Atlas Wabash Train Master

I founbd this for an OK price on eBay, but unlike the other Atlas Train Masters I have, this one has been nothing but problems.

I don't know if Atlas still does this, but at least in the 1990s and 2000s, it sold its locos with side handrails installed, but the end handrails were packed separately in the box for the user to install. This was never a good solution, partly because buyers would either lose the handrails or mess them up installing them, and if other models were available to pull out from poorly supervised dealer shelves, some guys would go into the boxes and steal the end handrails from other boxes at the store, and later buyers would get those models home and discover the end handrails were missing.

If you contacted Atlas, they'd say it wasn't their fault, but they'd contact the manufacturer and have them run some extras the mext time they ran the model in four or five years, that is, if the manufacturer remembered to do it then. This was a big reason I gave up on Atlas.

This model was facrory new, the box was sealed, and the handrails were there, but they were extra-fiendish to install. The front ones fell out again as I carried this to the camera. Hope I can find them.

Now I discover that the cab isn't properly seated on the running boards. Another item to try to fix.

The PC board with the DCC socket has the wire position 4 as the only one marked -- normally 1 is marked. But OK, I mounted the plug with the black wire at position 4. When I tested it, I found that the headlghts didn't work, and the loco ran in the opposite directions for front and rear. Turns out the 4 should have been 1. I turned the plug around in the socket so the orange wire went in the position marked 4, and it ran correcrly, and the headlights worked. Luckily this was an easy fix, the others not so much.

This is why I've mostly stopped buying modcls that aren't fully assembled with decoder installed. Walthers Mainline or Proto locos with DCC and sound seem always to be quality assured and don't have all this aggravation. Granted the Atlas Train Master was released in 2004, which makes it 21 years old, but it's time for a next-generation model with high end features like ScaleTrains or Rapido.

Walthers Mainline D&RGW GP9

The most recent runs of the Walthers Mainline GP9 have had paint schemes that I've found appealing, including the Central Vermont 1970s-80s green and yellow and the 1950s SP-Texas & New Orleans black widow. I also really like the D&RGW large speed lettering.

According to the Utah Rails site,

Beginning in 1968, on either new units or on most repainted units, the Rio Grande lettering was made larger, with the Rio made 24 inches high, and Grande made 60 inches high.

The first locos to get this scheme were SD45s assigned to the Kaiser Steel unit coal train to California. Five GP9s (5902, 5903, 5904, 5911, 5954) got this lettering. The Walthers models in this run are 5903 and 5911. Below is a Jim Parker photo of 5904.

Comparing the model paint to prototype photos, the large lettering appears to be correctly placed on each side of the long hood. A smaller black panel with the older flying Rio Grande appears on the short hood front. As on the prototype, the long hood rear does not have this patch. The engineer and fireman figures in the cab correctly face the short hood front of the loco.

I have the sound and DCC version. The ESU sound provided is a lower-cost subset that doesn't have features like prime mover delay on full-featured loco decoders. It also has a limited set of horn and bell options. These are Horns: CV163 = 0 - Leslie A-200 CV163 = 1 - Wabco single-chime CV163 = 2 - Nathan M3 (default) CV163 = 3 - Leslie S3L Bells: CV164 = 0 - Bronze bell (default) CV164 = 1 - Steel bell. I'm satisfied with this sound.

Watchng videos with sound of the D&RGW prototype locos, they appear to have Nathan M3 horns, the default, although the plastic horn detail on the model looks more like a too-small Leslie. As I usually do, I set the acceleration and deceleration momentum CVs 3 and 4 to 0; the flywhweel momentum in the model is enough for me. These were the only CV changes I needed to make.

Operating Scheme Maintenance

I've been running what amounts to a JMRI operations maintenance job, adding newly acquired items over the pastr year or so to the layout and updating their locations to JMRI.

At rear, both of the new Central Vermont GP9s have been added to a consist with the Grand Trunk blue one. They really sound greatr with all engines running at once. Next to that is the Walthers Mainline NW2 on another service track. The Walthers Mainline SCL SW7 is running the update train. I really like the Walthers EMD switchers; the sound has really nice random thuds and clicks.

The tank car isn't new; it's a Bachmann track cleaning car cleaning out the yard tracks as part of the job. It has a neat paint job for D&RGW work service.

In front of the SW7 is one of my recent Accurail Wellsville, Addison, & Galeton boxcars. In the foreground is one of my new Ertl gons with a Chooch load.

