Atlas and Rivarossi Industrial Switchers

I have never had one, but I think the Atlas one is better.

The Atlas switcher is based on a Plymouth prototype, but I heard it represents a very large one.    I have not seen many of the Rivaroosi ones.     I think I remember them looking a little more european.

I have 2 of the Atlas ones in operation.    My experiences is that they are a little noisy when running.    I had no trouble installing Kadee couplers.   First I did remove the footboards because the interferred with the couple wire and swing.     Second, I did not install a box, I just put the Kadee in the existing coupler box and used it without the center spring.   

These are pretty old now, and I have had some axle gear failures.   I bought a couple of junkers to salvage gears and/or axles for repair.    Also the handrails are a little fragile and often broken on older ones.

They are pretty heavy and pull pretty well for a small switcher.

I have had 3, all Atlas, now one operating and one junker for parts.  Kadee install was relatively easy.  As said above, a bit noisy and control is abrupt given the lack of a flywheel on the motor.  I'm not sure if there is a replacement motor with a flywheel available but I keep looking.  I ended up making handrails from some wire stock. 

To me, car body wise, both visually too large scale and not very accurate to any real prototype for what they're supposed to be. Critters are ....well small critters right? Neither of these are small in a true scale sense and opinion as-is don't look correct at all. You can use the factory drives albeit both can be significantly improved performance/durability wise if you can get the replacement axle/gear/wheel sets  that NWSL offered. This is true for these same drives as found in the F9 and CPA-4-1600 etc. as well, though while the law of averages would suggest one or more modelers might have figured out how to install a DCC control card in them I have no direct example of that though I'm sure it can be done with a completely new drive and motor replacement.

There's so many of these still floating up never run/NIB on ebay and estate sales that one should never run out of cheap virgin factory drive parts , but they're still very "weak sauce."

Thanks for the feedback, fellows. I really appreciate it.

PRRJIM, If it’s not too much trouble, do you remember which Kadee coupler you used?

ATLPETE, the Atlas and Rivarossi switchers are definitely not my first choice for motive power, but there aren’t many options out there which fit my budget or my plans. I would much prefer a 44 ton or 70 ton, or something along those lines. I’m not interested in anything larger, and there aren’t many that appear on eBay or some of the other sites (brass trains.com, Allegheny Scale Models, Norm’s, etc.). I only need something for switching operations, moving a very short cut of cars around, so Geeps and large steamers are out.

As to the size of “critters”, from the 2 volumes of “Critters In Color” (Morningstar Press) which I have, it appears critters came in all sizes, and apparently even Plymouth made their diesels in different sizes. (The books even show many 44 tonners and larger locomotives from different manufacturers, but I guess it depends on one’s definition of what is and isn’t a critter.) The Rivarossi versions are Plymouth locomotives, but are in 1:43 scale and are definitely larger than the Atlas Plymouths.

Kyle,

I used older Kadee 805s.   When I did the Atlas critter, 805s were the only option    The new ones look great and I think work great together with each other.    However, I noticed having difficulty uncoupling them when mixed with older 805s.    I do use the newer ones when I need an over or  under mount shank or a long shank.  

I took my switcher apart and looked at the coupler.    I filed the centering tab off the bottom and put a spacer in the slot in the shank to keep the coupler from sliding back and forth when mounted on the existing pin.

FYI, I have removed the gear from the center axle, so my unit has just 4 powered wheels.    However, it will pull 15 cars or more on level track.

I also have a 44T from last run by Sunset (3rd rail).   It is a fantastic puller and good runner.    The mech is a little noisey.

Kyle, an affordable and in my opinion is the atlas SW switcher.  My only other 2r loco.  I run it on straight DC.  It handles my small switching layout just fine.  A bit larger than a 70 ton but not enough to make all that much difference.   It handles the atlas 24 inch radius switches just fine as long as the total curve is limited. 

While there's never been a large variety of small industrial style "critters"  I certainly wouldn't pass over the opportunity to build one if I needed it. I think PRRJIM and necrails having success with the Atlas version is quite interesting, have either one of you put a control card in of them? Drive issues aside I would think the styrene Roco shells would be fairly easier to razor and detail up to reasonable looking model.

The more recent commercial offerings are cool but kind of pricey for me too; love the Sunset 44 toner, it's a good puller and and looks great but I rarely see them for sale and when I do they're high. Ditto Rich Yoder's GE's, love that 70 toner.

As an aside, a couple of years ago I horse traded some freight cars for this old aluminum cast GE above that was offered by LWS back in the 1970's, my understanding is they were made by Penn-Erie as part of their business making promotional display models for General Electric. They made a complete line of U-boat carbody castings over the years, and also did the E44's and I'm guessing this model too. It was originally catalogued as a "65 Toner" . Up until acquiring it as built, I had only rarely seen them for sale in the unassembled kit form. As I recall my trading partner scored it off E-bay for around $100 but decided it was more trouble to fix than trade .

