# another Atlantic/Mikado bash



## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

It's not done, but it's coming along. I got the idea from Rex Ammerman and got a lot of help from Mike Williams.










I have a good bit of work left to do, but you get the idea. It's an Aristo Mikado married to a Lionel Atlantic, and it comes out very close to an H8-H10



I've been annoyed for a while by the fact the the Mikado I had was lettered for the PRR but had no PRR features. And also it just looks too big on our layout, which has some 8 foot curves on it. The model doesn't have the overhang, but it has all the pulling power of the Mikado. I put AML baal-beating wheeels on the tender, to imorve power pickup, but it looks too high to me now and I may have to think of another solution


Thanks to Rex and Mike for their help


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## Gary Armitstead (Jan 2, 2008)

Mike,

Very nice bash! That's one big Consolidation. I love it.


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## Mik (Jan 2, 2008)

Love it! 

On the tender, it isn't the wheels. It sits too high on the trucks. Is there an easy way to shave down the bolster? Even 1/16 should help considerably


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## Nicholas Savatgy (Dec 17, 2008)

*That came out nice, just love those atlantics. you might want to paint the motor black so it doesnt show as much other wise nice job







what did you do with all the spare parts from the atlantic? if you want to sell them pm me.*


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## altterrain (Jan 2, 2008)

Nice 2-8-0 Consolidation there, Mike. Where's the Atlantic?









-Brian


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## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

Thanks all--Mik, I had to put a shim on top of each truck, or else the larger wheels would hit the underframe. I'll take it apart again and see what I can do, maybe just switch to aristo trucks. Painting the motor black is on the agenda


It's very close to a PRR H8-H10 without changing much at all


I bought two Atlantics at once on ebay--those one here was not running, the other one runs well. I think I'm going to modify it to replace my aristo Pacific. The PRR Atlantics were really successful designs and they were still running into the 50s on branch lines. An Atlantic pulling three or four heavyweights would look pretty good.


I'm not sure about the scale of the model--I think it's closer to 1:24 than 1:29


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## Richard Smith (Jan 2, 2008)

Mike, 

That's a wonderful bash. You've captured the Pennsy look quite well and I like the Belpaire firebox. You've got a good eye for sure. Using the other 
Atlantic superstructure for a 4-6-2 is a great idea. Maybe a K-4a with a solid pilot and drop front coupler? Whatever, I'm anxious to see it.


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## Mik (Jan 2, 2008)

Hmmm, can you mill reliefs for the wheels into the inside part of the underframe where it doesn't show? Just a thought.


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## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

Well proportioned loco, there! Can't wait to see it lettered and finished. 

Later, 

K


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## rwjenkins (Jan 2, 2008)

That's a great-looking bash! The overall height of the tender (in relation to the engine) looks fine to me as it is, but I think the reason why the space underneath the tender looks high is because the Lionel truck sideframes are a bit small for those wheels. You could try using the Aristo sideframes from the Mikado tender instead, or if you're sure that lowering the tender is the way to go, try using Accucraft AMS (1:32) wheels instead of the AML (1:29).


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## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

Well I took the day off today and wired it up--smoke generator works, I managed to get the tender lamps drilled out and installed two 3mm red leds. They work and the headlight's working. I put flickering leds in the firebox and drilled holes so that you can see the flicker--my wife really likes that, although I know it's not prototypcial. I ran a few laps and it ran just fine--as well as the Mikado it replaces, pulls just as well, and it scales much better with 10 or so freight cars on our line, which is much more like a local branch line. I'm really pleased with it. It looks like a heavy consolidation and a real workhorse.

Also I took the shims out of the trucks and nibbled away at the underframe so the larger wheels will work. It looks better, but I may end up going with the Aristo sideframes


It's got power pickup on 16 wheels and I'm also trying out the IP trains "floating battery," which charges from the track and only kicks in when track power is interrupted. 

"Floating Battery"


Now I need to get it lettered and install the "jewelry" and get those front running lights working. That's not going to be easy. I'm going to try to add some gloss to the finish, like an engine that's been run hard and wiped down


I might just make the other Atlantic into a Consol as well, and double head them



Why in the world did Lionel ever stop making the Atlantic? It's a nice looking model, reasonable level of detail, the construction is really solid except for the flaky power pickup and the motor mount, both of which seem to be fixable. 

All credit for this bash should go to Rex Ammerman--as far as I know it was his idea, and again thanks to Mike Williams for stepping me through it. This is not a very hard bash, relatively speaking


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## itsmcgee (Jan 4, 2008)

Mike On my conversions I used the lionel trucks with bachmann small metal wheels they are the perfect height Great job Mike. By the way in addition to my 2 connie's I kept one as an atlantic and after a bit of a tune up it pulls 4 heavyweights around very nicely.


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## markoles (Jan 2, 2008)

Mike,

Great job!!! 

While you are painting, you could also paint the wheels and side rods.(NOTE: I just went back and looked again, I think you might have already painted the wheels and siderods..) I used Tamiya flat black (acrylic hobby paint) directly applied to my aristo steamers with great results! (In this photo, the mikado's wheels were actually spray painted with glossy black. I have since repainted with the flat black and they look a lot better. You don't need to take the wheels off to brush paint, which is what I liked best. Took about 5-10 minutes to paint per side. Siderods are painted silver.


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

The Atlantics do look good pulling the varnish. This one is permanently a pilot - it gets its juice from the batteries in the Pacific. I like the Mikado though - great looking locomotive.

There are still a few around in the original boxes. The vendor who bought up the stock shows up at ECLSTS every year.


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## rkapuaala (Jan 3, 2008)

Great looking bash!


