that situation. "You get what you pay for" is never a truer statement than when applied to n-scale locomotives. Would you pay $55 for a 20MB hard drive from 1980 versus $70 for a 1TB drive today? I mean, you're saving tons of money!
I have plenty of Atlas SD50, SD60 and SD60M's as they've run them numerous times in the past. I doubt Atlas would do an SD60I. While CR, and subsequently NS and CSX after the split, modelers would no doubt be happy(myself included). They were the only railroads who had those. I think the number of SD60I's was around 80 if I remember correctly. As far as an SD40E, it's an SD50 rebuilt by NS with little or any visible exterior changes(one being horn location onto the long hood) and the addition of the air conditioning unit on top of the cab. I was asked to paint a couple for a friend and am going by what info I was given as I model CR. Other than the cab, I am know nothing about the SD60E's spotting features. The SD70, like the SD60I, was also produced in a smaller quantity with 120 being built. Although it would only take retooling the cab for an SD60I's whisper cab over trucks and shell tooling for an SD70. I am thinking a cab off a Kato SD80MAC would be the best choice for a kit bash for the SD60I. That being typed, there are folks doing the newer cabs used by both NS and CSX via shapeways. I've no info other than what I've seen on the shapeways site. Since the SD40E would be an easier thing for Atlas to do with the SD50(same frame as the 60's), I wonder if that would help speed up a new release of SD50/60's etc...
The tooling for the old Atlas GP15-1 is ancient. As you said "So yeah, BRING ON THE 70's technology locos to save $15!!! Wooohooo!" To presume that if they (Atlas) came out with newer Trainman Line locomotives that they would still use that kind of ancient tooling would be foolish. The 'guts' of a model train changes...that doesnt mean the shell has to be all rubies, diamonds, and gold. They (Atlas) can still make a NEW affordable (Trainman) locomotive with none of the "bells and whistles, and/or sound" to satisfy those who seek such. ;-) Funny you should bring up the HD comparision. I have an old (build date 2004) Western Digital 200GB hdd taken out of an old PC and put into an external drive housing years ago. I use it every day and it still works great. I bought a Seagate external 1TB drive a few years ago (build date 2011) and used it everyday. It died a week ago !! So yea...ya get what ya pay for. Newer is not always better...lol ;-)
I was going by Dougs information: "Interesting point about sound though, since no Atlas locomotive ever made in n-scale has ever had sound." But yea...Iforgot about it...lol Dont shoot the messenger...lmao.
My only reason for ever wanting sound would be the short term novelty and the long term entertaining of guest. Beyond that? I have the real thing out my window. I am going to pursue looking into the viability of: 'Recordable sound chips' as a way to include it or playing them on a CD or PC or ? What will the next 10 years hold?.
I stand by my statement. No Atlas locomotive ever made in n-scale has ever had sound. Prove me wrong. da~GNote3
Foolish based on what. Why do you think they're cheaper? Because of "less details"? THAT'S foolish. The guts are what Atlas cheaped out. But keep asking for that....we'll keep watching your "help me" posts. Great stuff. At least most newbies will heed the warnings. da~GNote3
The GP15's are far from 70's tech(anyone remember Mehano??). There, I said it. Back to therapy now. I've had 2 from the 1st run and they run very well and mix with my Masterline locos fine. They have countless hours on them. So the detail and the materials used may be a little less than the Masterline. The construction is still a split frame mech although the fuel tank is cast as part of the frame halves. If Atlas can bring a product to market that runs exponentially better than the 70's tech I had back then, and get folks started into the hobby without breaking their bank that's a win to me.
Umm, no its not. The GP15-1 was all new tooling for the Trainman line. The only difference between a trainman GP15-1 and say the master GP40, is (1) the GP40 has a separate fuel tank molded in plastic vs being part of the frame. And (2) the GP40 has brass pickup strips where the GP15 the pickups on the trucks touch the frame direct.
MY Message to Atlas - CB&Q SD9s I was a little disappointed to see that the new run of SD9s from Atlas don't feature a CB&Q release. The "Q" had something like 80 SD9s (not counting C&S units) in two different color schemes and the last release of Atlas CB&Q SD9s was the Sekisui Kinzoku release. How many scale feet are those oversized? IMHO, it is time for Atlas to have another release of "Q" SD9s. Andy Tetsu Uma
Ok...I give up...that makes YOU the winner. I will bow out from the flame war and just hope Atlas will come out with an all NEW Trainman locomotive...soon. Refer to post #5 in this thread... Have fun.
