Atlas products?

[Anonymous]

I see Atlas products packaged in a variety of boxes. Some diesel locos are in a yellow box, some white/black, and some red. Same with rolling stock. It looks like the red boxes are the newest releases, but I am not sure. The yellow boxed locos I see on Ebay generally do not sell, or they go for a lower amount. Are these older units, and are they not the same quality as the newer units? Is there a way to judge age on Atlas products?
Tim

[bogp40]

Tim,
I have been buying Atlas locos/ rolling stock for some time now, your right it is rather confusing with all the different boxes. I actually have to stop and think a bit for a time line with their product packaging.
The origional Atlas locos(since late 80's, when I entered hobby), were in the small flat yellow boxes. These were the Atlas/ Roco's and Altas/ Kato's. Don't discount the early Kato drive units, they were actually some of the best running locos next to the Stewart/ Katos. These were the GP-7, RS-1 and 3s, RSD-12, RS-11 and others. The detail was a bit weak but they have proven to be some of the most reliable engines in my roster.
The fat red box started the Altas locos from China with the U-33 and 36 I believe. The red box continued up to and even overlaps to the black(Master Series- decoder equip) .
The first silver box that I have seen is the sound equip Trainmaster. Maybe others on the forum can clarify if the silver boxes will always be sound or is this another change that Atlas is doing for packaging.
As I can recall, all the Atlas rolling stock has always been packaged in the same red/black box.
Bob K.

[Anonymous]

And some of those old Atlas yellow-box locos still don't have new equivalents -- Life Like is the first company since those early 90's Atlas/Kato units to come out with zebra-striped Santa Fe GP7s. And no one else has ever made zebra RS1s or S-2s that I'm aware of. I keep an eye out for those old Atlas units on eBay and snatch them up whenever I can justify the price (and don't get outbid [:(])

[Anonymous]

roco drive units sd's gp's fp7s although are not bad running units they have a reputation for noisy drives.As was stated earlier the kato drives are top notch You can buy a rs 11 and it will interchange with the rs2or rs3.Good way to increase roster buy a couple extra shells .Their classic and master series in the black box are very good running units,master with daul mode decoder never had a bad atlas besides the older roco drives.I don't know about the silver box i got one of the first trainmasters with qsi sound came in black box.The older atlas fp7s espically the sante fe in yellow seems to get a good price on e-bay these are roco drives.I have had 3 or 4 and even after cleaning and oiling they were still noisy.

[Anonymous]

Yea, I have one Atlas/Roco GP7 (in SF blue & yellow) that just howls, and I could never figure out how to make it quieter. But it's in the retired bin now anyway, since I've backdated my new layout to around 1954, when everything except the F-units were zebra striped.

But the two GP7s and the RS1 Atlas/Kato units I have are almost as quiet today as the day I got them, especially after converting them to DCC.

OTOH, the Atlas/Roco S-2s and S-4s were usually pretty quiet, too -- guess it has something to do with the smaller size of the motor or flywheels or something.

[Texas Zepher]

QUOTE: Originally posted by enduringexp

I see Atlas products packaged in a variety of boxes. Some diesel locos are in a yellow box, some white/black, and some red. Same with rolling stock. It looks like the red boxes are the newest releases, but I am not sure. The yellow boxed locos I see on Ebay generally do not sell, or they go for a lower amount. Are these older units, and are they not the same quality as the newer units? Is there a way to judge age on Atlas products?

Yellow box are definitely older but not necessarily lower quality. It depends if you define quality by how they run or the level of detail. Some of the yellow box produced 1983-1985 where the first units produced with Kato drives. These drives are still some of the best out there. The shells on the other hand,... at that time they had molded on hand rails and crude "vents & screening". No where close to the fine detail being produced today. Of course I have found that fine detail gets broken too easily during heavy operation especially at the club. I actually prefer the molded on details for models that will be used in such environments.

The way to find the Kato drives is to turn the unit over and look at the bottom of the truck. KATOs will say so.