I have an old Athearn F7-
a
I have an old Athearn F7-A that I am trying to determine the age of and find a parts list of. The motor is opem frame, black and it does not have flywheels. There is two small removable weights that set on the underframe. The sideframes are metal, the worm housing is two piece and has a round bearing that fits in a hole in the back part of the housing. I have a parts sheet but it is on the model that had flywheels and it shows a different style of trucks. We are trying to restore the unit for my grandson and are missing the parts to connect the motor to the power trucks. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
This one: http://hoseeker.net/assemblyexplosionAthearn/Assembly%20Explosion%20Athearn%20F7A%20Geared.jpg
The one on the right side here: http://hoseeker.net/assemblyexplosionAthearn/athearnf7ahifitowerdrive.jpg
Or here: http://hoseeker.net/assemblyexplosionAthearn/athearnf7atowertruckdrive.jpg
Or here: http://hoseeker.net/assemblyexplosionAthearn/Assembly%20Explosion%20Athearn%20F7A%201964.jpg
If none of those, look here: http://hoseeker.net/athearn.htm, choose the Athearn diesel list, and look through the other F7 unit diagrams.
Athearn may still have parts for this unit.
Jay
C-415 Build: https://imageshack.com/a/tShC/1
Other builds: https://imageshack.com/my/albums
I have looked at all of these already in fact I have an original of the oldest one. Instead of the super weight we have two small weights that go at the end of the motors and hook on the ends of the motor sump. The wheel sets are some what different since they have metal sideframes. Different worm housings. It looks like PN's 90105 and 90106 might be what I need. Now it I can find a couple sets of those we might be back in operations.
I'm 67 and I can't remember when Athearn's F7 wasn't around..Look at today's shell and its the same one you bought in the 50s minus the windshield glass..
As a added old age oops! Athearn should have the metal power contact strip in stock..You will need to contact Athearn by e-Mail or better still by phone.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
Age of an Athearn blue box F7A can be anywhere from maybe 10 or so years to upwards of 45 to 50 years? One of the give aways is the side frames of the wheel set trucks. The F7A's made during the 1960's thru what, into the early 1980's had metal truck side frames, then Athearn tooled up some very nice accurate Blomberg B side frames and molded them in plastic and supplied blue box diesels with them in the 1980's and going forward.
I am not sure when exactly that Athearn stopped producing he blue box F7A kits; end of the 1990's or perhaps a even a few years into the 2000's. Of course they still offer the RTR version using the same shell - sows ear made into a "silk purse" kind of for those who don't mind the 1950's tooling.
Since Athearn still manufactures RTR versions of the F7A, there should still be parts availalbe for them, depending on whether they replicate the type of parts used in the blue box version or not.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
mawpaw have looked at all of these already in fact I have an original of the oldest one.
Okay, I'll ask the obvious: are you sure it's an Athearn?
Maybe you can post a picture of assembled unit and the chassis.
Some of us even remember when the classic Athearn/Globe F7A shell had separate number board castings.
Dave Nelson
Mel,The black motor/no flywheels dates it to the late 50/ early 60s and sounds like a Jet 500 motor-IIRC...
I had a GP7 drive with the same motor..I changed the motor to the newer motor with flywheels.
I took some pictures. How do you post them here? We moved to the local area in 1974. Don't remember if we brought it with us or not. When we moved here there was a magazine shop that handled some model items.
mawpawI took some pictures. How do you post them here?
See the first locked post at the top of this forum.
BRAKIE Mel,The black motor/no flywheels dates it to the late 50/ early 60s and sounds like a Jet 500 motor-IIRC... I had a GP7 drive with the same motor..I changed the motor to the newer motor with flywheels.
If Athearn doesn't stock the parts for it anymore, you should be able to find a more modern one on ebay and then just switch the shells. (the newer one is going to run better anyway).
Your description is of the geared drive. That is how it is referred to on hoseeker. It will generally run fine, unless one of the gears is broken. Generally the parts are interchangable and there are a number of available parts on eBay and swap meets. The suggestion to upgrade the drive is good. There are basically two F7A shell variants. The primary difference is in the coupler areas. it is an easy job to make an early shell work with a later drive.
www.llxlocomotives.com
So many trains, so little time,