Atlas SD45's shipping

[garethashenden]

I guess my bitching about the missing bell on the N&W units paid off! (I contacted Atlas directly about this)    The long hood bell Guilford units should be ex-SOUTHERN.

They were a mixture. 675-684 were ex-NW, 685-689 were ex-SOU. Two of the three that Atlas has made are ex-SOU.

[Mark5]

They were a mixture. 675-684 were ex-NW, 685-689 were ex-SOU. Two of the three that Atlas has made are ex-SOU.

I knew a bunch went to Guiford. 

I didn't look far enough to see if they did an Ex-N&W unit - I wonder if they botched it ...

#681 (ex-N&W) https://www.railpictures.net/photo/89723/

[Dupesy]

They were a mixture. 675-684 were ex-NW, 685-689 were ex-SOU. Two of the three that Atlas has made are ex-SOU.

The three Guilford units they did are 681, 686 and 689.  All three were delivered to Guilford with high bells on the long nose.  the 686 and 689 had the long nose designated as the front, while the 681 had the short nose forward.  This configuration changed as the engines got more "Guilfordized".  So the only thing I take except to is Atlas put the little "F" on the long hood of the 681, but I plan on renumbering this one anyways as I already had a (Kato) SD-45 numbered 681.

[Mark5]

The three Guilford units they did are 681, 686 and 689.  All three were delivered to Guilford with high bells on the long nose. 

This cannot be correct. 681 is ex-N&W - the bell should be on the short nose (see link I posted in prior post and below).
(the other two are ex-SOU, so the bell is in the right place for those)

#681 1990 https://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=20520

#681 2007 https://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1415691

Another Atlas "oops" 

https://shop.atlasrr.com/p-71121-n-master-sd45-silver-guilford-st-681.aspx

[Dupesy]

This cannot be correct. 681 is ex-N&W - the bell should be on the short nose (see link I posted in prior post and below).

#681 1990 https://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=20520

Well, I was almost certain I found a photo of the 681 with the bell on the long hood, with the F on the short hood.  Can I find it now?  No.  Am I remembering what I found, incorrectly?  probably.  I *think* I saw this photo, on my phone: https://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=6319771 and thought it was a shadow on the building 

[GaryHinshaw]

No rear bell, FWIW:  https://www.locophotos.com/pix/31/ST_681_31766_Rotterdam_Junction_NY_Robert_Pisani_2006_07_03.jpg

[Ed Kapuscinski]

For reference, after poking around a bit, I found that Midwest Model RR had the best deal and showed the silver ones in stock.

I've got my 6210 on the way. Hopefully in time for a show this weekend.

[crrcoal]

No DL's on the Guilford SD45's?

[sirenwerks]

No rear bell here in 1989, and it's even running on the NS in ST paint. https://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=4603641

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Ok, my Conrail unit arrived and, honestly, it's a bit of a mixed bag.

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My quick takeaways:
1. The can opener on the fireman's side should run all the way to the cab and it doesn't.
2. For some reason it has a Dash 2 style dynamic brake vent present, which shouldn't be there.
3. The walkways weren't painted black like they should be and have been on other recent Atlas runs.
4. Similarly, the grills weren't darkened like other recent Atlas stuff.
5. It has cab sunshades, which are nice, but not a common piece of Conrail equipment.
6. It didn't include a radio antenna the same way many more recent Atlas models have.
7. It didn't come with the cab signal box (which isn't surprising, very few things do)
8. The see through footboards are really nice and it's a shame I'm going to end up removing them.

It's an ok model, there's nothing there I can't easily fix, but I feel like Atlas is capable of doing better.

I'm still going to keep an eye out for a deal on the other two numbers and definitely grab some PC ones when they eventually get done too.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

For reference, here's Atlas's recent B23-7 run similarly fresh out of the box.

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There's nothing going on that is a reason not to get them, but if you really care about certain details, you'll have a little work to do.

Also, I just confirmed, the first run ALSO had the Dash 2 DB brake vent too. I hadn't noticed it until today.

[Mark5]

Ok, my Conrail unit arrived and, honestly, it's a bit of a mixed bag.

My quick takeaways:
1. The can opener on the fireman's side should run all the way to the cab and it doesn't.

Oops
https://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2435296

[nscaler711]

OK So I won't go into this too much as others have, but I just received mine today and they look like they had a partnership with BLI.

Golly gee will..... Anyway the hand rails are THICC.
So the only other SD45 I have in my fleet, is well the Bachmann. The Bmanns are noticeably thinner... Which is crazy to me that Bachmann has thinner handrails than Atlas at this point.

Here's a couple pictures.




I have yet to run them, at this point they are de-thawing.
But I'm excited to see more Soundtraxx in N, I know some of you loathe them and that's ok. Options are always better than none.
I also love the fact that the Bachmann is a post '85 rebuild number and the Atlas's aren't which is fine... I guess. 

[John]

Ok, my Conrail unit arrived and, honestly, it's a bit of


My quick takeaways:

It's an ok model, there's nothing there I can't easily fix, but I feel like Atlas is capable of doing better.

I'm still going to keep an eye out for a deal on the other two numbers and definitely grab some PC ones when they eventually get done too.

Just paint it for MMiD.   

[davefoxx]

@Ed Kapuscinski,

Is it possible that the SD45s were maybe painted early in Conrail’s existence, so they got blue walkways?  Look at this:



DFF