Atlas GP20? Vaporidium?

[EspeeGoldenState]

I always order the sound versions of new locos, so I don't have mine yet.

-Mark

I realize this over a year old topic, but @spookshow hasnt updated his page either. Anyways, I recently acquired a gold series to swap under an old MTL/LL Hershey's GP20 for the wife. I was kinda surprised that the decoder was a LokSound Select, and not a V5. I've had to sand the ends of the chassis for the Hershey's shells to fit, and now I've run into an issue where the shell keeps the motor from actually turning, so think I may to file the inside a little bit to clear. Otherwise they look good on the new chassis. Now I need to acquire another black chassis to retrofit the other shell too.

[pmpexpress]

I realize this over a year old topic, but @spookshow hasnt updated his page either. Anyways, I recently acquired a gold series to swap under an old MTL/LL Hershey's GP20 for the wife. I was kinda surprised that the decoder was a LokSound Select, and not a V5. I've had to sand the ends of the chassis for the Hershey's shells to fit, and now I've run into an issue where the shell keeps the motor from actually turning, so think I may to file the inside a little bit to clear. Otherwise they look good on the new chassis. Now I need to acquire another black chassis to retrofit the other shell too.

Although they are sold out on the Atlas site, the Trainworld site shows the Atlas 40004508 Burlington Northern BN 2048 Gold Model as being in stock.

In addition, the other two Burlington Northern reporting numbers (i.e., stock number 40004509 BN 2058 and stock number 40004510 BN 2066) are listed as being on BackOrder with Atlas.

[spookshow]

I don't know what's going on over at Hogtrainz (where I made my reservation), but evidently they haven't received any of their Gold GP20's yet.

https://hogtrainz.com/shop/product-category/locomotives/atlas-n-scale-locomotives/atlas-n-scale-gp-20-locomotives/

I tell ya, getting these Gold versions has turned into a giant PITA. Random road names (invariably the ones I order) always wind up getting delayed for months (or years).

-Mark

[cgw]

They were released and gone........   The have a serious defect in the motor/speaker tabs where it contacts the decoder board.   The copper alloy chosen is extremely brittle and it tends to crack  and fail.   All three of my units have failed over time.    The strips are not separate pieces but part of the motor assembly.  grrrrr need to replace the whole motor for the damaged contact point.     I have reached out to atlas and they have sent me new motors.  But over time they failed the same way.    This batch of contacts are too brittle and is overstressed from the forming  operation.   

[spookshow]

I guess I'll find out - I ordered one of the BN Gold units from Trainworld.

-Mark

[sandypsj]

Oh, I had this happen to my Silver one and thought I'd screwed up in handling it too roughly! Guess it wasn't my fault?

They were released and gone........   The have a serious defect in the motor/speaker tabs where it contacts the decoder board.   The copper alloy chosen is extremely brittle and it tends to crack  and fail.   All three of my units have failed over time.    The strips are not separate pieces but part of the motor assembly.  grrrrr need to replace the whole motor for the damaged contact point.     I have reached out to atlas and they have sent me new motors.  But over time they failed the same way.    This batch of contacts are too brittle and is overstressed from the forming  operation.

[Dupesy]

Oh, I had this happen to my Silver one and thought I'd screwed up in handling it too roughly! Guess it wasn't my fault?

same, they broke off when i removed the DC board to install a decoder.  Atlas was great about sending a new motor for it.

[spookshow]

Looking forward to having mine fail. That way I can just return it for a refund instead of having to sell it used on eBay. I sure don't have any use for a BN GP20 on my layout.

-Mark

[spookshow]

So, I got mine today. It hasn't died yet, but OMG the drivetrain noise. It's so loud it completely drowns out the speaker after about 50% throttle. Anybody else experience this problem?

Thanks,
-Mark

[Dupesy]

no, mine is very quiet.  Only thing I really don't like is the very stiff pickups that hinder proper truck movement.

[spookshow]

Been running mine for about a week now and no motor tab problems yet, so I opened up the chassis and poked them to see if they exhibited any brittleness. And they didn't, so I guess that particular issue has been resolved.

But back to my noisy drivetrain, check this out - each worm only has a single bearing block holding it in place (despite the fact that the chassis has mounts for four). I wonder what noted locomotive guru Rob Bearden @u18b would have to say about that? I'm no guru, but it seems like it's just asking for trouble....



Also, I'm thoroughly unimpressed with the sound and I wonder if the problem may be that the speaker cavity in the chassis is not as airtight as it should be. I mean, what's the story on the pointless openings in the sides of the cavity that don't line up with the equally pointless ribs inside the fuel tank?



-Mark

[pmpexpress]

I mean, what's the story on the pointless openings in the sides of the cavity that don't line up with the equally pointless ribs inside the fuel tank?

-Mark

Vestiges of the original tooling?

[spookshow]

Vestiges of the original tooling?

Quite probably, but unfortunately I don't have an old one with which to compare. But either way, did no one at Atlas test this thing??

-Mark

[Sokramiketes]

Ron Bearden has long preached to remove the inside bearing blocks to reduce noise, and looks like a manufacturer started doing just that.  Must be a problem elsewhere though for the noise as described. 

[EspeeGoldenState]

I have 3 original Life-Like GP20s and unless it was a change in a later run by LL or Walthers. It's Atlas doing on the new chassis to be sound ready.



I need just one more Atlas GP20 chassis to retro fit my fleet, unless I ever get a wild hair to figure out how to modify a nose and model WAMX 2005 (Kansas City Terminal), then I'll need a 4th one.