Atlas HO scale AEM7 and ALP44 passenger electric locomotives

Atlas has released an AEM7 passenger electric locomotive and its nearly identical twin, the ALP44, in HO scale. The models are finely detailed including cab detail and painted crew members. Operation is smooth and conveys the muscular qualities of the prototype. The AEM7 is available painted for Amtrak and the other Eastern transit companies that use overhead power for their commuter service. The ALP44 version is lettered for New Jersey Transit.

Despite being designed for high-speed passenger service, the AEM7 is no streamliner. Indeed, railfans quickly dubbed them “toasters.” However, they have the same appeal as early boxcabs-incredible power lurking in a purely utilitarian shell. The 50-foot-long AEM7 is a 7,000-hp pocket rocket capable of sustained speeds of 125 mph.

The locomotive is also a testament to the world marketplace. The original design was an Americanized version of a locomotive built by ASEA, a Swedish company. It was built under license by General Motors’ Electro-Motive Division from 1979 to 1988. The electrical components came from ASEA and EMD provided the mechanical gear and final assembly. Budd built the carbodies for the first two Amtrak orders but then went out of the railroad business. Subsequent engines had bodies built by Simmering-Graz-Parker of Vienna, Austria. The ALP44 is the same locomotive but assembled entirely in Sweden. The main spotting feature of the ALP44 is the large grid along the upper edge of the carbody.

There were some minor changes in the AEM7 over the years as well. Most photos in our collection show AEM7s with four grills mounted alongside the boxy housing of the resistor grids and above the carbody grills. Atlas’ model lacks these grills, reflecting an early version of the prototype. There have also been at least two styles of insulators supporting the pantographs. The model features a design that looks like a large coil spring. The other design looks like a mushroom. Prototype AEM7s appeared with both black and red pantographs. The Amtrak model comes with black ones; all other paint schemes, including Amtrak NE Direct, have red ones.

The detail on the models is accurate and well rendered. All major dimensions are within an inch or two of those shown in drawings published in the June 1993 Model Railroader. The grids on the ALP44 match those in photos. The glazing in the windows is clear and flush-mounted. Both cabs have interior detail, and one contains a crew.

The pilots on each end have m.u. hoses and uncoupling levers and come equipped with Accumate magnetic knuckle couplers.

Grab irons are separate steel wire pieces, and the roof detail is thorough with the bare copper wire a particularly nice touch. If there’s any disappointment it’s the resistor-grid housing, which represents the grids with perforations on the side sheets. Even this is adequate for all but close inspection.

The white air conditioning units really stand out against the solid black of the rest of the roof. A little weathering and adding color to some of the other components would bring out detail and increase realism. The pantographs are held down by small plastic clips; a note in the kit says to lift the pans by the “lower bracing” although the arrow points directly at the hinge. Lifting at the hinge seems safer and much easier than trying to grasp the lower arms.

The model comes set for two-rail operation, but all that’s needed to convert it to overhead operation is to remove the shell and rotate a brass clip on the circuit board. The contacts for the pantographs are already in place. You can remove the shell by simply spreading the sides gently and pulling straight up. However, it’s much easier to replace it if you take off the pilots which are held on by two screws.

There are a lot of lights on an AEM7 and all of them work on the model. The headlight is reversing (it goes red at the back end), but not constant, unless you are operating on command control. Contemporary modelers will want to add ditch lights, which were retrofitted to the engines despite the lack of grade crossings on the Northeast Corridor.

The body cavity is almost completely filled with the motor, flywheels, gear towers, weights, light bulbs, and the cab interiors. A circuit board sits across the top of the motor and it has a Digital Command Control decoder socket in it. A Wangrow DN-103 decoder just fit crosswise in the space between the circuit board and light bulbs at the crew end. Other N scale decoders should also work. However, like the DN-103 almost all decoders this size are rated at 1 amp (or less). This should be no problem under ordinary operations, but it is less than the stall current as tested, so a severe mechanical problem could result in a destroyed decoder as well.

The drive system is the same as in most HO diesels-a horizontal motor carries a flywheel on either end of its shaft and drives a worm at the top of a truck-mounted gear tower. The drivers are non-magnetic metal rims on plastic centers which have the signature boltheads cast in. Also mounted on the sideframes are the stirrup steps for the cab doors. On the prototype these are body mounted. It looks like you could body-mount them if you’re using at least a 22″ minimum radius.

All wheelsets matched National Model Railroad Association standards for gauge and flange depth. The locomotive operated around 15″-radius curves and through a no. 4 crossover without problems. This little engine weighs in at a hefty 14.5 ounces and produces an impressive 3.4 ounces of drawbar pull.

In testing the ALP44 on the Kalmbach club layout, the Milwaukee, Racine & Troy, the locomotive could start a train of 28 modern freight cars on straight and level track. There was some wheel slip as the train started, but this stopped once under way. The model should be able to handle a passenger consist of similar overall length and weight, around 18 cars. The engine could creep at less than .5 mph at .8V and hit a slightly under prototypical 122 scale mph at 12V.

Quite simply Atlas’ AEM7 and ALP44 are excellent models, faithful to the prototype in detail and performance.

HO scale AEM7 and ALP44 electric locomotives

Price: $134.95

Manufacturer:
Atlas Railroad Co.
378 Florence Ave.
Hillside, NJ 07205
www.atlasrr.com

Description:
Plastic and metal ready-to-run locomotives

Features:
DCC socket
Directional headlights
Drawbar pull: 3.4
Engine weight: 14.5 ounces

Road names:
8570 undecorated AEM7
8571 Amtrak 908
8572 Amtrak 911
8573 Amtrak unnumbered
8574 Amtrak NE Direct 909
8575 Amtrak NE Direct 921
8576 Amtrak NE Direct unnumbered
8577 MARC 4900
8578 MARC 4902
8579 MARC unnumbered
8580 SEPTA 2301
8581 SEPTA 2305
8582 SEPTA unnumbered
8590 undecorated ALP44
8591 NJ Transit 4402 (ALP44)
8592 NJ Transit 4405 (ALP44)
8593 NJ Transit unnumbered (ALP44)