Review

In 1966, the horsepower race was on between the big three locomotive manufacturers. Electro-Motive Division (EMD) announced their 645-line of locomotives in 2,000, 3,000, and 3,600 horsepower configuration, and American Locomotive Company (ALCO) had just added a 3,000 horsepower locomotive to then Century line the year before in 1965. Meanwhile, newcomer to the dance, General Electric (GE) was announcing the 2,800 horsepower U28C, and late that year they announced a 3,000 horsepower 6-axle road switcher to compete directly with the EMD SD40 in the form of the U30C. Eventually 20 railroads would purchase the U30C during a production span from November 1966 through October 1976 that resulted in a production total of 596 units.

The U30C achieved two key things during its ten-year production period. The first was that it offered railroads an alternative to the EMD SD40 and SD40-2, subsequently paving the way for the successful Dash-7 line of locomotives from GE. The second thing was that it helped to drive the final nails in ALCO's coffin, causing them to cease locomotive production. This in turn allowed GE to assume sole ownership of the number two position in North American locomotive production.

The Model
The U30C is the subject of the latest HO diesel locomotive release from Atlas Model Railroad Co., Inc. Going back a few years when Atlas first released their HO scale U33C/36C, a lot of 1970s through 1990s era modelers held their collective breath waiting for what they hoped would be an announcement that Atlas would next be releasing a model of the U30C. As great as the U33C/36C models were, a lot of us desperately wanted a high quality model of the U30C. The U30C was the model that we needed to run along side our SD40-2's. Over the ensuing years, a lot of us gave up hope that we would ever see Atlas produce the U30C in HO scale. Then when we least expected it, surprise!

This new offering from Atlas follows the tradition of superb models of GE locomotives in HO scale. Out of the box this new model is awesome, and everything we U30C fans have been waiting for. Later in this review, we will examine the model more closely to give you a clearer understanding of its quality. The initial U30C release of includes the following roadnames: undecorated (with and without nose headlight), Burlington Northern, CSX, Louisville & Nashville, Milwaukee Road, Norfolk & Western, Rock Island, and Union Pacific. Most roadnames come available in four different roadnumbers, two for the digital models, and two for analog models, plus a no-number for both.

The only exception is Norfolk & Western which comes in three numbers only for both the digital and analog versions. First, let us lay some groundwork for our discussion of this model. The prototype U30C locomotives spanned a ten-year production period, and as you would assume there were several significant production changes. To understand some of these changes, modelers and diesel locomotive historians have tried to divide the production into phases based on these changes. In my research, I have found two different phase structures to describe the U30C. Instead of using one of these, I have come up with my own that concentrates on differences that are most noticeable to me. They are as follows:

Phase 1 - These U30Cs were built in the same car body as the U28C, and are almost indistinguishable from the U28C externally. The radiator section matches that of the U28C, which is the area that most distinguishes one GE model from another.

Phase 2a - With this phase we adopt the body styling that is most recognizable as a U30C, and could be considered the "standard" body style. The radiator section width is wider then the rest of the hood from top to bottom. The radiator and inertial screens are flush, and there is a flaring from the radiator section to the hood along the top edge.

Phase 2b - The radiator flaring is eliminated.

Phase 3 - The radiator and inertial screens are now corrugated. This is the phase that represents the largest percentage of the total production of U30Cs. This is also the body style that is represented by the Atlas model, and twelve of the twenty roads that bought U30Cs bought this style. Now within this phase there are further detail variations that we can use to narrow down and further subdivide U30C production. Some of these are the round versus squared upper headlight housing, single versus two step on the left side frame sill, location of the air filter screen opening (high is for oil bath and low is for paper bag air filters), presence of a small horizontal door above the 4th short door under the exhaust stack on the right side of the long hood, and built up anti-climber versus simple extension of the end walkways.

Out of the box, the Atlas model has detailing consistent with later phase 3 production starting in 1972 with the exception of the channel for the handrail at each step well. On the model, this channel extends down to just below the mounting point of the handrail. On later phase 3 units this channel extends all the way down. However, they have made provisions for some roadname specific variations. These include two different cabs, one with a rounded upper headlight, and one with a squared headlight. Other differences are Adirondack floating bolster truck sideframes which come either with or without bearing caps, radio antenna detail where appropriate, presence or absence of a nose-mounted headlight, and in the case of the Burlington Northern model shown here, inclusion of a rotary beacon.

