I've found Atlas locomotives seem to need more extensive break-in times. I had the same issue with a set of Alco F's. After running them alone at a moderate speed they ended up running quite well.
I have both of these engines, in fact two of the Rapido. Both of the Rapido have run great right out of the box with no issues. On the other hand the Atlas has a similar problem as yours. It certainly does not like dirty track and finds it difficult to travel over my peco switches. As it is my only small switching loco I will put up with it until I can find a better one.
I've had similar issues with atlas engines. My kato was running weird so I lubed it up and reset the decoder and it ran for maybe 10 hours in the last few days no problem.
I have the same locos. I find to smooth out the Atlas I have to just let it run at a higher speed for a while and that seems to straighten it out. It is super sensitive to any dirt on the track. Hope this helps.
The only other place that might affect conductivity is between the wheel and the plate the pointed end of the wheel makes contact with. In the previous generation of n locomotives with brass contact strips it was easy to disassemble the trucks and clean the plates and the wheel ends. On these with the wired to the frame method it’s something I’ve yet to do and hopefully never will. Hopefully you resolve the issues with these engines and post a video detailing the solution. 👍
A while ago I purchased an atlas SD-60 locomotive and had the same issues, alot of stuttering and jittering. I finally had to take the locomotive apart and the worm gears had absolutely no lubricant and the trucks had what appeared to be paint on them. Had to thoroughly clean the trucks lubricate the worm gears and it worked fine after that. Maybe you could try this. Atlas doesn't seem to be as good a quality as they used to be.
Either run an hour Med-High Break in on a large loop, (Both Directions) or Consist it with a good running Engine and let it get pulled around for Operations for a month. I found doing the hour Loop Break ins fixed several of my crappy Atlas Locos. Cleaned Wheels before and after before putting in Service.
I’ve got the S2 and right out of the box it ran great and still does. I suspect Atlas may only test it on a straight piece of track and not take it through switches. If they do take it through any switches I suspect they use their own. I’m not sure why they don’t add a keep alive circuit to these especially the gold series with sound as it is annoying when the sound stops and stutters. I use insulfrog turnouts which help for the most part with all my locomotives.
I believe Atlas still uses loksound decoders. If that’s the case, you might try seeing whether the auto tune procedure is supported. I would think they did that at atlas when you sent it in, but still worth a try. I would try multiple times if you don’t get the results the first time or next. Before doing the procedure, write down the value of cv53. Set the loco on a piece of straight track about 3’ long and level. Call up the locos address and set F1 off and speed to 0 making sure direction is set to the direction of your long end of track. Using programming on the main, set CV54 to 0. Now press the f1 function. Check the slow speed and repeat if some improvement but not perfect. Once slow speed is ok, check top speed. If too slow, restore the default value of cv53.
Yeah, pretty much what the census is here, the Atlas needs to be ran-in for a while. If its DC friendly, perhaps make a small loop and run it for about 2-3 hours. And yes, any dead spots that are ok with longer locomotives, will show their ugliness with smaller switchers and adding a Capacitor does solve the stutter issue. Do you have another switcher of the same wheelbase that does the same before break-in/modifying? Cheers!
While I don't have that specific Rapido engine, I have multiple DC engines from them, and I have very similar issues like the one you're having with all of them, but not constantly. They will run great for a while and then randomly they become extremely difficult to work, they simply won't move without nudges like in the first curve, until I get fed up, park them for a while, and then a few weeks later, BAM. It resolved itself. They throw Rapido Tantrums and when you let them calm down they are back to normal. Can't explain it.
Yeah, I dunno. I think we all need to really hold these companies accountable. This stuff is way too expensive to be what some of it is…..junk. I’m sick of the excuses they give us too. My experience with Digitrax is absolutely horrendous, and so far my Arlas experience hasn’t been contentious, but taking a month or more to get a $250+ product back in hand is unacceptable. Especially if the thing isn’t fixed. It seems like this is a problem with Atlas, Digitrax, and Rapido from my experience thus far. I wonder how the other companies are in regards to warranty work. My ScaleTrains and Athearns run strong, hopefully I don’t have to use their warranty process…..
