Atlas 40000721, N-Scale Alco S2 diesel engine

Buying rail-road models in the US is an interesting experience. In Europe, when a product is released you can usually expect it to be available on the market for a long, long period. So at any point in time, the selection of rolling stock is rather wide and stable.

This seems not to be the case in the US. Whenever I go there, different items are available in the stores. So it makes little sense to plan the purchase ahead. And I am limited to what is available at the time of my visit.

This time I wanted to buy a locomotive from Atlas, as I had no products from that company, yet. I quickly realized that an Alco S2 model was offered at the moment and I liked the engine a lot. Unfortunately it was sold out at several stores and it took me some time to actually find it. Finally I ordered it from BLW and it set me back $165.70 including shipping.

The model is Atlas 40000721 and is part of the Master Line / Gold Series. That means it is factory equipped with a DCC decoder and a sound unit. It comes in a usual transparent plastic box:

The locomotive is nicely packaged. It is secured in the box with some extra foam (so it does not fall out) and even more foam is used to protect the handrails. It looks as the manufacturer really cared about delivering it unscathed.

Reaching the bottom of the box reveals three pieces of documentation. We get an assembly manual and a warranty certificate. And we also get a DCC quick guide which is unfortunately just a short version of a full document that has to be downloaded from the Atlas website.

Let's take a look at the model. Here it is in its full glory...

As we can see the engine looks very nice and detailed. We get handrails everywhere, a body with a lot of moulded elements and a very, very tiny horn at the top of the cabin. The locomotive is available in several versions, and I've chosen an orange / olive green Great Northern painting. I don't regret my choice at all - it's not only beautiful but also very different from all my other rolling stock.

It's pretty pointless to describe every single aspect of the model's look. Let's see some photos instead.


The handrails are an interesting element on this engine. The ones on the sides are rather stiff but the ones in the front and the back are very flexible. They really bend easily, even at the slightest touch. They do get back to their original position nicely though.

Let's talk about features...

The engine is DCC controlled and it worked with my Roco Z21 central station right away. After assigning the address, I was able to use it immediately. It runs nicely and did not derail (under normal conditions) even once. It has no problem with my Kato turnouts and passes them at any speed in any direction.

The locomotive does not like very tight curves. I do have an R150/R183 section on my test layout and the model would not perform well there. It's not really surprising, however my European models of similar body length do pass this section without much trouble. Consider this in case your layout is really tiny.

DCC aspect of the model surprised me a lot. Looking at my other American engines, I expected to be able to control the speed and to invoke some simple sounds. This is not the case here. The model offers a lot more and it actually gets pretty complex...

We get around a dozen of sounds. Most of them work as usual but some of them have special requirements:

• There are - for example - effects available only when the engine is moving. 
• There's an option to manually notch up / down the engine which gives us much more control. 
• Last but not least - by default the locomotive will not move forward until the "engine start up" sound finishes playing.

Even the headlight control is more complex than in other locomotives. Switching it on and off is as easy as expected but there's also a dim function. The dim function is on when the engine is stationary and switches off when it moves. But then we have an option to switch it on during the ride and only then!

All those DCC functions add a lot of realism and possibilities. I'm glad however that they're not forced on us. It's nice that we can play with a lot of options, but being able to just run our trains (several at once preferably) is very important to me, too.

Here's a demo of my unit. Not all the DCC features are shown. Those that require a running engine are simply too difficult to shoot :)

Looking back at the photos we can see the model does not offer any sort of a speaker grill. This means the speaker is fully inside the body and it raises the question of sound quality. For me the audio is perfectly fine on this engine. It's loud and clear and I could not hear any negative effects of hiding the speaker.

Summary

Well, it's another successful "investment" on my side. After spending some hours with the engine I have to say I like it a lot. This model was slightly more expensive than my previous American units, but I have to admit it also offers many more functions. Those are a little overwhelming at first but fortunately they don't have to be used all at once. So if you can find this locomotive at a price that suits you, it would be difficult not to recommend the purchase.

