Atlas F7 questions.

I own several of these, and mine were bought several years ago. There are a lot of these out there in varying states of repair, but I'd personally put an upper limit of about $50.00 on these (for one locomotive).

That's why I like these, because they are cheap and readily availabl, so there isn't a lot of guilt involved in modifying or chopping one up for parts.

These engines were made by Roco for Atlas back in the early 1970's IIRC. 

Jeff C

It's actually an F9 not an F7.

I agree with Jeff. I have a couple of these and I would not pay more than $50 for one. As for the parts what I would do if possible is attend one of the 2 rail shows. They always show up for sale there and maybe you can find a beat up one with a good motor for less than $50.

There was an article by John Armstrong on these locomotives where he shows a way to increase traction and more recently an article in O Scale Trains where the author installed a P&D drive system.

When it is working properly they are smooth runners. At least the one I have is.

Welcome to 2 rail.

Thanks, all.

Lesson learned a bit I guess . After digging in my parts bin I found some Mabuchi motors that should work.

I had a set of two that Ilashed up as an AA unit.  Ran the heck out of them.  Replaced the wheels first thing, and eventually the wipers since I used them enough to wera them out.  I think $60-65 each is about max, anything less than $50 is a bargin.  I would not hesitatae to customize these.

there are a couple items you can do to these engines for performance:

replace the wheelsets with ones from NWSL (NorthWest ShortLine). The OEM wheels are plated brass and will lose their plating.

re-detail the body and body mount couplers.

if you are adventurous you can perform the modifications that Phil referred to. here is the Armstrong article in .PDF format.

Pretty sure these came out in the 1970s. Sets were inexpensive, but dang, some of the cars were well proportioned. I have several....and love 'em. Fun to modify with Kadees. paint, decals etc. Be careful with the steps...they break easily. P&D Hobby has nice repower sets, if you want to really dress 'em up. Have fun!

My late close friend Ted Stepek was the technical coordinator for Atlas with Roco on the 1970's era Atlas O scale product line. We saw pilot models running on his railroad in Rockville MD prior to the production run.  I recall this was around 1973.  John Armstrong co-authored several Atlas layout books with Ted.  In addition to "shure footing" his Atlas F unit John also configured it for outside 3rd rail and chopped 2 A units to create a B.  His A-B-A F's were repainted in Erie freight colors and pulled trains on his Canandaigua Southern for 20+ years using the original motors and gearing.  Influenced by John I chopped 2 F9's (replaced the 48" dynamic brake fan with a 36" ones) to model a late production FP7.  Back then NWSL didn't offer replacement drive wheels so I filed the back side of the wheels to reduce flange thickness to NMRA spec so they wouldn't bounce through turnouts. 

Ed Rappe

Gaze at the watch as it slowly swings in front of your eyes. You are drowsy. Think: Gomez Adams....Gomez Adams....Gomez Adams!

Simon