Motorizing Atlas Editions SNCF Railcars

[martin67]

Hi everybody,

 

a while ago I ordered a few models from a French mailorder store. While browsing the website and just to stuff my order, I came across some very cheap Atlas Editions SNCF railcars. These were below 10 Euros each. These have nothing to do with the American trainmaker Atlas, but are static plastic display models, made somewhere in East Asia (presumably China). Atlas Editions is a publishing company and also sells subscriptions of miniatures (like DelPrado).

 

 

Don't expect too much of these things (just 10 Euros, btw), but anyway chosen from prototypes nowhere else available. I also found out that Atlas Editions was selling motorizing kits for a while, rather expensive and virtually unavailable at the moment. Getting a little bit deeper into this by serching French forums, I found out that also Tenshodo motor bogies might also fit quite well.

 

When I was in Japan in Summer, I did what I do everytime in Japan, that's visiting Tenshodo's shop near the Ginza. My shopping list had four of those motor bogies on it, two WB-26B and two WB-31. These were quite close to the original wheelbase of these models and I wanted to try it out. The price was right, 2,200 Yen each, which is around 20 Euros. After my return to Bavaria I odered some matching SNCF type pantographs from the German maker Sommerfeldt. Then I started to disassemble the model. It turned out that the bottom plate is a piece of sheet metal, which is good for the overall weight of the model, especially if you rebuild it to running condition.

 

 

Then I unscrewed the plastic bogies and removed everything but the frames.

 

 

Meanwhile I replaced the non working plastic pantographs and screwed on the working metal ones from Sommerfeldt. For this railcar I used a pair of French Faiveley single arm pantos.

 

 

I had to cut the bogie frames a little bit to enhance turning clearance, then I glued them on top of the Tenshodo bogies

 

 

After that, just screw the bogies unter the bottom plate, using the Tenshodo screws, which came along with the bogies. They fit exactly, no reworking of the bottom neccessary.

 

 

That's it, reassemble the model and here's how it Looks on the layout.

 

 

 

Another picture of the bogie detail.

 

 

All in all the ready to run model was less than 75 Euros for a model, which isn't made by any of the big manufacturers.

 

Martin

Edited October 24, 2018 by martin67

[martin67]

Now, the second railcar is ready, too. It's an SNCF type Z3800 (ex ETAT). The French railways had five of these units and used them until the early 70's. The Internet (wikipedia) has a free picture of the real thing:

 

 

The model is basically identical to the previous one, so all steps disassembling and reassembling are the same. The bottom plate is cast in metal.

 

 

For this model I used the WB-31 bogies and left the frames away entirely. Due to the very low skirting and doorsteps there is not enough clearance for turning with the frames. I painted the wheels black and with the skirting the missing of the frames is not really visible. Pantographs are also from Sommerfeldt, this time a French standard type with four arms.

 

 

I don't expect too much pulling power from these bogies, but for a single railcar it seems to be enough.

 

Cheerio,

 

Martin

 

[brill27mcb]

Approximately HO/OO, right?

 

Rich K.

[martin67]

Yes, HO scale (1/87, not approximately and not shortened).

 

Martin

[marknewton]

I’ve also motorised one of the Atlas narrow gauge railcars.I took the diecast metal chassis out and removed the various protruding bits with a razor saw and a mill file. I then inverted it and put it back inside the shell. It's supported by the window glazing at just the right height. To power it I'm using is a Greenmax No.5716 20m mechanism, which has almost the same bogie wheelbase and overall wheelbase as the static chassis. The mech will simply attach to the metal chassis with double sided tape.

 

I dismantled the bogie frames and attached the sides to the Greenmax bogies using short lengths of 1mm brass wire to locate them and reinforce the glued joint. Here's how it all goes together:

 

 

You can also see the mechanism in the background of this photo.I've glued and screwed two lengths of Evergreen plastic strip to the metal chassis, closely spaced so the Greenmax power unit is a interference fit. 

 

 

All the best,

 

Mark.

[Welshbloke]

One thing with the Tenshodo bogies, if you haven't already then wire them together using the tabs on the top. It'll improve the running dramatically as all eight wheels now pick up and the motors are linked.