Sorry for the late response
Santiago, thanks. Your engine looks great. I have not bought any Atlas diesels mainly because if I'm buying 3-rail I'd rather Lionel with Legacy. Having said that, I don't have many Lionel diesels and mostly have MTH proto 3/2 so I can use them on both 3-rail and 2-rail. Maybe once I have a 2-rail layout I will consider Atlas 2-rail. What I would really would have liked is for 3rail to do the SD40-2 but it doesn't look like that will happen.
Thanks Max, Peter!
Mike, thanks. My first paragraph conceded these units are not accurate. I wish MTH had moved the front trucks forward, used a larger fuel tank, and made them in 2-rail, but they didn't. If they did, I would own a lot more of them. Knowing that I decided to put the time into improving it anyway because I like many other things about the engine. If you didn't know what was correct, you would say this engine looks real. Having the front truck back too far does not make it look like a toy. What makes engines look like toys are low detail, big coupler, thick wheels, bright colors (no weathering), thick handrails, etc. This engines has none of that, just not accurate.
Funny thing, I was out with the wife yesterday enjoying a walk along the river at Point of Rocks and wouldn't you know a CSX SD40-2 came rolling through with a maintenance train loaded with new rails.
Rich
