Weaver Baldwin VO-1000

I had three of those Weaver VO-1000s in 2-rail TMCC. I loved them, and looking forward to seeing the Atlas twist on them.

In my opinion, the 2 can motors aren't  geared down enough for  smooth low speed operation. Not in comparison to, say, the Atlas SW-8/9 or the Sunset 44 ton switcher. -Salty Rails-

Atlas now uses ESU decoders in their 2 rail locomotives which offer great low speed operation, even for twin vertical can motor drives.

I have a pair of the Weaver RS11s in 2 rail and they run OK.    I have the motors wired in series to slow them down.    I also have a 2 motor MTH FM H10-44.    That is not wired in series and is OK also.    All are run on DCC with NCE decoders installed.

They are not as smooth as single motor drives in my opinion, but still very usable.

Another option in 2 rail is to find one of the "The Car Works" Baldwins down some years ago in brass with Weaver single motor mechs.     TCW did about 4 versions of the Baldwin VO1000 at the time, with different body details.      These show up on line from dealers and at shows with some regularity.    

The Rockford O Scalers picked up a couple of these locomotives that were from a collection where apparently they were unused for quite some time.  Both locomotives would not run when we got them and the reason turned out to be solidified (almost like cement!) grease in their gearboxes.  A complete gear box tear down and relubrication was required to get them back up and running again to normal Weaver “China Drive” standards.  This isn’t necessarily a reason to avoid buying one of these models but we thought we would mention our experience.

I had the same experience that Frank describes with two approx. 10 year old brand-new-in-box "virgin" Weaver VO's this past year. The grease had solidified to the lubricant quality of heat-dried Walther's Goo. Furthermore, once cleaned up and reassembled I discovered one had a can fly-wheel that had not been pressed on deep enough and was fouling the roof interior, a situation I've encountered in the past with their Ultra-line FA's. Once you work out all of their out of box issues they're decent runners, I have been told they perform better with a DCC installation than "straight" voltage but have no experience with the VO version so equipped, redoing the motor wiring harness to series does improve their performance on straight current. One other issue, they share the same stamped inside wheel wiper design of the FA-2/RS-11/U-25B, albeit with a shorter length plate, which is IMO the biggest issue with these as it's my experience that unless your switch work is really(really) "flat" the wiper can foul on switch points and frogs and worse, can get sufficiently bent to get "eaten" by the adjoining gears 

I would think it's a given to expect the new in-box quality of the impending Atlas version to be significantly higher; likewise if the truck wheel wiper issue I described is addressed, as well as upgrading the shell from the original cast-on grabs, I would rightly expect them to be worth the higher price.  

Opinion, it's one of Weaver's best shells. I think they look great.

Here is a photo of our VO-1000 and as mentioned above it runs OK after rework.

I have had a few weavers with that pickup plate and they never fouled on my handlaid or roco switches.    That worked just fine on the layout.    However they are fragile as  you mention maybe to keep them springey against the wheels.   I did mention some out on the bench while cleaning wheels.

Frank your CB&Q is really nice. Always love that paint scheme.

Everyone else, thanks for the replies. It seems like it's worth the try. I was happy to see they would be using an ESU decoder.

It seems like the Atlas WP one is misrepresented. They state "as delivered" in black and white, but their rendering is for the later silver orange scheme. 

If these had the SW horizontal drive, they'd be a no brainier for me. 

Agree, would be a marked improvement over the original vertical can set-up. Does anyone know the details about the impending Atlas versions? Drives, car-body enhancements etc. such as will they include Weaver's (unique to this model) stack option?  I guess I should ask if they've published a scheme/version listing or if any of you have been solicited for reservations by your favorite dealer?

It is the dreaded China drive according to their web site. I have a Weaver VO-1000 with the 2q motor drive and although it is not as smooth as the Atlas SW it isn't bad at all.

Dick

Thanks for the update Dick, agree once they're sorted out they run fine. I can live with the China drives on my own layout no problem. But I still wonder if the newer Atlas version includes the stamped plate pickup which vexes my club's Ultraline Weavers so much? I haven't bought new (to be clear late model) Atlas/Trainman engines in quite awhile, at least since Weaver "pulled the plug."  This is likely an irrelevant question for most everyone else here as my club has way old-school hand laid code 172 rail.  

Does anyone know if Atlas's ex-Weavers retain the plate pick-up design? Maybe asked differently has Atlas released any other ex-Weaver model to date?