Model Railroading > ROCO/Atlas parts

There was a prior discussion regarding an HO Atlas Roco FP7. Included was info about parts. I have found that the wheel sets for Model Power E7 and 9 pass units and some FA and Sharks appear to be identical including the axle gears. These units were produced during the late 70s and early 80s. I used a wheel set from an E9 to replace a cracked gear on a gp40. There was also a time Atlas was powering their Ho turntable with the same motor and used gears from the Atlas GP/SD units. It was a cheap way to get Atlas motors at the time. You had little choice then to get something that worked better than the higher current Athearn motors.
CR

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Folks, I've been in the hobby for 50 plus years.  When the Roco/Atlas units hit the market, we thought we had hit gold.  Man oh man, they were the top of the heap.  Fill in that ugly screwdriver slot and you were good to go.  They ran well, pulled well, much better than the Athearn units of the time.  It wasn't until the Kato/Atlas units came out did we get something that ran better than the Roco/Atlas units.  Folks were using Atlas motors in Athearn units.  The result of that was a pretty good running unit as well.  I've still got one or two of the old Atlas/Roco units hanging around.  

DB

SALGUY Wrote:
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> Folks, I've been in the hobby for 50 plus years. 
> When the Roco/Atlas units hit the market, we
> thought we had hit gold.  Man oh man, they were
> the top of the heap.  Fill in that ugly
> screwdriver slot and you were good to go.  They
> ran well, pulled well, much better than the
> Athearn units of the time.  It wasn't until the
> Kato/Atlas units came out did we get something
> that ran better than the Roco/Atlas units.  Folks
> were using Atlas motors in Athearn units.  The
> result of that was a pretty good running unit as
> well.  I've still got one or two of the old
> Atlas/Roco units hanging around.  
>
> DB
Here is the ad page from the 1975 Atlas catalog; bless whoever added the WM roadname to the GP40s, you couldn't find any other RTR WM-painted diesel at that time.
Even better was the sale price from Standard Hobby, and having UPS deliver.

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I've still got a half dozen or so undec GP40's and low nose GP38's stashed away. Yep, they were a big deal back then ... scale width hoods!

If I could only break the bank like that today!

How about checking with Con Cor for parts, they did inherit some of the Atlas/Roco locomotives, not sure if they've done any recent runs but might have some parts laying around.

Atlas units were a step forward. Silky smooth operation, quiet and pretty darn good proportions compared to competition.