Atlas Model Railroad Co. Product Review

Back to reviews index

This review was taken from the September, 2001 issue of Model Railroader Magazine and is reproduced with permission of Kalmbach Publishing Company, Waukesha, WI.

N SCALE EMD GP38 FROM ATLAS

Review by Jim Kelly, managing editor

This superb GP-38 is another in the parade of well engineered, good running N scale models from Atlas that are crisply and accurately detailed. It’s a departure, though, in that with it Atlas has introduced a lower rpm motor that yields slower running speeds. Slow speed crusaders will shout hurrah; those who advocate speed compatibility with Atlas’ earlier releases may be upset. A bit more about that later.

Electro-Motive introduced the 2,000-hp GP38 in January 1966 and built 739 of them by December 1971, when they were succeeded by the nearly identical GP38-2. Twenty railroads bought these engines and with mergers, sales to short lines, and longevity, these engines have worn lots of colorful paint schemes. Considered together with the Dash 2 successors the 38s can be thought of as the GP7s of the ‘60s and ‘70s. These versatile engines could be found all over the country in switching, branch line, and over-the-road service.

On big railroads the GP38 was a small engine; on small roads it was large. Smaller roads liked it because they didn’t need the extra 1,000 hp and attendant costs of maintaining the big brother turbocharged GP40s. Many GP38s are still in service today.

Atlas’ new N scale version of this everyman’s engine is made in China. The model checked out nicely against prototype drawings in the August 1967 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman.

It comes in several variations, including low or high short hood and with or without dynamic brakes, depending on what’s appropriate for the railroad. Each engine comes in two road numbers plus a numberless version for modelers wanting to add their own. (Decals are not provided.) Notable features include the numbers printed on the number boards, handrails that are the correct colors, and plows.

The painting and lettering are excellent. In fact, if your eyes are good enough you’ll learn that the New England Central was “1955 Short Line Railroad of the Year.”

You can buy the engine with a Lenz decoder already installed or a PC board that can be easily swapped out for a decoder board. You’ll be able to buy the Lenz board separately from Atlas; Digitrax’s DT146A will also fit. (Atlas was encountering some delay in getting the decoder-equipped engines, but they should be out there by the time you read this.)

This engine uses the same frame and mechanism as Atlas’ previous GP40-2, reviewed in our January 1998 issue. This is the typical N scale mechanism design we’ve been seeing lately from Atlas, Kato, and Life-Like. The motor, drive train, and trucks are sandwiched between electrically isolated metal frame halves. The five-pole skewed-armature motor has flywheels at each end and drives worm gears that power spur gears in the truck housing.

The chemically darkened wheels matched the National Model Railroad Association standards gauge and they all pick up current via metal bearing plates that support the needlepoint axles. Atlas calls this a “frictionless drive” and introduced it with the GP35 in 1992.

The body-mounted Accumate magnetic knuckle couplers are compatible with Micro-Trains Magne-Matic and other knuckle couplers and checked out at the correct height. Those wanting to convert to Magne-Matics will find the no. 1015 an easy swap-out.

As I said, the one big change lies in the motor. It runs slower at all voltage settings than those used in previous Atlas engines from China. For example, at 12 volts the GP40-2 ran a scale 167.8 mph; the GP38 runs 102 (still plenty fast, as 75 mph was about tops on the prototype.) At six volts they ran 91.7 and 35.3, respectively. The new motor has the same dimensions as the old and can be installed in the older models. With its .64-ounce drawbar pull the model should handle approximately 15 cars on straight, level track.

Add up the score and Atlas wins again with a precisely made replica of a popular prototype. Nor has the company been afraid to take a step toward more realistic performance. –

N Scale EMD GP38

Price: $99.95 (price with Lenz DCC decoder yet to be announced)

Description:

Plastic and metal ready-to-run locomotive

Features:

DC and DCC versions

Drawbar pull: .64 ounces

Dynamic Brakes option

Engine weight: 2.6 ounces

Low and high short hood versions

Painted handrails

Performance:

Minimum, midrange, and maximum speeds on filtered DC, straight track:

Scale mph Load Volts Amperes

5.2 Free 2.8 .05

7.6 Free 3.0 .05

35.3 Free 6.0 .09

67.0 Free 9.0 .10

102.0 Free 12.0 .10

- Slipping 12.0 .14

- Stalled 12.0 .25

Road names:

Undecorated, no dynamic brakes

Undecorated with dynamic brakes

Undecorated with high hood

Alaska RR

Atchinson, Topeka & Santa Fe

Baltimore & Ohio

Burlington Northern Santa Fe

CSX

Gulf, Mobile & Ohio

New England Central

Southern Ry.