Hot Water posted:I remember quite some years ago, a manager from Lionel, when questioned about operation on Atlas Track, responded, "We design, and test, our products on Lionel Track!". In other words, they don't care about operation on "competitors" track systems.
I can understand why they made that comment. It would be costly to test products on all other track systems. However, if they design products that won't run on other types of track systems they cut themselves out of a significant portion of potential customers. I purchased the 844 from Lionel and it works fine on Atlas switches. The tender on that engine looks like the same tender on the Challenger so I had no reason to doubt that the Challenger would run perfectly through the Atlas switches also. I suppose there was some reason to shorten the roller spacing by 2". Maybe the problem I am having is unique to my tender sample, but I sure won't be ordering a Big Boy from the next catalog until I see the underside of its tender.
