# Old Atlas S4 Conversion



## Cycleops (Dec 6, 2014)

I have an old but much loved Atlas S4 which I wish to convert to DCC. It's about thirty years old and made by Roco in Austria. Seems fairly straightforward but thought I would ask on here if anyone had any tips to pass on. It only has a headlight at the moment but I would like to add one to the other end. It's a great runner and is fairly hefty. Might even consider adding sound. Any tips gratefully received.


----------



## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

Absolutely the first thing you should do is measure the
'stall' current. These old locos pull down a lot. I just
fried a decoder with an old Mehano. Now I measure and I didn't
even get to the 'stall', just running on it's side it was drawing
1.5 to 1.7 amps.

You may need to replace the motor or go to a decoder that
can handle the high amps.

Don


----------



## Mark R. (Jan 26, 2013)

This should give you a good idea ....

http://www.tcsdcc.com/Customer_Content/Installation_Pictures/HO_Scale/Atlas/S2/Atlas S2.htm

Mark.


----------



## Cycleops (Dec 6, 2014)

Thanks very much to the two Rs. I wasn't aware that TCS made a custom decoder. Now I can have the old girl up and running on my DCC layout. Interestingly the one shown has 'China' stamped on the chassis so I guess they later transferred production when Roco became too expensive.


----------