Japan Vignette

In my last post, I mentioned that of the limited number of N locos that will negotiate Kato Compact Line curves, many are Japanese prototype. (The Kato N NW2 will take them, but the Broadway limited locos will not.) That doesn't bother me, I had a chance to visit Japan many years ago, and I've always liked Japanese trains. So I decided that if I was going to run some Japanese prototype on this layout, I could justify making some of the scenery Japanese.

Tomix buildings are good basic models of very typical Japanese structures. There are several American railfans who live in Japan and make YouTube videos in US English about their travels, like Jeremy below:

There are also many, many Japanese railfans who post on YouTube, many of whose videos are cab rides on an entire line. You can turn on English sutitles that will translate their Japanese. All these are great tools for getting a feel for how buildings are positioned -- for instance, the ones in my photo back up against the rail line in very typical fashion.

For now, I'm just experimenting with where to place things, and everything is subject to change. But this is an example of the flexibilty possible if you use T-TRAK modular architecture for a home layout; scenes can always be swapped out.

Kato N Japanese ED19 Electric Loco

One of a fairly limited number of locos that can operatre on Kato Compact Line 150 mm curves is their ED19 electric loco:

The prototypes were six locomotives built for the Japanese National Railways by Baldwin-Westinghouse in 1926.

They were built for the Japanese 3'6" gauge, but the proportions aren't far off for US standard gauge electric locos. With a 1-B+B-1 wheel arrangement, they seem to be fairly close to the New Haven EF-2.

The biggest difficulty I had with the loco was installing the number plates. Kato number plates and number boards are tricky and liable to shoot off into space in installation. On their US models, Kato provides extras in case this happens. On this model, though, you just get four boards per number, with no spares. You'd probably have to send to Japan for replacements and maybe try to explain things in Japanese.

What I've done with Kato number boards and number plates is use a small piece of Scotch Magic Tape, laid sticky side up. I press the number board or number plate onto the tape, number side down, into the sticky side of the tape.

Then I pick up the tape and use it to maneuver the number board or number plate into the recess in the body where it belongs. It's good to double check and make sure the numbers are right side up. It may take some jiggering around to get things exactly in line to go in, but the tape will keep things from flying off into space. When the board or plate is firmly installed, you can just gently pull the tape away.

With no spares, I was nevertheless able to get all four number plates installed in this loco.

Overdue Project Update

As far as I can tell, it's been about 18 months since I posted about a trolley-interurban-light rail style micro project I've been working on. At the time, I was just scoping out the possibilties for mounting Kato Compact Line N scale track with 4-5/8" radius on standard T-TRAK modules. My post just had some curves temporarily set up on books and corrugated cardboard sheets and connected to a standard T-TRAK module.

Since then the project has grown:

The layout as it stands is set up on two standard double-wide T-TRAK modules that can be separated in the center. Either can be connected to other standard T-TRAK modules at one end, or one or more standard T-TRAK modules can be added to the center. Provision is made for the left hand module to serve as part of a reverse loop if needed.

The basic ground cover is JTT scenic mats. I got the trees in bulk, I think from Hobby Lobby. I still have more to add. The interurban shelter at left is Milwaukee Elecric prototype from Depots by John. The LRT style platform is from Kato. More buildings and scenery are to come.

Walthers Mainline SP-T&NO GP9

Diesels of Southern Pacific subsidiary Texas & New Orleans, although they were lettered for SP in SP-style paint, had two key differences. One was that they had three-digit road numbers. Another was that they didn't necessarily have the full packages of warning lights of the parent units. However, T&NO units routinely got to California mixed with SP units. Walthers Mainline has produced GP9s with T&NO headlight style and numbers. I ordered 408:

You can see SP-T&NO 408 in the photo above with 5607, a full SP GP9 from an earlier Walthers Proto run, behind it. 5607 has the full light package plus Proto factory details not present on 408. However, I think 408 is a satisfactory layout-qualiry model. Below is a Roger Lalonde photo of siaster loco 434:

The SP placed train numbers in loco numberboards until 1967. Before that, unless the loco was a lead unit on a train, the number boards were empty, as shown in the prototype photo. The Proto model of 5607 has empty numberboards, but the model of 408 has the unit number, which is incorrect. I may change this.

T&NO 408 was built in May 1954. In the 1965 SP renumbering, T&NO units were renumbered into SP number series, and 408 became 3408. In the 1970s, it was renumbered 3301.