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## Santafe 2343 (Jan 2, 2008)

Mike, 
It looks great, I would love to make another one. I just don't have time. I am doing a 4-10-2 for another guy, and with all the E-8's I am cutting up to make B-units (I am doing 5 B-units) , I am covered up. Maybe someday I will do another one for myself, I know it pulls great and looks cool. Thanks Rex[/b]


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## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

Calling it done, except maybe for weathering


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## dltrains (Jan 2, 2008)

Mike, It looks like you've got another winner for your stable.


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## chuckger (Jan 2, 2008)

Hi Mike,

You have the Penn. look with this loco. Nice work.

Chuckger


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## itsmcgee (Jan 4, 2008)

Mike that looks great,you did yourself proud. What lettering did you use for the pennsylvania? I'm almost ashamed to show my two after seeing yours. I don't think I'll give you any more advise rather I will ask you for some.All kidding aside, Mike, goooood job. 
Mike


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## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

Mike you're too kind. The lettering is from Del Tapparo's "G scale Graphics." It's a laser cut vinyl graphic and the font used was "Pennsylvania 1930" frolm "railfonts. com," except on the numbers which were done with Railroad roman from the same place.


Del is quick and makes the whole process pretty much fool proof


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## Del Tapparo (Jan 4, 2008)

Lownote - That's a great looking loco! It turned out nice. 

Just a correction on the lettering; not laser cut. It is cut with a knife blade on a vinyl cutter which operates like an XY plotter. The background vinyl and the centers of letters then has to be carefully removed by hand, so there is some labor involved, as well as some tricks to making it all work with the small lettering we require.


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## markoles (Jan 2, 2008)

Mike,

You asked why Lionel quit making these 4-4-2s. I think they were pretty unreliable. At least the Great Northern one I bought in 1990 was. In regular running, I managed to get the gears to lock up and strip. That was under the heavy load of a single LGB wooden 3080 coach. After having it fail on me three times in less than 6 months, I returned it to the dealer for some rolling stock and track. I remember thinking how beautiful it was at first, my first real american locomotive (the other was the LGB 2017D 0-4-0 that just runs and runs). It was a real disappointment to have a brand new locomotive fail three times in a row. 

Years later, I found George Schreyer's website and was tempted to get a Pennsy version to handle a couple of heavyweights. He modified his quite a bit to get it to run. 

Anyway, your Consol looks great!!


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

It's too bad about the Atlantics, a few simple fixes and they are very reliable.The gears are huge... the problem is the motor is held in place with a ty-rap that lets it move away from the gears after a while. Also, if you lift it off the track, there is usually too much slop in the axle slots on the frame and the gears can become unmeshed and out of sync this way. 

There are simple 50 cent fixes to both problems, and I followed George's hints (and went a bit further as documented on my site) and it is a great loco. 

3 ty-raps to hold the motor, some thin styrene shims to limit the down travel of the axles and more weight... the only other thing is to swap out the plastic wheels on the tender and add power pickup. I'm looking for the appropriate wheels to do this. 

You can still buy parts online from Lionel too! 

Regards, Greg


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## markoles (Jan 2, 2008)

Greg,

I thought it was a shame too. But without the internet or other helpful local support, what was a 13 year old to do? No mechanics in the house then...

Didn't Gary Raymond advertise metal wheel kits for the Lionel atlantic?


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Yes, apparently he made some... I'd sure like to find some... every so often an Atlantic is up for sale with the metal wheels, but I think they were the pilot or ?? 

At 13? wow... 

Regards, Greg


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## markoles (Jan 2, 2008)

Greg,

I thought they were for the pilot wheels, the trailing truck (really, that's the hardest one to get, due to its size and solid). But, I wonder if there were enough people with Atlantics that would be interested in having a run of metal wheels for the pilot, trailing and tender trucks made.


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## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

I've decided to try to make the Atlantic into a good engine, following the tips on George and Greg's pages. I'm going to use the pilot wheels from an old aristo pacific for the front pilot, and make power pickup bushings out of brass tube. I'm not sure what to do about the trailing truck--it has that huge plastic wheel, there's nothing close available that I have seen. Gary Raymond seems to be out of business. Mike Williams recommends using the aristo Mikado trailing truck wheel, but it's much smaller.



On my Consol I replaced the tender wheels altogether with AML ball bearing wheels. Power pickup is now extremely good. I'll do the same with the atlantic tender. You need to cut away some of the underframe, but it's not really visible. Alternatively I might just use the tender trucks from the Aristo Mikado tender.



How hard would it be to get someone to cast a relacement wheel, usng the Atlantic wheel as a model? I have no idea. I suppose it would be easier to find a machinist or someoen with a lathe. Sadly, around here lawyers outnumber machinists by 1000 to 1.


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## Bruce Chandler (Jan 2, 2008)

Mike, I don't have the truck, but I do have the axle and wheels from a Pacific. It's metal and spoked; about 1 5/16" diameter. Would that help?


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## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

Thanks Bruce--I have one of those. It's on the small side. i measured the Atlantic wheel at 1.65. The wheel from an aristo 0-4-0 switcher would work pretty well, i think. I'lll keep looking


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## KYYADA (Mar 24, 2008)

Have you looked at the wheel castings from Mark Wood in the UK. He has a very large assortment....If you can't find anyone to turn them for you I could for a smile or two. 

Johnny


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## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

Thank you Johnny I'll check that out!


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## myline (Dec 6, 2008)

Lonote, 
Beautiful job on that kitbash. I sent you an e-mail. 
Little Paulie, [email protected]


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## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

Thank you! I had bought two old Atlantics on ebay, both had been repainted and were not working. One I converted to a consol and the other I restored and upgraded as an Atlantic:










I'm going to keep the parts of the other for spares and maybe future kitbashes


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## itsmcgee (Jan 4, 2008)

Nice job Mike!!!


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