Pros:

• very nice and detailed model
• very secure packaging
• lots of functions for advanced users
• loud and clear sound effects 
• runs great
• easy start-up despite complex options

Cons:

• DCC possibilities may seem overwhelming
• only short DCC guide included
• tight curve performance could be better
• more expensive than other models

Piko 40200, N-Scale Talent 2 railcar

My collection of N-Scale rolling stock has been in desperate need of a modern looking railcar. I really wanted to buy one of the Kato's Shinkansens bullet trains but the company's dislike for full DCC support put me off that purchase. After further investigation it turned out a product from PIKO might be my best option.

PIKO makes several different models and configurations of modern railcars. They look really nice on the photos and are not terribly expensive. They are also advertised as upgradable with DCC and sound functions. That was all I cared about and I decided to go for a Bombardier Talent 2 model with four cars and a traditional Deutsche Bahn red painting: PIKO 40200.

The purchase was made with my favourite German store MSL and it cost me 177,99 €. The package arrived on a cold January day so I let the train warm up before running it. Unboxing of the sturdy but fully transparent plastic box revealed the full content:


We get the following:

• a four cars train split into two two-cars parts
• a set of assembly/disassembly manuals
• a set of couplers for multi-unit configuration

The two parts of the train can be joined together by simply pushing one part into another. It works well both when connecting and disconnecting. The critical parts here are however plastic, and I wonder how many cycles they can last.


Once assembled the train is 45 cm (~17 inches) long and looks really nice. The painting is great with nice colours and sharp details. And some of those details are really, really small, too. Body of the train has a simple "bullet" shape but there are a lot of extra elements visible around. Die-cast handrails at the driver's cabin, windscreen wipers, door shapes, etc. and a lot of separately applied parts on the roof. Bottom of the front car includes a speaker grill.


It's important to mention that the train features non-standard couplers. You cannot attach another N-scale model to it which of course makes perfect sense. Connecting two railcars however should work but owning only one I was not able to test such configuration.

A great thing about the model is that it features factory installed interior lighting. This looks as nice as expected. Here are some photos to prove it. They were taken after the DCC decoder was installed, as it is the only way to have the light on and the train standing still.


Talking about the DCC conversion. Installation of the decoder itself is incredibly easy. You open the roof part, remove the factory installed PCB-bridge and install the decoder. These steps are valid for the PIKO 46211 decoder I used, but I expect it to work the same way for any Plux12 decoder of compatible size.

Sound module installation is a different story and I will prepare a separate blog post to cover this topic.

So how does it run? Well, there are two aspects to consider here:

#1: straight track and wide curves. This is the area where the train performs very, very well. On a loop with 318 mm radius or wider curves it runs great and looks great. It's just as you would expect from a high speed train. Nothing bad to mention here, it's all just amazing.

#2: turnouts. Unfortunately this is were some issues show up. At first my newly bought train would derail almost every single time when passing my Kato turnouts. The only way not to derail was to go extremely slow. It would happen even when going in the "straight direction" of the turnout. I was wondering what was wrong and then I realized it was happening much more in one direction than the other. That was when I noticed this:

This is the connection between my middle cars. The one I had to make myself by pushing the cars into each other. Obviously it's far from perfect and one of the wheel axles even seems to be floating a little over the rail. I re-attached the cars several times - always with the same result.

The solution for me was in changing the order of the middle cars. This removed the very bad joint, however I feel the connections I have now are still not perfect. The train will still occasionally derail on a turnout unless I slow it down. This is acceptable for me, however being able to reliably run it at full speed in the "straight path" would be very cool, too.

Another small woe I have is that my unit seems to be missing a small portion of paint on one of the cars. Or actually it might be a "too much paint" case, too. It's not big and not critical but I wonder how it passed the quality control considering the fact that I noticed it even before opening the box. This is what it looks like:

Summary

I think it's time to summarize. I wanted a modern looking railcar and I got one. I love the look, love the features and plan to extend it further with sound module installation. I absolutely adore it when it runs well but I wonder whether it could be a little better whenever it derails. If I was going to give a numerical score, I'd rate my happiness at 75%.

