Athearn's CF-7 running with other Athearn locos

[Anonymous]

does anyone know if running athearn's CF-7 with their SW-7's, SW1500's and SW1000's is ok to do? I was just curious if the CF-7 model had the same type of motor that is in the company's SW type switchers or if it has different type of motor. also are the handrails on Athearn's CF-7 put on by the modeler themselves or do they come attached to the model from the factory?

[Anonymous]

Im not really sure. I think the CF-7 was one of the shells they got when they bought out RailPower. The GP-60's were in the same boat also. And I see the Geeps are coming ready to run and in kit form. So I would venture a guess to say that you might see both. ( www.athearn.com go to NEW and click on Ready to Roll and you find the CF7)

CF-7's are some neat looking loco's.

Craig

[Anonymous]

you shouldn't have any problems as long as the other locomotives have the exact same drive and the CF-7's

[Anonymous]

It's not the motor that makes the difference here, it's the gearing in the trucks. A good way to check if these models are likely to run ok together would be to place both on the track a short distance apart, turn on the power, and see if one tends to catch the other. If the distance between them remains fairly constant then they should run ok "in multiple"

[Anonymous]

I have found it really doesn't matter that much. I run Atlas, Walthers, Athearns, and even an ocassional toy loco together without any problems. Never a burnt motor or stripped a gear. They sometimes run for 5 hours at a time in a big loop on a moular layout 10 feet wide and 16 feet long. In fact when the track gets dirty the toy (ie bachmann, lifelike) locos will loose power and the good locos will drag them with wheels a scaping until they get power again. Then I know where to eraser the track. Only thing I ever found was it is better to hook them up with good locos first as it saves on coupler pounding on dirty spots. FRED

[ndbprr]

This question of mismatching drives has been around since the 40's and possibly earlier. It has becaome a model railroading myth that mismatched drives cause motor burnout. I queried the AOL model railroad group if they or anyone they knew had ever had this problem and it came back that 100% never had it or knew of someone who did. I have since asked the question with every group of modelers I have met. I still haven't found anyone who has experienced the problem. It may have been true in the early days when motors were far more fragile but it doesn't happen today. It does make some sense to put the faster engine in front so it pulls rather than pushes

[Anonymous]

Let me rephrase what i said about putting the good loco first, I mean the one with the best electrical pickup system. A toy lifelike may run faster by itself, but if you put it first in a multi and it hits a dirt spot it will slam itself into the trailing loco due to coupler slack. If you put it behind the good loco it may be geared faster, but when under load it has less power and will tend to be pulling against the good loco in the lead which has the more power. So when it hits a dead spot it is already pulling against the slack and will not cause as much bucking. This is just a rule of thumb and not an absolute. You soon learn which locos like each other and how they run best together and run them that way. I think very few of us really have a power shortage. FRED