I agree. Imagine buying a new car for $30k and there is a 50% chance it's unusable. The manufacturer would go out of business. $300 for a 3 or 4 inch hobby train is a pretty big chunk of money and they should work perfectly 95% of the time if you ask me.
I really have to wonder if it's something with the wheel blackening Atlas uses. I've gotten several Atlas 4 axle units this year, and out the box they mostly run poorly. Most of them ran pretty well after just running loops for some time forward and reverse. My two RS-2's required a complete teardown and cleaning with particular attention to the wheels to get them running well. I have two of the older S2's and they are some of my best running loco's.
That is the answer I was given over the phone from Atlas. It makes sense, but supposedly it was cleaned/cleared and the connection points are good and supposedly tested. Yet in a real world setting it still drops connection while every other loco runs better on the same track. I don't want to sand the wheels as I think this would cause more issues if I don't get the entire circumference of the wheel completely smooth.
I'm not sure what the Atlas S2 issue really boils down to. I have a CGW S2 that misbehaves at slow speed too. I found that it works much better if you keep the wheels very clean and turn off the sound.
Whats not been said yet, Did you check for amperage draw? If not that, have you considered onboard capacitors, people swear up and down by them on short wheelbase locos. Another thing came to mind, how well does the trucks articulate for positive conductivity?
I have an Atlas master Good gp 30. Atlas has had it for weeks. I’ve had no updates or anything. Still, better than the bs I got from Digitrax who has had my dcs52 for months.
Atlas has a great crew in tech support I enjoy chatting with them. But their 4 axel switchers are well below average. I had the CGW alco and sold it. I had 3 of their gp40/38s and am disposing of all of them as 2 of them have made 3 trips each back to new jersey with no actual fix done to them. Their new gp15s seem to be better but that maybe because its a DCC only and not sound. For most small locos i recommend Kato.
My Atlas GP40 is a gem for me. It kind of shows the major inconsistencies in the model railroad industry. A switching loco that can't get through switches at slow speed is a complete failure in my books.
I agree with the other run the atlas for a few hours forward and a few hours in reverses do this with and without a load I feel Nscale engines need to break in the motor brush a lot more than the HO
I did do a long break in with the Atlas, and Wilson from Atlas told me on the phone he also did a couple hours of break in. I don't think it's a break in issue at this point. It's always been a case of losing connection. 4 sets of wheels should not lose connection this easily.
@@nscaler454 I'd be tearing that thing down could be something as simple as one of the pickups on the trucks may need a little more tension on it to make a better Connection. I hate when new stuff doesn't work. I wish Kato would up their game on the details because I've never had an issue with a Kato
that kinda looks like a dirty wheel or perhaps a missing keep-alive cap on 8127. 1179 looks like it's got poor contact on the pick-ups possibly. Rather disappointing that they shipped both back like this :(
CANADIAN? I just assumed you were down south and liked our Canadian trains. The Rapido GMD-1 was absolutely the HARDEST locomotive I've ever had to get into. But I bought mine second hand, and suspect somebody glued the shell on when they took the DCC chip out. Things I didn't realize when I bought it from a social page.
Either these companies start lowering their prices to match the performance of the locomotives or get out of the business. I told Don in parts at Atlas, they need to get rid of their couplers. Worst ones on the market. Also the 'DC' boards at times have the slightest movement and wham, the locomotive stops movement. You must take the shell off and ever so slightly nudge the board. All is fine. I had two Rapido GMD-1,'s and sold them. Both in analog and man they suck ! Look great but that's it. Well I guess it's time to take up knitting. 😢
Id just send the atlas back and have them replace it with a complete different model and stay away from the s-2. Not worth the risk of getting another that has issues. Idk about the rapido since it was working a bit better or how long its break in time was.
I can’t help from asking this. On most online forms dirty wheels on new engines is a reality. You make no mention of cleaning them on initially running them or having returned from Atlas and Rapido, what method did you use to clean them. Also some of the running issues particularly the stalling on the switch would point to lack of power from poor conductivity, how are you testing to insure there is power on the switch points.
I did clean the wheels extremely thoroughly with IPA. I drove the wheels with one set of wheels on a IPA soaked paper towel (as per Atlas). I did all this prior to sending them in for repairs. I checked all my switches with a multimeter during install to ensure they are working correctly. Besides, we can see all other locos are going through the turnouts just fine. The Atlas also stalls out on straight track, so it's not limited to just the turnouts.
