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How many F-Units do you have?

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  • Member since
    January 2009
  • From: Maryland
  • 12,897 posts
Posted by ATLANTIC CENTRAL on Saturday, January 19, 2019 4:09 PM

dstarr

My F units.

An AB pair painted in the Mcginnis scheme.  Athearn Bluebox.

And the old B&M maroon and gold scheme.  Also Athearn blue box. 

Future projects.  Paint all the truck sideframes grimey black.  Couple them together more closely.  Weather the roof fans lightly.

 

 

Couping them closer is easy with this:

http://www.americanlimitedmodels.com/ho-athearn-f-unit-close-coupling-adapter-kit-black/

Or with Diaphragms as well:

http://www.americanlimitedmodels.com/ho-athearn-f-unit-connection-kit-black/

Sheldon

    

  • Member since
    March 2017
  • 8,173 posts
Posted by Track fiddler on Saturday, January 19, 2019 7:57 PM

I bought a Kato Great Northern AB set quite a while ago and then my wife surprise me with the CD set for Christmas. I can hardly wait to see how many Freight cars this mean roster team pulls.

I've had my eyes open for a great northern sky blue AB because I had one when I was a kid and the Northern Pacific green and light green AB set.... hard to find either.    TF

  • Member since
    January 2017
  • From: Southern Florida Gulf Coast
  • 18,255 posts
Posted by SeeYou190 on Saturday, January 19, 2019 8:04 PM

Track fiddler
Northern Pacific green and light green AB set

.

It is hard to think of any locomotive paint scheme that is as handsome as a set of NORTHERN PACIFIC F units in two tone green.

.

-Kevin

.

Living the dream.

  • Member since
    March 2017
  • 8,173 posts
Posted by Track fiddler on Saturday, January 19, 2019 8:08 PM

SeeYou190

 

 
Track fiddler
Northern Pacific green and light green AB set

 

.

It is hard to think of any locomotive paint scheme that is as handsome as a set of NORTHERN PACIFIC F units in two tone green.

.

-Kevin

.

 

I know..... I really must have one but they are so hard to find in N scale, no one wants to part with them I guess.     TF

If you do find a set they go for buku bucks. I wish they would do a new run of these!

  • Member since
    January 2019
  • 2,572 posts
Posted by John-NYBW on Sunday, January 20, 2019 7:35 AM

I'm joining this thread late but in response to the quetion posed in the OP I have two answers, I'm not sure and not nearly enough. F-units is what I remember best from my youth. The MoPac had a since abandoned branch through North Omaha and often we would be stopped at the grade crossing on California St. and see long lash ups of A and B units. I didn't know then the difference between a F3 and a F7 but it didn't much matter. Later I remember them getting replaced with second generation diesels but the F-unit is still what I think of when I picture a diesel locomotive. I knew when I built my present layout I would have lots of them. Mostly I run them in AB pairs but occasionally I will put together an ABBA lash-up. 

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • From: Boise, Idaho
  • 1,036 posts
Posted by E-L man tom on Tuesday, January 22, 2019 9:13 AM

Although I model the mid-60's to mid-70's and there were plenty of F units still in service then, I'm more of a hood, rather than a cab unit fan. However I do have 9 F units: 4 F7A's, 1 F3A, 3 F7B's and 1 F3B 

Tom Modeling the free-lanced Toledo Erie Central switching layout.
  • Member since
    August 2015
  • 409 posts
Posted by Autonerd on Thursday, January 24, 2019 7:52 PM

There's no shortage of covered wagons at my club, so I have just two -- a pair of Bowser F7s painted in late NYC scheme, which I run with other NYC or PC locos.

A friend, whose equipment I help maintain, has a pair of FT A-units in NYC lightning stripe. I am looking for corresponding B units to make them a proper set.

And I assume you mean classic EMDs... I also have a trio of Walthers F40PHs (Amtrak, natch); a blue-box F45 I just bought as a stand-in for an SDP40F, an A-B-B-A set of Bachmann Alco FA/B-2s in NYC (lightning stripe) and an old LL/P2K FA-2 in later NYC paint.

Aaron

  • Member since
    March 2017
  • 8,173 posts
Posted by Track fiddler on Thursday, January 24, 2019 9:55 PM

4four

I want more

And I will have themSmile, Wink & Grin

 

There is nothing more beautiful than the duel green Northern Pacific AB

  • Member since
    June 2004
  • From: From Golden, CO living in Puyallup (Seattle), WA
  • 751 posts
Posted by Renegade1c on Friday, January 25, 2019 11:51 PM

Lets see here. All my F-units are Rio Grande. I sold all the UP ones I used to have.

F3 ABBA set Challenger Imports(brass but run super smooth)

F7 ABA Stewart w/ sound

F7 ABBA Stewart w/ sound

F9 ABA Athearn Genesis w/ sound

I can only really use the F9's for the era of my layout but damn if the F3 are beautiful and run super well. I got them for the same price as a new set of Athearn Gensis locos so I couldn't pass them up. They look great leading the Rio Grande Zephyr although they still need decoders and sound. 

 

 


Colorado Front Range Railroad: 
http://www.coloradofrontrangerr.com/

flag

  • Member since
    January 2019
  • 2,572 posts
Posted by John-NYBW on Sunday, January 27, 2019 8:27 AM

E-L man tom

Although I model the mid-60's to mid-70's and there were plenty of F units still in service then, I'm more of a hood, rather than a cab unit fan. However I do have 9 F units: 4 F7A's, 1 F3A, 3 F7B's and 1 F3B 

 

.

The few F units I saw in the 1970s were on the Penn Central/Conrail and were used as boosters. I can't remember the last time I saw one on the head end of a revenue train. I've seen a few recently on tourist railroads

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