Atlas Model Railroad Co. Product Review

NEW ATLAS HO DASH 8-40C IS A BIG HIT!

MODEL RAILROAD NEWS - February 2005

Review by R. Dave Carr

General Electric Dash 8-40C Diesel Locomotive
MSRP: $119.95 without decoder;
$149.95 with decoder

Atlas Model Railroad Co., Inc.
378 Florence Ave.
Hillside, NJ 07205
908-687-0880
FAX 908-687-8857
www.atlasrr.com

In 1987, General Electric introduced the locomotive that would finally place them as the number one locomotive builder in North America, the Dash 8-40C. After years of playing second fiddle to EMD, GE had finally come up with a winner that gave reason for customers to forget the shortcomings of the U-series and Dash 7 series locomotives. The Dash 8 would change the face of North American railroading forever.

A New Era
Ever since General Electric (GE) introduced the revolutionary U25B to American railroading in 1959, it found itself firmly in second place behind General Motors’ Electro-Motive Division (EMD). GE would introduce new models with higher horsepower ratings than the current EMD offering at the time, only to find EMD releasing a model shortly afterwards to match the features and horsepower of the current GE unit, and having EMD run away with the majority of the sales. This continued up until the early 1980s, when EMD introduced the trouble-plagued 50 series locomotives. In addition to this, the U.S. was in the middle of a deep economic recession, and the railroads weren’t buying much of anything. The GE product line at the time consisted of the venerable Dash 7 series which made its appearance in 1977. The units represented a makeover of the pioneering U-series.

Up until this time, GE road locomotives had a reputation of being cranky, and complicated to work on. In addition, they weren’t known for high reliability, and many roads dumped them as soon as the 15-year leases ran out. The Dash 7 was supposed to change all that, and in some respects it did. Unfortunately, the changes didn’t go far enough. The Santa Fe had problems with the cooling systems in its C30-7 units, and truck problems with their B36-7s. UP had the prime movers replaced in its C36-7 fleet, some of which are on their fourth engines. BN was so disgusted with its fleet of cables B30-7A units, they were sent back to GE for rebuilding under warranty, and BN never bought another GE locomotive until after the BNSF merger. These were just a few examples of the problems GE would have to put behind them if they were to succeed as a builder.

In 1982, GE constructed a B36-8 unit, and in 1983 a C36-8 unit was built. These two units were the test beds that pioneered the use of microprocessor controls in GE locomotives; the heart of the Dash 8 technology. More demonstrator units followed in 1984, allowing more roads to observe the new Dash 8 units in action. They also heralded a horsepower increase to 3,900 horses in the B39-8 and C39-8 models. GE continued improving its product line, resulting in B39-8E, and C39-8E models, with the “E” demoting “enhanced” versions. These units set the stage for the next model to be built, the Dash 8-40C.

First built in 1987 for the Union Pacific, the Dash 8-40C quickly became a hot seller for GE. Featuring the same basic FLD series prime mover that first appeared in the U25B, the Dash 8-40C had numerous improvements over earlier models. Changes to critical engine components such as the turbocharger, and the cylinder assemblies, have increased the life span of the parts, in turn, lengthening the time between major overhauls. Fuel consumption was reduced over 20 percent compared to the old U-series models. While that may not sound like much, think about that next time you fill your 4,000-gallom fuel tank!

To say the Dash 8-40C was successful is an understatement. Even after a somewhat slow beginning, sales began to take off, and for the first time, General Electric was finally able to sell road locomotives to the Canadian railroads. Chicago and Northwestern, purchased the Dash 8-40C for use on its Powder River coal trains, its first GE locomotives since the ill-starred U30Cs of the 1970s. Sales eventually equaled that of the EMD SD60, and once the North American cab versions of both locomotives were put into production, GE outsold EMD for the first time, and has kept that position ever since. GE had finally made Number One.

The Model
After countless requests, sometimes accompanied by begging and pleading, the Atlas Model Railroad Company, Inc. has given modern era modelers the state-of-the-art Dash 8-40C they have longed for. Following Atlas tradition, the Dash 8-40C is an outstanding model. Roadnames available are: Union Pacific, Chicago and Northwestern, Norfolk Southern, Conrail, and CSX. Four roadnumbers are available for each railroad; two for the decoder equipped version, and two for the non-decoder equipped versions. An un-numbered, painted non-decoder version is also available, as is the undecorated for those who prefer to paint their own. Our sample came decorated as the Union Pacific 9240, representing a unit from UP’s third order of Dash 8-40Cs which began delivery in November 1988. The prototype UP9240 still earns its keep for its owner, appearing in anything from hotshot intermodal service, to lowly work train duty.

Paint and lettering are clean and crisp, as we have come to expect from Atlas. Various warning decals placed at various locations on the unit are legible to the naked eye. The color, while subject to contention, matches the appearance of many UP units. Remember, paint shade and intensity can vary from batch to batch, even though it’s from the same manufacturer.

Detailing is very well done on this unit. Handrails are to scale, and are cast from Delran. All the various grab irons on the prototype are here also. Nose grabs are yellow, and while some folks believe they should be white, I’ve seen photographs of them painted yellow. Separate wind deflectors are a nice touch, but take care when installing them, as they are delicate. I advise taking the correct-sized drill bit and cleaning out the mounting holes before installing, to avoid breaking the mounting pins.