@@nscaler454 Don't know, it's problems like this that makes one question why am I doing this. When I have issues like this my last hope is to take a paper dampened with IPA and use it to clean the rail head, often what I thought was clean is not, the other issue is the way peco turnout points make contact with the fixed rail to conduct power, this can sometimes not work so although the rail head is clean the side of the rail and the moveable point are not. You can check this with your multi meter. Good Luck it's truly frustrating.
Is there a way you can have a keep alive installed on that Atlas loco? Maybe that’s what you need to do because the wheelbase is much shorter than the Rapido locos wheelbase. which would make the Atlas loco more finicky to operate. If it can be done, I think that would make that Atlas loco more usable and consistent. Also, you mentioned the representative from Atlas that you talked to on the phone was a Nice guy. See if you can have him look at your video here on TH-cam showing that the atlas loco is still not properly working. Maybe they be willing to install a keep alive for you that they recommend for that loco. It wouldn’t hurt to ask. Your layout is looking really good looking forward to seeing what else you do to it.
I've found Atlas locomotives seem to need more extensive break-in times. I had the same issue with a set of Alco F's. After running them alone at a moderate speed they ended up running quite well.
I have both of these engines, in fact two of the Rapido. Both of the Rapido have run great right out of the box with no issues. On the other hand the Atlas has a similar problem as yours. It certainly does not like dirty track and finds it difficult to travel over my peco switches. As it is my only small switching loco I will put up with it until I can find a better one.
I've had similar issues with atlas engines. My kato was running weird so I lubed it up and reset the decoder and it ran for maybe 10 hours in the last few days no problem.
I ended up installing a keep alive in my Atlas switcher. Works great now.
I can't imagine there's enough room for a keep alive in a tiny N scale switcher haha.
@@nscaler454 2010 TCS Train Control Systems / KA-N1 Keep Alive N Scale
@nscaler454 2010 TCS Train Control Systems / KA-N1 Keep Alive N Scale. I saw a video where a guy used one on HO train.
@@nscaler454 I installed the TCS KA-N1. It fits.
I have the same locos. I find to smooth out the Atlas I have to just let it run at a higher speed for a while and that seems to straighten it out. It is super sensitive to any dirt on the track. Hope this helps.
The only other place that might affect conductivity is between the wheel and the plate the pointed end of the wheel makes contact with. In the previous generation of n locomotives with brass contact strips it was easy to disassemble the trucks and clean the plates and the wheel ends. On these with the wired to the frame method it’s something I’ve yet to do and hopefully never will. Hopefully you resolve the issues with these engines and post a video detailing the solution. 👍
I have a Kato GE ES44AC. I found that it need to warm up the motor and baring at half power for a few minutes before I can go super slow with it.
A while ago I purchased an atlas SD-60 locomotive and had the same issues, alot of stuttering and jittering. I finally had to take the locomotive apart and the worm gears had absolutely no lubricant and the trucks had what appeared to be paint on them. Had to thoroughly clean the trucks lubricate the worm gears and it worked fine after that. Maybe you could try this. Atlas doesn't seem to be as good a quality as they used to be.
Either run an hour Med-High Break in on a large loop, (Both Directions) or Consist it with a good running Engine and let it get pulled around for Operations for a month.
I found doing the hour Loop Break ins fixed several of my crappy Atlas Locos. Cleaned Wheels before and after before putting in Service.
I’ve got the S2 and right out of the box it ran great and still does. I suspect Atlas may only test it on a straight piece of track and not take it through switches. If they do take it through any switches I suspect they use their own. I’m not sure why they don’t add a keep alive circuit to these especially the gold series with sound as it is annoying when the sound stops and stutters. I use insulfrog turnouts which help for the most part with all my locomotives.
I believe Atlas still uses loksound decoders. If that’s the case, you might try seeing whether the auto tune procedure is supported. I would think they did that at atlas when you sent it in, but still worth a try. I would try multiple times if you don’t get the results the first time or next. Before doing the procedure, write down the value of cv53. Set the loco on a piece of straight track about 3’ long and level. Call up the locos address and set F1 off and speed to 0 making sure direction is set to the direction of your long end of track. Using programming on the main, set CV54 to 0. Now press the f1 function. Check the slow speed and repeat if some improvement but not perfect. Once slow speed is ok, check top speed. If too slow, restore the default value of cv53.