It has the rare Penn-Erie factory drive which uses "O" rings to connect the tiny motor to the drive shaft and is quite noisy. It would be an excellent candidate for a pair of magic carpet powered trucks from Q-car.

I have three of these.  The Kadee coupler on the rear wasn't too hard.  Haven't gotten around to doing the front one yet.  Good solid DC runners.

@atlpete posted:

While there's never been a large variety of small industrial style "critters"  I certainly wouldn't pass over the opportunity to build one if I needed it. I think PRRJIM and necrails having success with the Atlas version is quite interesting, have either one of you put a control card in of them? Drive issues aside I would think the styrene Roco shells would be fairly easier to razor and detail up to reasonable looking model.

The more recent commercial offerings are cool but kind of pricey for me too; love the Sunset 44 toner, it's a good puller and and looks great but I rarely see them for sale and when I do they're high. Ditto Rich Yoder's GE's, love that 70 toner.

As an aside, a couple of years ago I horse traded some freight cars for this old aluminum cast GE above that was offered by LWS back in the 1970's, my understanding is they were made by Penn-Erie as part of their business making promotional display models for General Electric. They made a complete line of U-boat carbody castings over the years, and also did the E44's and I'm guessing this model too. It was originally catalogued as a "65 Toner" . Up until acquiring it as built, I had only rarely seen them for sale in the unassembled kit form. As I recall my trading partner scored it off E-bay for around $100 but decided it was more trouble to fix than trade .

It has the rare Penn-Erie factory drive which uses "O" rings to connect the tiny motor to the drive shaft and is quite noisy. It would be an excellent candidate for a pair of magic carpet powered trucks from Q-car.

Have not put control card in  but you have reminded me i have 2 blue rail boards waiting for a project.  I might just give it a try as the board is so small it should fit.

necrails, believe me I would love to score an Atlas SW. Matter of fact, I had one of these and a VO-1000 on order from Atlas back in 2019, but Atlas cancelled both runs, among a lot of other items, later that year. The 2r versions rarely come up for sale on eBay, and when they do, they end up going for crazy prices, even for those that need work.

I’m still hopeful that Atlas will re-introduce it (or a 2r version of the MTH premier 44 tonner) but I’m not holding breath that it’ll happen anytime soon.

I have a DCC Digitrax DH123 decoder in my Atlas switcher.   It is a little one and rated at 2 amps max.   That seems to be fine for this guy.    This an "economy" decoder and used to have a street price of about 20.   I got a bunch for 11 dollars each and use them in smaller locos.   They only have 2 function - or maybe 3 so you can only 2 lights front and rear.

First, forget the AHM/Rivarossi one; like many HO versions it is well overscale.

The Atlas one is much better. Can we just put the lid on these rumours that it is wildly oversized for a larger Plymouth? Here's a couple comparison photos, prototypes & my models.

The frames are correct heights, the lines of the hood and cab windows line up similar on the models to the real photo, really only the model Plymouth cab roof is a bit too high, likely to clear the motor.

Yes they run with a bit of a growl, and be wary of split gears (replacements might be had off ebay), but I use Zimo MX635R decoders in mine and the motor control is superb; all 3 of my Plymouths lash up very nicely and can tug quite a few cars around.

Nice work on your Plymouth, SundayShunter. Thanks for the photo and pic of the prototype for comparison.

Yes, great comparison photos between model and prototype, I must admit the Atlas is a more faithful model to the prototype than I realized. Note additional variations include the radiator extending to the end of the frame, eliminating the end platform and the three axle/outside frame car body truck.  I can't imagine it would be terribly difficult to modify the Atlas to more closely match the example in the photo either; adding the exhaust extension straddled by the flasher on the cab roof,  I think the biggest challenge would be lowering the roof and redoing the truck to an inboard side frame with those exposed wheels (yikes) Sounds like fun!

Thanks for posting these excellent photos!   

Getting rid of the outboard bearing side frames is easy as they are cosmetic only and will slide right out, the axles do not extend into them.  You can pull the center wheels leaving an idler axle and gear and make a four wheel inboard bearing engine.  Only issue is the wheelbase is a tad long. but changing that would become a BIG change.

I don't know much about Plymouth switchers, but read a few places that there were many versions of them from very small to very large (relatively for a critter).    So if you want to customize one, a good option would be to find a prototype photo or 2 of one you like and work toward that.    If  you just want to super detail it, it might be worth just leaving the body alone and detailing it better.

