I have an Atlas U23B that I recently bought secondhand at a local train shop. It runs great and is in excellent condition except for the fact that it is missing the handrails and grab irons. Neither the shop where I bought it nor the other shop in my area have any spares/replacements. I also checked the parts section on Atlas' website, but they don't seem to have any either. Does anybody know if there is any company that sells after market replacement parts? Or any tips on how to make them if I can't find the parts anywhere?
Thank you all in advance.
Give e-bay a try. Every once in a while you can find them . I bet if you look right now,you'll find a set.
Edit :
Just searched HO scale e-bay Atlas U23B handrails. Nope, nada .
Fear an Ignorant Man more than a Lion- Turkish proverb
Modeling an ficticious HO scale intergrated Scrap Yard & Steel Mill Melt Shop.
Southland Industrial Railway or S.I.R for short. Enterchanging with Norfolk Southern.
Utah Pacific sells HO scale brass stanchions for GE diesels. I have used them in the past on Athearn "Blue Box" models, but they should be adaptable to Atlas. You'll need to form your own handrailings.
https://tomarindustries.com/up.htm
This probably won't be helpful to you, but there used to be a guy at the Timonium, Maryland, train show that always had a pegboard rack with all the different Atlas handrail sets that were available.
There is a show coming up next weekend and I can take a look around there if you like. I always have more fun when I'm searching for "stuff". I'll let you know if I find anything.
Wolf359 Or any tips on how to make them if I can't find the parts anywhere?
Hi Wolf:
If all else fails, you could use phosphor bronze wire (available from Tichy) to form the needed parts. Phosphor bronze is reasonably stiff so it will retain its' shape but it still bends easily. It also solders beautifully.
https://www.tichytraingroup.com/Shop/tabid/91/c/ho_wire/Default.aspx
If you want the handrails to be very close to scale, the 0.012" wire is pretty close to 1 scale inch. The challenge is that the 0.012" wire might be a bit too small to fit snuggly in the holes. In that case, you could go to a larger wire, or simply use gel CA and hold the grabs in place until the glue hardens up.
You can form the grabs freehand, but you will get much more consistent results if you make up some styrene patterns. Maybe doctorwayne will chime in with some examples. My pictures of my patterns were lost to the Photobucket fiasco.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Thank you everyone. Good information. I also plan to look for these parts at a local show at the end of the month if need be. I do have some wire, but I'll have to check the gauge.