Yeah, pretty much what the census is here, the Atlas needs to be ran-in for a while. If its DC friendly, perhaps make a small loop and run it for about 2-3 hours. And yes, any dead spots that are ok with longer locomotives, will show their ugliness with smaller switchers and adding a Capacitor does solve the stutter issue. Do you have another switcher of the same wheelbase that does the same before break-in/modifying? Cheers!
Hi Nscaler454 & it's is Randy and i like yours video is Cool & Thanks Nscaler454 & Friends Randy
While I don't have that specific Rapido engine, I have multiple DC engines from them, and I have very similar issues like the one you're having with all of them, but not constantly. They will run great for a while and then randomly they become extremely difficult to work, they simply won't move without nudges like in the first curve, until I get fed up, park them for a while, and then a few weeks later, BAM. It resolved itself. They throw Rapido Tantrums and when you let them calm down they are back to normal. Can't explain it.
I would try what others have said. Try running both in for a few hours . My atlas was way better after running in.
Yeah, I dunno. I think we all need to really hold these companies accountable. This stuff is way too expensive to be what some of it is…..junk. I’m sick of the excuses they give us too. My experience with Digitrax is absolutely horrendous, and so far my Arlas experience hasn’t been contentious, but taking a month or more to get a $250+ product back in hand is unacceptable. Especially if the thing isn’t fixed. It seems like this is a problem with Atlas, Digitrax, and Rapido from my experience thus far. I wonder how the other companies are in regards to warranty work. My ScaleTrains and Athearns run strong, hopefully I don’t have to use their warranty process…..
I agree. Imagine buying a new car for $30k and there is a 50% chance it's unusable. The manufacturer would go out of business. $300 for a 3 or 4 inch hobby train is a pretty big chunk of money and they should work perfectly 95% of the time if you ask me.
I really have to wonder if it's something with the wheel blackening Atlas uses. I've gotten several Atlas 4 axle units this year, and out the box they mostly run poorly. Most of them ran pretty well after just running loops for some time forward and reverse. My two RS-2's required a complete teardown and cleaning with particular attention to the wheels to get them running well. I have two of the older S2's and they are some of my best running loco's.
That is the answer I was given over the phone from Atlas. It makes sense, but supposedly it was cleaned/cleared and the connection points are good and supposedly tested. Yet in a real world setting it still drops connection while every other loco runs better on the same track. I don't want to sand the wheels as I think this would cause more issues if I don't get the entire circumference of the wheel completely smooth.
I'm not sure what the Atlas S2 issue really boils down to. I have a CGW S2 that misbehaves at slow speed too. I found that it works much better if you keep the wheels very clean and turn off the sound.
I can try testing without sound. I wonder if it actually performs better or if you just can't hear it performing poorly when it cuts the sound.
Yeah I would run that Atlas for a few hours before and test again.
Whats not been said yet, Did you check for amperage draw? If not that, have you considered onboard capacitors, people swear up and down by them on short wheelbase locos. Another thing came to mind, how well does the trucks articulate for positive conductivity?
Comparing the Broadway Limited SW7 Switcher to the Atlas Alco S-2 what one would you recommend.
I have the BLI SW7 and I would take that over the Atlas every single time. In my experience it's 50/50 if you get a good one or a lemon from BLI.
I have an Atlas master Good gp 30. Atlas has had it for weeks. I’ve had no updates or anything. Still, better than the bs I got from Digitrax who has had my dcs52 for months.
Atlas has a great crew in tech support I enjoy chatting with them. But their 4 axel switchers are well below average. I had the CGW alco and sold it. I had 3 of their gp40/38s and am disposing of all of them as 2 of them have made 3 trips each back to new jersey with no actual fix done to them. Their new gp15s seem to be better but that maybe because its a DCC only and not sound. For most small locos i recommend Kato.
My Atlas GP40 is a gem for me. It kind of shows the major inconsistencies in the model railroad industry. A switching loco that can't get through switches at slow speed is a complete failure in my books.