This is one of the switchers I modified for use on the club steel mill. There’s a second yet to do.

I opened up the sideframes to show brake gear. Crafted new handrails from Weaver stanchions and steel wire. Window glass annd hand grabs. Added Kadee couplers. I also cut down the casting surrounding the motor so it’s not visible in the cab. It runs on a HO decoder.

Another low buck option for a smaller diesel switcher are the Williams GE 44 and 70 ton engines. With a bit of work one can replace the 3 rail wheels with scale profile wheels while retaining the stock axles. These would be great engines if 2 rail conversion axle sets were commercially available. These engines are great performers and can handle really tight curves where engines such as the Sunset and Yoder 44 can’t go as tight. I’m talking 16 inch radius as on my local club layout with the Williams 70 tonner. Also the drives could be used in traction locomotives as they are self contained power trucks.

Phil, how I wish Williams offered the 44T and 70T in 2 rail. I know these have been 2-railed in a few instances, but from what I’ve read it involves a lot of work and tools and knowledge I don’t have. Failing that, a simple 2R conversion set, as you suggested, which would make conversion easy even for 10-thumbed mechanical idiots such as myself.

It’s a mystery to me that there isn’t any call for small to medium sized switchers, while larger diesels and multi-axle large steamers seem to be everywhere (comparatively speaking). One would think that with so many O scalers operating switching layouts there would be more call for them.

atlpete, Gray, and Jim:

I actually prefer the side frames and taller cab on the Atlas model to the prototype. I’d probably be inclined to super-detail the existing model, as Chris did on his example. (Nice work, by the way, Chris - very nice work.)

The suggestion and examples posted are all very helpful. My thanks to you all; this has been a very enjoyable thread.

@Nortonville Phil posted:

Another low buck option for a smaller diesel switcher are the Williams GE 44 and 70 ton engines. With a bit of work one can replace the 3 rail wheels with scale profile wheels while retaining the stock axles. These would be great engines if 2 rail conversion axle sets were commercially available. These engines are great performers and can handle really tight curves where engines such as the Sunset and Yoder 44 can’t go as tight. I’m talking 16 inch radius as on my local club layout with the Williams 70 tonner. Also the drives could be used in traction locomotives as they are self contained power trucks.

Can you show how you mounted the Kadees? Nice job on the overhead!

@Nortonville Phil posted:

With a bit of work one can replace the 3 rail wheels with scale profile wheels while retaining the stock axles.

Please expand on that exercise in detail.

These would be great engines if 2 rail conversion axle sets were commercially available.

I'm a little surprised that they are not; seems like a small, but perhaps steady market form some entrepreneurial soul

I wish Williams would offer 2 rail wheel sets for the 70t GE. It would broaden the appeal.

Here is a shot of my Atlas Plymouth.   It is pretty much stock.   I replaced the couplers with Kadees and I removed the footboards so the Kadees can swing.     I used HO decals to the "Pennsylvania" at a good size for the hood and I  used a number from the series of GE 44T that PRR had.    They had no plymouths that I am aware of.   

Over the years, the gear on the middle axle split.    I just removed that gear made it a dummy wheelset.       It will still pull more than 15 free rolling cars on level track.   I have installed a Digitrax decoder rated 2 amps in it and have had not problems.    The current draw is much less.    It is generally my shop switcher.

By chance does anyone know if the gears are the same as the F9?  If so new gears are available from Northwest Shoreline and Shapeways.

That is a good question.   I have a couple of chassis I picked up for parts and was only able to get 2- 3 gears out of them.   They would be runable if I could get new gears.

If you know the gear specs: axle diameter, number of teeth and gear pitch. NWSL has something that will match.

Or you can also try Stock Drive Products.

If the standard Atlas Plymouth is too big for some people's tastes, it can be modified with a bit of work.

I've started work on shortening my most recent Plymouth (the 4th one I own now!!) to make it an 0-4-0. This will use the rear axle as is, and replace the center 'blind drivers' axle with the front axle. The chassis block will be shortened and modified so the cab will sit further back on the frames, for a more balanced look over what will be a very short wheelbase.

The hood has been shortened, taking out the front 'boxes', but cutting the top to keep the headlight molding. I've started to remove the exhaust housing too. It'll need some filler but the radiator front has glued in place quite neatly.

Short enough now??? Standard Plymouth behind for comparison.

That reminds me of this critter that I had a chance to operate at the Branford Trolley Museum:

Currently on vacation in NW Arkansas. I passed the Eureka Springs and North Arkansas Railroad site at Eureka Springs last night on the way back to Bentonville. It was hard to tell in the dark, but they appear to have a GE 25T on site, among their other equipment. Couldn’t tell for sure, but in the dim light available, looked like it was painted red.