I’ve lost sound to my older Atlas O Alco RS-1 diesel engine, and I had a shop tell me that the problem is probably a loose plug inside the engine. Specifically they stated “either the sound board came unplugged or the power board came unplugged in shipping or could have a speaker wire off”. I want to take the shell off the chassis to take a look, but it looks like the trucks need to come off first to get at the screws. I checked Atlas O’s web site, but it did not have parts diagrams/ manuals for this specific engine to go by.

A question for those who have worked on this engine: How do the trucks come off? I took out the single screw at the pivot point, but the trucks still do not come off. Is there a special trick to get these off? Thanks

This won't be the answer you're hoping for, but having attempted the same thing, I would strongly advise calling Bill at Atlas for help.

I am not familiar with the RS-1, but you shouldn't have to remove the trucks. on my Atlas SD-40 the trucks are removed after the shell is removed. as mentioned above your best bet is call Bill at 908-687-9590 and he will have the correct answer for you.

In taking apart Atlas engines, I have frequently found that the easiest way to get at the body screws under the trucks is to look very carefully for a gap between the truck sideframe and the wheel and slip a very skinny #1 screwdriver (or even a #0) into the gap. It helps if you have a movable arm lamp on your workbench that you can point right into the area. Getting the trucks off is a bit complicated and shouldn't be necessary to remove the shell.

Thanks for the quick responses. Southwest, I can get at one of the screws by going through a gap in the truck frame, but I can't get at the other one. Since it sounds more complicated then I thought, I may just send it back to the shop

Before you take anything apart try just turning the volume pot up and down a few times and see if this helps. Sometimes the volume pot on TMCC engines gets dirty and just working the knob will clear it. That's happened to me twice. Relatedly if if it is turned all the way to maximum, back it down a quarter turn and see if that helps. Sometimes there is a dead spot at the end of the travel range.

I'm not familiar with this particular engine, but based on my experience with other Atlas engines, I agree with Southwest Hiawatha. Typically on Atlas diesels there is an additional screw on top of the truck that can only be accessed after removing the body and by inserting a screw driver down through the frame. Be cautious if you do that because the axles, bearings and some other fun stuff will fall out and you will have to reinstall them (correctly...). On the Atlas website are exploded parts diagrams for some engines. You may want to see if yours or a somewhat similar engine is pictured. That may give you a little more sense on how to proceed. Best advice though is just contact Bill at Atlas, especially since you don't know whether you will find something you can fix once inside. He and the other folks at Atlas provide the very best customer service possible.

RM

The RS-1 hoods and cab are three seperate pieces.

They can be removed without removing the trucks. Remove the body mounting srews as described elsewhere.

Disengage the hand rails from the cab by loosing the ends from the body and cab. Slide the hand rails toward each end--away from the cab. Then carefully remove the 3 pieces as necessary.

I've remove the shell on my RS-1 to lube the worm gear which some Chinese worker failed to do. It's not a easy job and I hope to never have to do it again. Be careful not to pinch any wires re-installing the shell

Gary you are not the only one to have this problem with the RS-1's. I had three that were dry as a bone, plus two GP-35's, and a GP-7 that were also dry as bone. I also concur with your advise on using care when re-assembling the shell without pinching any wires........what a major league cobbled up mess. They need to give their assemblers a 101 on how to neatly install a wiring harness.
Scott Holzhei

What led you guys to believe or know the gears needed lubing? It's got me wondering about mine, although it's about the last thing I'd want to tackle.

Generally speaking, I would not get into trying to work on these unless either you are in the toy train repair business or you have many of them and want to undertake a serious effort to learn to do your own repairs.

If I was going to do such, here is what I have considered. I have many Atlas engines and have thought about setting aside an unpowered unit that I'm not too interested in and using it as a test dummy to practice disassembling and re-assembling. Same thing with a powered one that gets little use and maybe wouldn't be missed. I'd then keep careful written notes and organize them like a manual. That's probably how I would begin - FWIW.

Just a summary of what it takes to remove the shell on an Atlas RS-1.

(1.) There are (6) body screws and a #1 of size zero Philips driver between the side rail and wheel of the truck should remove the hard ones. Installing them is just as hard.

(2.) The hand rails are rather uniques. Starting at the leter (F) for front, pull the bottom of the rail out of the frame. Then the whole rail will slide forward detaching from the cab section. Remove the other three rails in a similar manner. This should free the center cab section for removal by pulling up carefully. Note there is significant wiring running through this section of the engine.

(3) Rear short hood should remove up and off also. Note that there are wires attached to the rear head light.

(4) Front long hood is the most difficult. Again there are wires attached. The front of the hood comes up first, then the back has to be gently spread to clear the smoke unit. Re-assemble in a similar manner.

(5) Most difficult thing on re-assemble is being sure that all wires in the rear hood area are away from the flywheel/EOB speed sensor. Patients is the word.

I've changed both couplers. We got a little careless with my RS-1 and broke both of them.

I would venture a guess that the speaker is the problem. I've changed two speakers in my SW-9's. The speaker of an RS-1 is in the fuel tank and may require additional dis-assembly.

SW-9's require some technical expertise also, as do Dash 8's when doing repair work.

I could also say that the SD 35's, early model, were not to bad.

One would ask why am I tearing these engines apart. At this point I kind of assumed it was part of the hobby

quote:

What led you guys to believe or know the gears needed lubing? It's got me wondering about mine, although it's about the last thing I'd want to tackle.

For me I noticed at slow speeds the engines would "gallop" or have a very jerky operation. It was dramatically worse with speed control turned on. It almost acted as if the drive train wanted to "bind" at different points, but was usually worse with few or no cars pulled by the engine. As it turned out the drive gear was literally bone dry. A few shots of grease and the "binding" went away. AtlasO is not the only engine to have this problem, the last few MTH diesels I purchased were also the same way.
I still say most of these manufactures need to do some brushing up in the QC department.
Scott Holzhei