Wheel gauge ok on that Atlas?
I agree with the other run the atlas for a few hours forward and a few hours in reverses do this with and without a load I feel Nscale engines need to break in the motor brush a lot more than the HO
I did do a long break in with the Atlas, and Wilson from Atlas told me on the phone he also did a couple hours of break in. I don't think it's a break in issue at this point. It's always been a case of losing connection. 4 sets of wheels should not lose connection this easily.
@@nscaler454 I'd be tearing that thing down could be something as simple as one of the pickups on the trucks may need a little more tension on it to make a better Connection. I hate when new stuff doesn't work. I wish Kato would up their game on the details because I've never had an issue with a Kato
that kinda looks like a dirty wheel or perhaps a missing keep-alive cap on 8127.
1179 looks like it's got poor contact on the pick-ups possibly.
Rather disappointing that they shipped both back like this :(
I had to add the keep alive.
CANADIAN? I just assumed you were down south and liked our Canadian trains.
The Rapido GMD-1 was absolutely the HARDEST locomotive I've ever had to get into. But I bought mine second hand, and suspect somebody glued the shell on when they took the DCC chip out. Things I didn't realize when I bought it from a social page.
I couldn't even get into my GMD-1. I didn't want to break it so I sent it to Rapido. I feel it was the right choice haha.
Either these companies start lowering their prices to match the performance of the locomotives or get out of the business. I told Don in parts at Atlas, they need to get rid of their couplers. Worst ones on the market. Also the 'DC' boards at times have the slightest movement and wham, the locomotive stops movement. You must take the shell off and ever so slightly nudge the board. All is fine. I had two Rapido GMD-1,'s and sold them. Both in analog and man they suck ! Look great but that's it. Well I guess it's time to take up knitting. 😢
Break in, 2 hours fwd and 2 hours backwards at moderate speeds. Maybe clean the brushes. See if it helps
wait the gmd1 thing is a warranty? I always thought my track or wheels were just dirty.
Id just send the atlas back and have them replace it with a complete different model and stay away from the s-2. Not worth the risk of getting another that has issues. Idk about the rapido since it was working a bit better or how long its break in time was.
I can’t help from asking this. On most online forms dirty wheels on new engines is a reality. You make no mention of cleaning them on initially running them or having returned from Atlas and Rapido, what method did you use to clean them. Also some of the running issues particularly the stalling on the switch would point to lack of power from poor conductivity, how are you testing to insure there is power on the switch points.
I did clean the wheels extremely thoroughly with IPA. I drove the wheels with one set of wheels on a IPA soaked paper towel (as per Atlas). I did all this prior to sending them in for repairs. I checked all my switches with a multimeter during install to ensure they are working correctly. Besides, we can see all other locos are going through the turnouts just fine. The Atlas also stalls out on straight track, so it's not limited to just the turnouts.
@@nscaler454 Don't know, it's problems like this that makes one question why am I doing this. When I have issues like this my last hope is to take a paper dampened with IPA and use it to clean the rail head, often what I thought was clean is not, the other issue is the way peco turnout points make contact with the fixed rail to conduct power, this can sometimes not work so although the rail head is clean the side of the rail and the moveable point are not. You can check this with your multi meter. Good Luck it's truly frustrating.
Is there a way you can have a keep alive installed on that Atlas loco?
Maybe that’s what you need to do because the wheelbase is much shorter than the Rapido locos wheelbase. which would make the Atlas loco more finicky to operate.
If it can be done, I think that would make that Atlas loco more usable and consistent.
Also, you mentioned the representative from Atlas that you talked to on the phone was a Nice guy.
See if you can have him look at your video here on TH-cam showing that the atlas loco is still not properly working. Maybe they be willing to install a keep alive for you that they recommend for that loco. It wouldn’t hurt to ask.
Your layout is looking really good looking forward to seeing what else you do to it.
Thanks. I will have to contact Atlas again at this point. To me it's unacceptable to pay the money we do and to have this kind of performance.
Tell Atlas you want a refund or an equal trade for something else.
That's what I'm thinking.
Sure looks like dirty wheels.
The Atlas are terrible performers….