Replacement Bolster, Atlas O Trucks

Chris,

There is a thread on the O Scale Trains Magazine, O Gauge Standard Forum that addresses your request.  (Search engines are amazing tools )

Matt

Hmmm... Only ones I remember were by Jim Lincoln and P48 on Shapeways. 

http://www.shapeways.com/shops/batsbyjim

With Atlas announcing the scale width trucks soon we will have another option for decent trucks! 

Chris, Atlas O brought in samples of 2 rail trucks with the new 2 rail profile to the 2012 O Scale National.  I'm not sure you can retro fit existing trucks.  The truck side frames were not only brought in closer to the wheels the but the truck profile/thickness were also narrowed.  And beyond those differences the axles will be too long.  Check the summer catalog they have new truck part numbers listed for ordering.  I won a pair of 70 Ton roller bearing and they look much better than the old.  

Excellent photo of the packaging.

Matt

Michael,

Did Atlas give any real timeframe for release of the new trucks?  The summer catalog just says coming soon.

Matt,

Thanks for the link. I was already aware of ProtoCraft's P48 bolster, but apparently it does not work for 5' gauge. I will also check to see if an Athearn bolster will fit.

Mike, I did not stop by Atlas' booth last week... too bad. But I will keep an eye out for the revised product.

Hopefully Atlas re-designed the 2 part truck bolster for 2 rail. They have a nasty habit of self-destructing at the mounting hole when jostled during shipping.

And, apparently no archbar trucks....

Chris,

I thought the thread mentioned a fellow that was producing a resin cast body bolster. I believe he posts on this forum too. 

Shouldn't be too difficult to modify the Atlas truck bolster then make one part or two part resin castings.

Matt

As Michael noted above, no matter which way you look at bringing the sideframe closer to the wheels, the axle length will change, doesn't matter pointed axle or shouldered for rotating bearing caps.  So besides shortening the bolster you'll need to find appropriate length axles.

Mike,

Unfortunately I don't have a set of Atlas O trucks to inspect but is it possible to simply file or trim the axle to the desired length?  And while you have the wheelsets disassembled, add a styrene sleeve to increase the diameter so it's closer to the prototype axle diameter.

Matt

Matt,

The axles are easy enough to shorten for all of them except the RB with the rotating bearing caps.  Atlas made older RB trucks without the rotating bearing caps and theses can just as easily be milled or filed.  But please remember the profile width of the truck has also been reduced.  The new trucks have a different look to them.  I will take photos of the new one I have and compare it with the older 2 rail trucks.  The new trucks are a step in the right direction.  I wonder how much a bulk pack 100+ will cost because at $25ea its a bit pricey but if we commit to do a group buy maybe we can leverage a discount.  On the RB side I don't think I'll need more than 50 pairs of 70 or 100Ton trucks.  I don't do anything older so have no need to replace friction bearing trucks.

Bulk order discounts, if possible, would be the way to go for clubs and deep-pocket lone wolf modelers.  Probably best to investigate that option before they arrive.

Of course, most of this could have been avoided had Atlas taken the time and done it correctly the first time around. 

Looking forward to your comparison photos.

Matt

Hi All,

Has anybody tried using Athearn trucks with Intermountain wheels?

Regards,

Ed

Yup!  That's my standard truck - archbars with IM wheels - drop right in w/o any issues and roll great.

The new trucks Atlas had at the O scale show were about half the sidewall thickness of the older trucks,coming soon is the usual answer to any time frames although coil cars are currently shipping and I believe they have the new trucks, the next run of the PS4750s are coming up right after the coil cars which looked very nice at the show, all paint schemes were shown.

Thanks hibar!  Looking forward to the coil cars with the new trucks!

Martin,

Are there any problems or challenges attaching the Athearn trucks to the Atlas car?  Are the KD's at the proper height?

Thanks,

Ed

Out of all of the cars I own, I have only 2 Atlas cars (modern times). What I remember is that I think that I re-tapped the mounting threads for the trucks to be 4/40 and drilled and tapped new holes for the KD's.  My shop is not metric system friendly,   

I seem to recall that they sat down reasonably tight and close in height to my other cars; pair of hopper cars that I lettered for CVRR. 

Hope you get the idea from these photos.  The gon is MTH fitted with the new Atlas 70T RB trucks.  The box car has the old Atlas trucks.

Michael,

Thanks for posting.  I really love the new Atlas trucks!  Can't wait to get some myself.

A question for you on the MTH gon... Looks like you're dead on with coupler height right now, but it also looks like the gon could be lowered a bit for a more prototypical ride height.  Have you looked at other truck options or even shaving the MTH bolster area down a bit?   Just curious on options....

The coupler is actually right on the body.  If I shave it lower I will have to start removing material from the ends.  I actually had to shim the body with a washer because it did not sit at the right height on the NMRA gauge.  As it is, it looks to sit correctly.  With the original 3 rail trucks it did sit pretty high.

Thanks for the pix Mike, the newer truck definitely has thinner sideframes.

Any chance of you posting a head-on shot of the new truck alone? I'd like to see what, if any, changes were made to the 2 part truck bolster.

BTW, the reason for my original question is due to my wanting to use the Atlas 2D-F12 (coil + elliptical spring) truck that came as OEM equipment on the Middle Division X29, for a PRR X32B boxcar project. I am not aware of any other maker of this truck.

Chris they are exactly the same in the bolster area. 

now the sideframes look too thin....

If only the the rotating Roller Bearing was reduced in size to better represent the actual roller bearing and used to actually rotate the wheel, instead of being a cosmetic piece of plastic !!  Likely asking for too much!!!  

Mike,

Thank you for taking the time to shoot and post your photos.  Much appreciated.

The new Atlas trucks appear better but there is still room for improvement...correct axles, correct springs, correct sideframe thickness...etc.  Maybe next time...

Diagram Source: http://www.wabtec.com/railroad/coal_car_catalog.pdf

Matt

Matt your best bet is protocraft.  They have a suitable truck.

http://www.protocraft.com/cate...51&Categoryid=31

Hi,

I just received the Atlas newsletter with their replacement trucks which will be available in the 4th qtr of 2012.  They are priced at $24.95 which is only a tad bit lower than the Yoder trucks.  It might be worthwhile to see if the Yoder trucks can be attached to the Atlas cars.  Just a thought.

Regards,

Ed

Scale Truck Announcement Posted - Delivery in Q4

Features:

• Thinner scale die-cast side frames

• Scale width between the side frames

• Drop-in replacement for all Atlas O rolling stock

Estimated Delivery: 4th Quarter 2012

Still no Archbars......

Try the lightest centering springs you can on the atlas couplers, also some greaseum[graphite powder]earlier Kaydees required a light cleanup with fine file, Atlas may need this. You can still buy the older Kaydees at the O scale meets for half the price of the new ones[lots of inventory around]