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Atlas O California Zephyr Cars . . . . Issues?

SS Scrapiron ScherOGR Forum Member
I now have my complete eight car Atlas O California Zephyr consist.
These are the most beautiful passenger cars I own.

I love to run them and just watch the train, but I am having difficulty getting one complete lap around the layout without a short circuit.

Are any of you with these cars having issues?

Issue #1: The cars barely navigate O-72. They are, in fact, rated for O-72 but if a switch is located on any O-72 curve (with the curved section of the O-72 switch), the cars derail at anything above Legacy speed step 30 or so. That is a prototypical speed of about 20 mph by my estimation. These are 21" cars.

Issue #2: The thumbtack uncouple mechanism (I wish they would do away with the thumbtack) has the thumbtack at between 1/32 to 1/64 of an inch above the center rail. The shank of the coupler itself is very flexible owing to the design and placement of the trucks on these cars. They are very prone to touching the center rail and, poof, short it out.

Issue #3: This is the well known printing of the venetian blinds on the outside of the windows. I'll have a big job replacing all of these. How many of you are planning to do the replacement?

Eliot
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markermarkerOGR Forum Member
Elliot -

For issue #1 you might lengthen the adjustable coupler to allow more room between the cars.

For issue #2 you might check the two screws holding the coupler adjustment piece to see how tight the screws are. One of my cars needed the screws tightened on both sides. I haven't had a problem since.

With regard to issue #3, I am going to make the fix because this first set of cars will not otherwise match the cars coming to finish the train. The tinting will be on the outside of the shades on future cars, so I will be doing the modification.
S SD60MOGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBERDIGITAL SUBSCRIBER
How many of you guys actually use the thumbtack uncoupler mechanism any way?? Why not just cut off the thumbtack shaft near the draw bar and call it fixed?

Somehow I can't see folks who bought those 21 inch cars...that barely operate on 072 track...using the old electromagnet track to uncouple the cars. That mechanism is just a "tribute" to a time long gone.
RickORickOOGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBER
I don't understand(well, I'm sure it comes down to cost) the "lottery" when it comes to thumbtack couplers, some cars have them and some cars don't. My old set of k-line passenger cars has an nifty 1/2" square uncoupler plate that sits flush with the bottom of the truck. This design should be standard, especially on the high end passenger sets. It appears this is a more complex truck design to manufacture,but we all know passenger cars typically ain't cheap.
HW Hot WaterOGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBER
1) Adjust the couplers outward just a bit more so that the diephragme do not interfear with each other on your 072 curves.

2) Cut that stupid "thumb tack" off, or remove it if possible.

3) Contact Atlas O (Jerry Kimble) and request a complete new set of window strips (tell them exactly which cars you have by Atlas part number). Only 4 screws hold the bodies on the underframes, so it should be no problem to dis-assemble them to install people in the seats and replace the window strips from the inside of the body.
SS Scrapiron ScherOGR Forum Member
Wow, Scrapiron Scher did not read the Atlas O instructions.
Many thanks to all of you who have pointed out that the couplers are adjustable. I did not know that . . . . DUH . . . Mea Culpa .

Those of you who have suggested tightening the screws to make certain the coupler shank did not droop had a good idea, but I already tried that. Those of you who have suggested cutting off the damned tacks are right on the money. I would never have uncoupled those cars on an uncoupling mechanism, anyway. I don't think I would uncouple them very much unless my storage track was too short to accommodate these long cars.

Dremel away !! Good-bye thumbtacks !!

Thanks to all of you !!

Eliot
S SB..OGR Forum Member
quote:
Originally posted by Gandalf97:
I happened to see a couple of these when I stopped by Michigan Model Train Center on Friday. WOW! What nice cars! I'd like to get some but that would shoot my train budget for the next 2 years because then I'd have to get a super nice ABBA set to pull them and then I'd need to re-do the layout to have 108" curves and then...


If you go Wester Pacific, you only need to get an ABB. That will save you some money. Wink
Gandalf97Gandalf97OGR Forum Member
quote:
Originally posted by SB..:
quote:
Originally posted by Gandalf97:
I happened to see a couple of these when I stopped by Michigan Model Train Center on Friday. WOW! What nice cars! I'd like to get some but that would shoot my train budget for the next 2 years because then I'd have to get a super nice ABBA set to pull them and then I'd need to re-do the layout to have 108" curves and then...


If you go Wester Pacific, you only need to get an ABB. That will save you some money. Wink


That was funny! Thanks! But I was going to start with the Santa Fe set and after I had everything in place tell my wife, "OH NO! I didn't know this was supposed to be a WESTERN PACIFIC train!!!" Big Grin Wink
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