Standard features of the model include: a coupler pocket designed to accept the AccuMate scale couplers, golden-white LED lighting, separately installed windshield wipers and grab irons, directional lighting, detailed crew members, separate cab sunshades, marker lights with separate lens, a snowplow, and a 4 function dual-mode DCC decoder in the digital units.

Taking a closer look at some of the specific detail features on this model, we find that it comes with separate grab irons as mentioned above that measure out to be a hair under 1-1/4 inch scale in diameter. The highly detailed handrails measured out to be a little over 1-3/4 inch scale in diameter. Tooling of details on the shell is typical first class Atlas. Some of the high points for this include the door latches, scale sized anti-skid tread patterns on the walkways and on the walkover down the middle of the radiator section roof between the screens, the scale sized bolt heads present through the model, and the fuel sight glasses in the fuel tank.

All in all the detailing of this model is extremely well done and accurate. Further proof of this is evidenced in the tooling for the rooftop radiator screens. Upon close examination, you will see that there is a screen pattern within the screen pattern that represents the screen pattern underneath the external screen pattern.
However, I did find a few minor detail inconsistencies. Some of these can be corrected by the modeler for the specific roadname they are modeling. These include the snowplow and cab sunshades. Both are railroad specific details not found on all road's U30Cs. Specifically, the L&N U30Cs were not delivered with either feature. This means that the modeler will have to remove or not install these features and fill the mounting holes.

A couple of other discrepancies that I found that would be easy for the modeler to correct are the coupler cut levers are mounted about a scale foot too high, and there is a hand grab missing on the underside of the front number board housing over the engineer's window. Other discrepancies that I found would not be easy to correct. One of these is the outboard windows on the sides of the cabs are too square and should be more rounded in the corners. Others are the fuel filler cutouts on the side sills are too large, the fourth door, going front to back, on the right side under the exhaust stack is missing a door latch in the upper position, and the third door on the right side under the exhaust stack is missing two different sight glasses. One is shaped like that found on EMD Dash-2 locomotives, and the other is tall and thin. Finally, there should be no gap between the third and fourth doors behind the inertial screens on the left side. These doors are actually hinged together the same way the first and second doors ahead of them are.

We find that all of the road specific details are consistent with each roadname wirh the exception of the snowplow and cab sunshades on the L&N model, and the fact that all L&N phase 3 U30Cs came with squared upper headlight housings. There are other small production variations that were discussed earlier that will not always match up to each roadname. However, in defense of Atlas, it would be almost impossible to get all these features correct on every roadname. There was simply too much variation in production details on the prototype units for a manufacturer to address all of them. I think Atlas has found a very nice compromise in regards to this, and has made the best of a very difficult situation that allows them to make available the maximum number of roadnames for this locomotive and still be 99 percent accurate for each.

Looking at the running gear for this model, we find very nicely rendered examples of the Adirondack C-truck. The drive for this model includes a five-pole skewed armature motor with dual flywheels and 3irectional lighting. Both models are extremely smooth running models. However, I did notice a little bit of motor noise. It was not that objectionable, but more pronounced than in recent HO Atlas diesel locomotive models.

Turning to the paint and finish of these models, we find quality that is consistent with previous Atlas offerings. The separation between colors is sharp. The lettering is equally sharp, and in the case of the L&N model shown, the yellow lettering is amazingly opaque yet not heavy. In addition, the white lettering and heralds on the BN model shown exhibits equal quality. The small safety labels and builders plates are also crisp and legible under magnification.

Summary
When you first open the box, and take this new Atlas model out and put it on the track, initial impressions are that this is one fine looking model. However, after closer examination of the individual aspects and highlights of this model you will find that this model is even better then first thought. Atlas has definitely made the wishes of a great many 1970s through 1990s era HO modelers come true with the introduction of a high quality phase 3 U30C.