Who still remembers and loves the Atlas yellow box era locomotives?

[BRAKIE]

I recently bought 2 yellow box Atlas/Kato SCL RS11s. I also have 2 yellow box GP7s custom painted for SCL. I also have a custom painted yellow box RS1.

Those oldies are still goodies.

[mbinsewi]

I've got quite a few Atlas "yellow box".  They run great!  I'm always looking for them.  The Japan made, go for $80 or more on Ebay.  I missed one a few days ago, it was starting out at $30.  It ended up going for $43.80 !     I wasn't around when bids ended.

Mike.

[emdmike]

 I got given an old Atlas/Kato RS3 Boston & Maine in pieces, once back together and running, all kinds of memories flooded back. Back in my mid teens I had a single Athearn UP GP38-2 blue box era engine, ran nice and smooth but had that typical growl that many vintage Athearns are known for.  Then when I joined the local HO club that was operation based and set in the year 1966, I needed a new engine that I could run on the layout.  I joined right before my 16th birthday and when I wasnt looking my dad had spoke to one of the other members to find out what to get me.  I got a yellow box Atlas Alco RS3 in Norfolk & Western blue with what I would later learn about drive system from Kato in Japan.  This was before Kato went out on thier own under thier own name in the USA. The detail level was good for the era, yes lots of cast on grab irons ect, but they had excellent lighting and were super smooth and super quiet.  It was also with this model that I got introduced to Kaydee brand couplers(another requirement for running on the club layout).  This was many years ago(just turned 44 a couple weeks ago!) but those model still run better than some on the market today.  While the detail isnt up to today's standards for many, for someone who is autistic and has body/space judgement issues(cant judge distance well) and will stub his fingers into the model instead of grasping like I want, this is less to break off.  The smoothness and coasting of a factory model with no modifications still beats many models on the market and at a much cheaper price.  You can get these for under $50 many times at shows if you shop wisely. The EMD engines in the yellow box(and the S2 switcher) have drives by Roco in Austria.  They are smooth but not silky smooth and quiet like the Kato drive.   When Atlas reissued the Alco's from thier Chinese mfg plant, the drives were clones of the Kato version, right down to the truck design. Lots of free standing grab irons but the smoothness of the original Kato drive was lost.  Still very nice and smooth running models though.  But for the modeler on a tight budget, or just getting started and looking for an affordable model that runs flawlessly, look at the Alco models in the yellow and white box from Atlas.  The models out there with the Kato dive are : RS1, RS3, RSD4/5, RS11, RSD12, C-424 and C-425, and(the one I forgot)GP7 in both dynamic brake and non dynamic brake.  Ones with the Roco drive are:  GP38, GP40, SD35, SD24, FP7 and S2 switcher.  The Roco drives have a growl to them, but its softer than the normal Athearn growl and they are smooth running and are a good beginners model.  All are excellent if you get into doing your own detailing(seems to be a lost art to new modelers), adding all the details we see from the factory today used to be some of the fun of modeling.  Or not adding them so to keep the model easy to handle when taking from home to the club layout.  For the Kato drives, Kaydee #5 couplers in thier own box with the side ears filled off is what you need and the best IMHO due to being diecast metal couplers.