Pros:

• fantastic look
• nice model details
• runs great on a a straight or wide curve track
• DCC/sound friendly
• reasonable price

Cons:

• imperfect car joints make the model derail occasionally
• small painting quality problems

My new American N-scale railroad cars

I've been meaning to do this for a long time now. To buy some American N-scale rolling stock and see how it compares to what we have available in Europe. An opportunity arose last month when I went on a business trip to the US of A...

And so I've bought 7 freight cars from leading American manufacturers. All were purchased at ModelTrainStuff which seems to be one of very few shops there that accept European credit cards without any hesitation. I've also bought a diesel engine but that is a topic for another blog post :)

My purchase criteria were as follows:

• one car piece per manufacturer
• no cars over $20
• metal wheels whenever possible

A common note about the American rolling stock is that it comes equipped with "knuckle" couplers. Those are completely incompatible with couplers used by Minitrix or Fleischmann (a.k.a. Rapido couplers). There are three options to deal with this issue:

1. replace them with European Rapido couplers
2. create conversion cars with one coupler of each type
3. buy enough cars to create fully American trains

Looking at my latest purchase, I seem to be leaning towards option #3.

Alright, let's take a look at those cars!

Micro-Trains 03500180: A Stock Car

Priced at $14.39.

Micro-Trains seems to be a very well-known American manufacturer, and one with a very good reputation, too. So it came as a big surprise that I was not able to find a single car from this company that would feature metal wheels. They're always plastic, no exceptions.

This car is a stock car so it has a simple build imitating a box made of evenly spaced wooden planks. It looks good and has some nice details like the brake wheel or the little break platform. The sliding doors are movable although the "mechanism" is as simple as it gets.

The car's weight is a little on the light side but there's definitely some ballast there as it does not feel THAT light.

An interesting element are the metal-looking rods in the couplers. This is the only car I got to feature such copper/brass pieces and I'm not sure, yet, what it's for. Perhaps it has something to do with the magnetic coupling system advertised at the back of the box the car came in. I'll have to investigate that a little more...

Bluford Shops 73691: An Open Hopper Car

Priced at $17.29.

Bluford Shops is a company I've never heard about before. And the range of their products is not really wide at all. They seem to focus on two or three car types.

What we have here is an open hopper car that features metal wheels and a coal load. The load is removable. Actually it's rather loose and falls out as soon as you turn the car to its side. It's also made of cheaper plastic than the car itself.

The car seems to have an appropriate weight. It's neither light nor very heavy. Feels exactly the way it should be.

It features some interesting details, too. In addition to a nice painting and some rods and ladders, it also has extra brake hoses. Those are the very thin black plastic parts that can be found right next to the couplers. I have to say this level of detail looks amazing but it comes at a price. Those hoses are explicitly mentioned on the box as being a "free extra" that is very fragile and that may break even during shipping. So you should not be expecting to get them, but if you do - you were lucky... I'm not sure I like that approach but they definitely make a lasting impression.

Bachmann 17154: A Tank Car

Priced at $12.99.

Bachmann is a very popular company not only in the US but also in Europe. And it is known for its very good price/quality ratio. The tank car I bought features metal wheels which seem to be a standard equipment on all Bachmann products. This is also the only car in the set I bought that includes replaceable Rapido couplers. So the company seems to care about its European market, too.

The car has proper weight and features some nice details. We get elements such as the brake wheel, ladders, handrails, etc. There's quite a lot of that for such a small car...

I also have to say I really like the vivid red-black paint job. It might not appeal to "weathered stuff" fans but it does bring some life to a train in my opinion. And it makes the car look "just nice", too.

Looking pretty good at a reasonable price.

Atlas 50002144: A Boxcar

Priced at $14.99.

Atlas is another company that is very popular in the US. It has a very wide range of products split into several lines and that is all very confusing for somebody making his first purchase. Atlas also seems to be a huge supporter of plastic wheels so I had to make some extra effort to find a model with metal ones.

