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I've had brass locos before (Big Boy, Challenger, Northern - FEF3, and Northern GS4 - all in S scale, no less), so I kinda know and can appreciate brass. The plastic HO P2K UP 2-8-8-2 I have is just about as nice as brass. The plastic offerings these days can hold their own nicely with brass, especially the Atlas stuff. Jim Six thinks the Atlas SD24 is the best SD24 available, bar none. When it comes to detailing and notoriety in the hobby / being published many many times over several years - he can be considered an authority. Personally, I think many of the plastic offerings today even run better than brass. Overall, I still prefer brass, but to generically use it to slam the latest releases of a plastic models does not match my experiences of both. Now having said that, while I like the 2 Atlas UP C dash 8's (non DCC) I bought, to be fair about it I still have issues with them. The paint for the UP is indeed very nice and very crisp, but personally I find it a little too orange. It's not bad, and the real UP's are themselves a variety of colors but I would have preferred the color to be more yellow. They don't match real well with the UP paint Kato AC4400's or SD90's or the Genesis SD70's (all of whose UP paint I really like.) It's minor and really a personal taste thing though. It could also be argued that to pair the dash 8's with those other models, one would actually expect the colors to be different on the prototype since the dash 8's are several years older. The few small details that you do have to still apply to the Atlas's are real bears to apply. I did get them all to finally be applied without breaking anything, but they were still really awkward and not very easily done. I've assembled dozens of craftsmen kits (Campbell, Ambroid, etc ) as well as Branchline, Red Caboose, and Intermountain kits so I do bring a bit of detailed assembly experience to the table - the C dash 8's were far harder to assemble than should have been. Of the two dash 8's I own. one runs beautifully and the other speeds up, slows down, stalls etc (just plain runs erratically) right out of the box. I haven't had a chance to take it apart yet and see if maybe there's a loose connection or something broken or misaligned in the drive, or maybe they just have a jumper installed wrong on the DCC ready board. Until I get this fixed (and I will) I can't run this loco and I certainly can't MU it with my other C dash 8 yet. Bummer, but it's a short term bummer I'm sure. This is the first time I've had something like that with an Atlas loco (and I have lots) so it just goes to show it can happen with any brand. The other C dash 8 that does run well does exhibit a strange little behavior (as do the SD24's) that does not effect their performance but is nonetheless odd - while running forward, the front lights are burn steadily as expected, but rear lights frequently flash intermittently when they should not light at all. Some electricity is leaking through to them. It does not effect the running of the locos nor their forward lighting, but it does seem to indicate the PC board or it's components has a leakage problem. Details and paint wise (not color wise - UP) these locos are outstanding and based on the running performance of the one good runner I have, they should run as well as any locos I have (all brands). You guys who haven't had any issues with them are probably in the vast majority, I am sure. But even Atlas is not perfect. Nonetheless, these are swwweeeeeeet locomotives!!! I do think that while Atlas isn't perfect, on the whole they are a bit closer to being perfect than most of the other brands and I am very glad Atlas made them. Enjoy the hobby!! Greg
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