Etched metal grilles for the roof allow a 3-D effect for the rooftop radiator section. The walkway section between them is bowed up on both our sample model and an un-numbered version I have, but this appears to be easily rectified. Rooftop end-of-train and radio antennas are applied, though the configuration on our sample is not appropriate for UP. Walkways feature a well-executed thread pattern, and the cab-roof also features the unusual no skid surface applied by GE on the prototype units. Windshield wipers and sand filler hatches are there, though for some reason Atlas included both the early high location and later lower sand filer below the headlight on the rear hood. One or the other is appropriate, but not both.

The sample unit has the earlier dynamic brake vent location on the roof, which is correct for the sample’s roadnumber. Atlas will be doing the later version with the hood-side mounted vents in the next production run. Pilot details include a nice snowplow with separate grabs, MU hoses, MU cable, and nicely done coupler lift bars. After installing the lift bars, the ends will protrude in the step well. Trim with a hobby knife as needed so the ends are flush with the step well. The truck side frame feature separately applied brake cylinder lines, but these are oversized, and would have been more accurately represented with wire instead.

The center axle of the side frames has the dampening strut molded on; this would have been better as a separately applied part. Also, the handbrake chain, while a nice touch, is too large. The exhaust stack, is not quite right, and the horn appears undersize, but these items are easily replaced by those folks who desire to. A nice feature is the sanding lines for each truck hanging down from the frame. While this is not exactly how they appear on the prototype, it is a nice feature that represents them well. The fuel tank is a nicely done plastic overlay. The air reservoirs, though nicely shaped, seem to be undersized, and would benefit from added detailing such as the moisture ejectors found on the prototype. The underframe is heavy cast metal, and has a nice flange on its bottom section as does the prototype, though the UP units should have been painted gray, but this is also easily fixed.

Operation
Inside the model we find the tried and true Atlas can motor and flywheels. U-jointed drive shafts transmit the power to the trucks on either end of the frames. All wheels are geared and pickup power for the unit. There are no traction tires used. The motor is topped with a circuit board that is very DCC ready, and this is a feature that puts Atlas at the forefront of the DCC-ready R-T-R HO scale locomotives. The headlight setup on the circuit board a LED on either end, which works well, and illuminates the front number boards, also. I tested this unit on the Rouge Valley Model Railroad club’s modular layout, and was impressed with its extremely smooth running while handling a heavy train.

Our By-The-Numbers testing reveals a locomotive which is impressive right out of the box. A tractive efficiency of 31 percent without traction tires is laudable, and a slow continuous speed of 2.9 scale miles per hour makes this unit a smooth starter. At 12 volts, a top speed of 83.6 isn’t far from the prototypes when new. This testing showed that the combination of all wheel drive and pickup makes for a very reliable runner.

DCC
Our version didn’t report for duty with a factory decoder, so we supplied one from NCE, their D14SR. This is a tiny board about the size of a penny which has NMRA’s 8 pins jutting from the center of one side and into the socket atop the light board on the model. Getting into the model was made easier because the cursed plastic tabs of old are gone, replaced by grippers molded into the cast metal frame. Much better, Atlas; thanks!

Without wires to dress out of the way, one only needs to gently coax the dummy plug from the socket and replace it with the decoder, consciously matching the pin indicated with the delta arrow. Next stop was the program track where the unit had its address changed to the roadnumber, 9240, which also proved the installation was solid.

Our DCC testing showed that the unit wanted to start at Speed Step12, a bit high but certainly fixable. After we finished with the testing, our first task was to adjust the Torque Kick with Control Variables 116 and 117. On page 3 of the decoder manual, we find that CV116 sets how frequently the motor gets kicked while CV117 determines how hard that little boot in the fanny is. The default for both is (0) which is off, but we set this one to CV116 = 4 and DV117 = 15. The loco now starts moving at Speed Setup 1 at much less than 1 scale mile per hour!

A second unit which is unnumbered at this point was also treated to the same thing and was found to operate at low speeds with the first unit once set up with the same torque kick setting, maintaining the same distance from each other as they ran around the layout. At higher speeds, the second unit proved to be a little faster, so we set that one’s top speed from the factory default of CV5 – 255 down to CV5 – 240. They are now ready to operate together as a matched MU pair. Installing decoders and programming for both units required a total of less than a half hour.

Summary
I can’t say enough about this engine. Modelers finally have the brawny 6-axle Dash 8 series they have been clamoring for, combined with the Atlas quality we have come to expect. The minor detail flaws it has are easily corrected for folks who like to do that sort of thing, and I expect these will fly off the shelves! I know, I’ve already grabbed a couple for myself. Well done Atlas; bring on the wide-cab Dash 8-40CW.

By-The-Numbers

Atlas Dash 8-40C
HO 1:89.1
Starting Volts = 1.5
Traction Tires? No
Stall Amps = .9
Volts Amps Scale MPH
1.5 .07 2.9
6.0 .13 37.6
12.0 .16 83.6
Decoder: NCE D14SR
Installed by: User
Step Scale MPH
Min 12 2.1
Mid 64 50.6
Top 128 109.4
Pull Test (ounces) Slip
Loco Wt. 17.4 Volts – Amps
Pull Wt. 5.4 12 .42
Efficiency = 31%