A Look At The Updated Atlas Classic HO GP7

I've been a big fan of the Atlas HO GP7 since it came out as a Kato model in the early 1990s. This was fairly crude by current standards, but it's still a very acceptable layout-quality model, and it runs very well. It was reissued later as an Atlas Classic model made in China, with finer handrails, individual grab irons, LED lighting, and an NMRA 8-pin DCC socket -- all big improvements. A major disadvantage, however, continued to be the tab at the long hood end that attached the body to the chassis. This easily bent or broke, which created problems.

Eventually Atlas withdrew the Classic GP7 with the promise that it would be upgraded. The new releases recently came out, and I ordered an MKT green GP7:

Atlas has always been good at choosing the numbers it puts on these locos. Some MKT GP7s were chop nosed by the time they were painted green, but the ones they chose, including 107, kept their high short hoods.

The problem with the fragile tab at the end of the long hood has been fixed, and the body is now held on like many other made-in-Cina Atlas locos:

However, other than the new tabs that hold the body to the frame, there have been no changes to the body from the earlier Atlas Classic version. The chassis is another matter. The PC board above the motor now has a socket for a 21-pin connector. While there is still an 8-pin NMRA socket, you must remove the 21-pin dummy plug to install DCC. You can see a Digitrax DZ126PS installed in the 8-pin socket here, with the 21-pin dummy plug removed.

The biggest change is to the chassis. The Kato version, carried over into the Atlas Classic model, had a chassis and fuel tank cast as a single unit in metal. The problem with this was that GPs had several sizes of fuel tank, and earlier models, like the 1950s Athearn and the Kato version, reproduced only the larger version, and modifying it to a smaller version meant milling the metal. Athearn set a new standard by making different sizes of fuel tank in its Genesis units. Atlas has now followed suit:

I've heard the estimate that more GPs were built with small fuel tanks than the full-size, which opens the possibility for many more accurate models. However, the Kato cast metal chassis had the advantage of weight. The new version weighs 9 ounces. The older Atlas Classic version weighs 13.75 ounces.