Atlas Yellowbox FP7

The Atlas Yellowbpx FP7 dates from 1975. The locos, made by Roco in Austria, were a big improvement in running over what had been available in the low-end HO market up to that time. The F unit body was also a step above the Athearn-Globe tooling from about 25 years earlier. I wound up getting a large number of these over a couple of decades, mostly from swap meets and secondhand tables at hobby shops.

One of my lesser prototypes is the Soo Line, but my interest has been somewhat steady over the years, especially since the MR Red Wing project layout in the December 1994 issue. I built an Athearn bluebox GP38-2 inspired by that layout.

I have some DVDs that cover the Soo Line in the 1960s and 1970s, and I'd begun to notice that the old Atlas Soo Line FP7 didn't look all that bad in comparison with the prototype. Soo red-and-white was a road name from the original 1975 run, but in comparison to the other paint jobs in the early runs, it had some good possibilities. I found one on eBay with DCC installed at not too bad a price, considering it included the install and the decoder. Here's how it looked from the box, mint, in like-new condition, except of course for the decoder install.

One aspect of the paint job that maybe was what made me discount it in earlier times was that the prototype had black pilots and side steps. I fixed this, and I also painted the Farr-Air filters silver. I'll do more work by adding a winterization hatch, number board decals, builders plates, and ACI labels.

By current standards, it's a little crude, in fact, the Bachmann F7 wouild be a better option if they offered it for the Soo Line, but they don't. But this project has reminded me to pull out some of the yellowbox FP7 backlog in my purgatory box:

I'm still thinking through what I can do with this one. Conrail? Katy? C&NW? Lots of options! The 1975 chassis is an easy DCC conversion.

However, things get more complicated. This site gives a pretty good history of the Atlas yellowbox FP7 through its evolution. In 1990-91, Atlas-Roco released an upgraded version with a heavier frame, some improvement in body details, and a different motor, which was the same as used on the Atlas-Roco yellowbox Alco switchers. This included a revised wiring system identical to the Alco switchers, which in turn makes the 1990-91 locos pretty advanced DCC installs. The motor must be removed and insulated from the frame, with the motor mount screw replaced with a plastic one. Then the drive train must be reassembled and gaps cut in the PC board for a decoder hardwire. Whew!

Atlas itself phaased this model out after the 1990-91 runs and never transferred it to Japan or China. In 1998, E-R Models released a revised Roco version, this one using another revised frame, a new PC board, and yet another motor. Here's a shot of the revised frame:

This E-R PC board now has an 8-pin NMRA DCC socket. However, there are cryptic signs on the PC board suggesting that traces need to be cut for DCC, so I will need to see if I can find out what's up here.

But clearly I need to reduce the purgatory box backlog I have with these locos!