Atlas HO scale EMD MP15 Here’s a great looking, smooth-running model of Electro-Motive Division’s versatile MP15 heavy-duty yard switcher. At first glance it may look like any other EMD switcher, but this one is a hauler capable of moving up to 42 free-rolling cars on straight, level track. Atlas offers the MP15 in a Silver-series […]
ON REAL RAILROADS, signal lights tell locomotive engineers what’s ahead, how fast to proceed, when to stop, when to go, and the position of a track switch. Pretty simple stuff, right? Yes, but in real railroading this basic concept also is applied in layers – envision the signaling on a bi-directional main line with plenty […]
ATLAS O IS OFFERING a rugged rendition of one of the stalwart diesels of the second-generation period – the GP35. The EMD GP35 was a prominent and reliable player in the game against General Electric and Alco for control of the U.S. locomotive market. The 2,500-horsepower, four-axle locomotives were built from October 1963 through January […]
OTHER THAN THE venerable train station, no structure says “railroad” in the minds of the masses like the roundhouse. It’s a term that easily rolls off the tongue, even from people who often have never seen this near-extinct locomotive servicing/storage facility. The traditional roundhouse is fast becoming a memory. Modern diesel locomotives are serviced in […]
ATLAS O HAS CHOSEN to offer an O gauge model of a locomotive that doesn’t get much attention. Yet Fairbanks-Morse’s Alt.100.3 diesel, better know by its “Erie-Built” nickname, illuminates an interesting chapter in railroad history. During World War II, the federal government placed restrictions on the manufacture of diesel locomotives. Firms could make only those […]
I’LL BE HONEST. When I saw the box with “GP60” written on the label, I sighed. Geeps may be the most modeled diesel in the O gauge world, and here was another. Then I took the Atlas O model out of the box and said out loud, “Holy smokes, this model is stunning!” Once again, […]
Readers may recall how dazzled I was with Atlas O’s superb GP60, painted in Santa Fe’s blue-and-yellow freight scheme and reviewed in the May 2005 issue. Well, that issue was still warm from the printing presses when we received two more sturdy additions to the CTT locomotive test fleet: the powered Atlas O GP60M and […]
NOT THAT MANY years ago, I wouldn’t even think of using my precious Kodak film to take photos of GP9s. I mean, Geeps were everywhere. Old power, like F-units, and newer jobs like the GP40 or SD40-2 were the subject of my attention, not those old, rusty “things.” Alas, I learned the error of my […]
YES INDEED! Atlas O’s Alco C-424 is another squat, homely diesel that will make a segment of the O gauge community happy, if not downright giddy. I’ve often wondered why some segments of our clan of railroad hobbyists (myself included) are so, well, hard-core about Alco diesels. Oh, I know that Alco’s PA was larger […]
Atlas HO scale roundhouse I’m sure this new HO roundhouse from Atlas will find a good home on many layouts, as it has that railroady, big roundhouse feel, yet can still fit on a small layout. Roundhouses and their associated turntables are without a doubt among the most “railroady” of structures, and many model railroaders […]
Nary a modeler remains alive who can remember a time before Atlas Controllers, Selectors, and Connectors. Though sometimes scorned by electrical purists, Atlas electrical components have allowed many modelers to wire complex layouts following a sort of paint-by-numbers approach. Thus Atlas’ leap into DCC (Digital Command Control) with the Atlas Master DCC System represents both […]
Electro-Motive Division GP9 road switcher Here’s a great-looking model of the classic Electro-Motive Division GP9 road switcher that includes a powerful mechanism and provisions for easy conversion to Digital Command Control (DCC). Atlas O offers it in two versions for two-rail layouts that operate with either DC or Lionel’s TrainMaster Command Control and RailSounds 4.0 […]
