Atlantic Disassembly

Overview:

There are a number of fragile pieces on the loco, the detail parts, the plastic side rods, etc. Take care, since it's almost impossible to find spare parts without buying a "donor" loco.

Note: if you lay the loco upside down on the boiler, you almost certainly will damage the bell harp. Pull the harp and bell straight up from the boiler first. Don't ask me how I know this!

You can remove the boiler or the gearbox cover independently, if you are doing both. take the boiler off first.

 Remove boiler:

Remove the pilot and trailing trucks, each have a single screw. Notice the arrangement of the washers and spring on the pilot truck.

The picture below shows the loco with the pilot and trailing trucks removed.

You can now remove the front pilot/cowcatcher.

Removing the pilot truck reveals a long screw between the cylinders. Remove it and the pilot/cowcatcher comes off.

(yes, i cheated and left the pilot truck on!)

The picture below below shows the cowcatcher removed, it just pulls out forwards with the screw removed.

Below is a picture of the cowcatcher unit:

Now, loosen the two screws nearest the back of the loco. This loosens the cab floor. You don't need to remove them, just loosen them a bit, just under 1/8". (This gives you more clearance when pulling the back of the cab off, you will see.

In the picture below, they are the 2 circles on the extreme right. In this picture the screws are out.

Separate the 2 assemblies a bit, lifting up on the boiler first. You will then be able to disengage the rear of the cab.It's kind of a loop that hooks into the rear of the loco.

Now push the boiler backwards... the very bottom end of the cab fits in a slot between the cab floor and the chassis. Since you loosened the cab floor screws, this is easier. Ignore those wires for now, it's part of a modification I made while rewiring the loco for DCC.

You will find 3 wire nuts tying the headlight and smoke unit to the wires from the switch and the motor. Note how the wires are connected.

Here's the chassis with the boiler off:

Remove gearbox cover:

Note well: There should be 4 brushes for power pickup, one behind each driver. These will try to pop out when you remove the gearbox cover. Catch the brushes and the springs.

I would remove the pilot and trailing truck next no matter what you do. You don't have to remove it to pull off the gearbox only, but they flop around a lot, and can interfere a bit with the removal of the gearbox cover, so it's just one screw each to remove them.

Here's an underside view, the 4 screws to remove the gearbox cover are right by the outer edges of each driver.

Next you can remove the 4 screws that secure the gearbox cover.

Note that there are 4 power pickup brushes assemblies, one on the backside of each driver. Be careful, the brushes are small carbon rods, and they will try to fly out along with the springs.

The original spring part number is obsolete, but get the new ones, the parts are listed at the end of the page. They are non-magnetic, so I don't know what they are made of, but get new ones if at all suspect. In a pinch, you can use Kadee draft gear springs (the long ones), a tip from Dave Goodsen.

If you have already disconnected all the wires in the boiler, you can now pull the gearbox cover away.

To reassemble, you will have to do one driver's brushes at a time.

Put all 4 springs in, and put in just 2 brushes, and while holding them in, put them between one driver.

Now, making sure you don't pull out the end you just "installed", add the 2 other brushes, keep them in with your fingers, and put the other end of the cover down on the other driver.