That is a boxcar so it looks... like a rectangular box. The doors do not open and it all seems like a very simple piece until you look closely. Here's one of the two very small platforms featured at the ends of the car:

An etched platform that is just a few millimetres long. Very impressive in my opinion.

The car feels pretty heavy but it's probably appropriate as this is the largest car in the set I bought. It also features some very nice paint job. I have to say I love the silver paint that was used to cover the roof. It really looks like it's made of metal.

Last point worth mentioning is that there are two extra parts coming with this car. Unfortunately no explanation of their role is given so I have no idea what they're for. Will have to google that I'm afraid.

Trainworx 23065-04: A Covered Hopper Car

Priced at $14.69.

Trainworx is another US company I've never heard about. And I've decided to give one of their covered hopper cars a try.

The car has metal wheels which is very nice. It also feels pretty heavy but that fact seems to be in line with the size of the model as it is quite long, too. The painting seems simple (it's just a light grey car) but the letters are sharp and colours are rich.

One thing I really like about this car are the details. So we do get a lot of standard elements such as ladders and a brake wheel, of course. But we also get some nice-looking extra stuff under the car in the form of drain pipes. And last but not least: I have to say the roof-walks are a masterpiece. They're all etched and they look amazing up close. Kudos to the company-I-ve-never-heard-about for making those.

Fox Valley Models 91018: A Caboose Car

Priced at $19.99.

Every American train needs a caboose and I decided to get one made by FVM. Cabooses are made by several different model companies but buying one with metal wheels under $20 is not that easy. So I had to settle down for a model that did not appeal to me very much.

But let's focus on the product. First a word of warning: after opening the box, the car just fell out. I'm used to packaging where the models actually stays inside the package unless I mean to take it out. This is not the case here. The caboose has a lot of freedom inside the plastic form and is ready to come out any moment.

Once it's out it feels pretty light. A little too light for my preference even considering the small size of the car. Of course it's difficult to say whether it will affect its performance at all.

The car has A LOT of details. Handrails are everywhere. Two chimneys, ladder and an etched roof-walk. It's impressive how much FVM managed to put in there. Unfortunately it's not all roses - the very nice roof-walk is not perfectly attached to the car I got and it can be very well seen in the photos below... Bad luck, I guess.

A caboose is a passenger car, right? So it would be nice to have some interior lighting there. The car however does not seem be ready for light installation. There's even no instruction on how to open it to get inside. So this might be very tricky if possible at all. Tough job definitely considering all those nice details around.

Athearn 24171: A Covered Hopper Car 

Priced at $18.99.

Athearn is a company I knew before. I do own their DCC locomotive with sound and I'm very happy with it so far. So I was not worried about buying a rail-road car made by Athearn.

The car has metal wheels and it seems all cars from this manufacturer feature those. It also feels pretty heavy for its small size but it's a "good feeling". The car has a lot of details: ladders, etched roof-walk, rails, brake wheel, etc. And the package even includes a leaflet naming every single installed element one by one:

It's all very impressive I have to say. The only downside is that I was able to compare my car with the checklist and it seems I'm missing a "triple valve" piece. The leaflet encourages me to contact Athearn in such a case but I think I'll pass.

I obviously love the rich colour of the car and I'm not going to be weathering it. More life on the layout is good in my opinion :)

Athearn decided to put some attention to the underside of the model, too, which resulted in nice details being present there. I like it a lot.

One thing I do not like is that the car fits into its box in one direction only. There's no warning about it and you could be damaging your car when re-inserting it. This gets even more dangerous after you unfold and fold the leaflet back. Then you have to squeeze the box a little to close it. And if put the car the wrong way, you'll probably damage it in such a case.

Summary

I have to say those American cars look very nice at first sight. I'm very much impressed by the amount of details and the overall build quality. I haven't run them really, yet, so I don't have an opinion on this aspect. I'm a little worried about the knuckle couplers as each car seems to have a slightly different one and I'm wondering whether they're all really compatible. But if those cars prove to have good running characteristics, I will be definitely buying more of them in the future as they look really, really cool.