Don't know Dick, but remembering those days, the Monsters fit fine in the closet, but they were way too big to fit Under the Bed
TF
PCNOne of my earliest memories is looking under a bed in my grandmother's house and seeing the silhouette of an HO Santa Fe F7.
All I ever found under my bed were monsters and dust bunnys.
Shock Control It is the model train equivalent of Whipped Cream and Other Delights by Herb Alpert. (I am also an LP collector!) ;)
It is the model train equivalent of Whipped Cream and Other Delights by Herb Alpert. (I am also an LP collector!) ;)
You mean that the loco box had whipped cream all over it?
Probably more people liked the album sleeve than the contents.
Shock Control Is the silver and red Santa Fe F unit - is it an F3 or F7? - the most ubiquitous locomotive in model railroading history? It is everywhere, all scales, all brands. When I go to a train show, they are all over the place, from five bucks to hundreds of dollars. I cannot think of a locomotive from any era that I see more than this one. Does this reflect your experience?
Is the silver and red Santa Fe F unit - is it an F3 or F7? - the most ubiquitous locomotive in model railroading history? It is everywhere, all scales, all brands. When I go to a train show, they are all over the place, from five bucks to hundreds of dollars. I cannot think of a locomotive from any era that I see more than this one. Does this reflect your experience?
Yep, produced in high numbers is worth much less. You may need to look a bit further.
The Great Northern Hustle Muscle that Ed posted several months, 22 or three ago, is a favorite of mine without a doubt.
(Rare)...Good luck finding one to add to your roster. And if you do, please buy two, and sell me the other one for twice as much as you paid for it. I'll gladly pay.
Flickr
Don't know how it could not be sought after in any scale? Orange and Blacky Green Halloween colors Rock!
Without a doubt.But I do like the ATSF blue and yellow
There's something fun about going away from the very popular. This from someone who wants to model the N&W in VA during the early 1980s.
Curious if the color or the type of loco make them so recognizable.
One of my earliest memories is looking under a bed in my grandmother's house and seeing the silhouette of an HO Santa Fe F7. It was part of a train set that belonged to my teenage uncle who had probably long-before shoved it under the bed. My grandmother gave me the set, but I only recall playing with it once. Anyway, in my view, it is THE train set locomotive of all locomotives.
Remember the 1954 movie "White Christmas" with Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye? The train ride sequence featured a lot of trackside shots of a Santa Fe warbonnet engine and coaches of that era.
Please ignore the story that the train went from Florida to New York up the East Coast of the US.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I recall - I think in MR long ago - someone in the hobby industry saying pretty much anything with "Santa Fe" on it sold well. They would create a new item, offer it seven or eight different paint schemes, and everyone would buy the Santa Fe version.
dknelsonI think there was even an episode of the then-popular Jack Benny program that revolved around Jack wanting one for Christmas in a season when they were so popular they were known to be in short supply.
IIRC Rochester (Benny's butler) found Jack's letter to "Santa" asking for a locomotive for Christmas. Rochester then said something like "Mr. Benny sure thinks big - this letter isn't to Santa Claus, it's to Santa Fe!".
None of which ATSF owned (yes, they had G40's but in the blue freight scheme)
Actually, I think the GOAT is the UP's Armour Yellow and Sea Mist Gray - only minor changes for almost a century.
I never have owned a warbonnet to the best of my knowledge. Closest I came was a UP F7 was my first HO engine as an eight grader. All my Fs are either protolanced schemes or else BN (freight) and ex-NP units.
The Warbonnet paint job was used on more than just models of F units..it was used on GP40s, Sharknoses, and even an electric locomotive.
Well, Big Bad Al, you went and revived a 7 to 8 year old thread for your first post, but I am going to let you get away with it because I love the Santa Fe Warbonnets. What's not to like? I have two ABBA consists of F7's, and why not, because I model Dearborn Station, the Santa Fe terminus in Chicago.
Welcome to the forum!
Rich
Alton Junction
In my personal opinion, the reason why this is so popular, is because it came with the cheapest set in the market for almost every brand, locomotive, two cars and the red caboose, under 20 bucks in the 70's, people used to buy them for Christmas and Birthday gifts! By the 90's I saw the same set for 25 bucks! I'm not a collector, I love them as toys and I play with my kids and grand kids all the time! Even now these are the chepest diesels on eBay because there are so many of them!
The SF Warbonnett isn’t ubiquitous because someone decided to ram that particular train set down our throats, it is locked into American psyche simply because it is brilliant graphic design. It is literally an icon, and people gravitate towards it because it looks cool. Same thing with an NYC Hudson with the “gladiator” thing on the front. Doesnt matter if you love it or hate it. It’s an icon of industrial design. I have several Santa Fe F-unit consists, no business being on my layout other than nostalgia. Can’t look at them without remembering being kid running them around the Christmas tree. And that’s prototypical enough for me.
I have a pair of the Atlas O scale F9 SanteFe locomotives from the 70's. Saw them at a train show for a good price and could not resist. They don't fit my scale or shortline, but hey this is a hobby. And I'm willing to admit to being a collector. They still run great.
Paul
DrW I would have predicted that Sheldon would chime in, and he did not disappoint. My modeling focus is actually on the Santa Fe, and I own 13 F3/F7 and one FT in Warbonnet livery (just counting A units). However, I have also a similar number of F3/F7/FT in freight paint schemes and GP7/GP9 in black with Zebra stripes. JW
I would have predicted that Sheldon would chime in, and he did not disappoint. My modeling focus is actually on the Santa Fe, and I own 13 F3/F7 and one FT in Warbonnet livery (just counting A units). However, I have also a similar number of F3/F7/FT in freight paint schemes and GP7/GP9 in black with Zebra stripes.
JW
There is nothing wrong with the Santa Fe, I just don't buy stuff that does fit the theme of my layout. I don't "collect" trains, I only buy what I'm going to run.
And I will not be offended if you don't own any B&O, C&O or WESTERN MARYLAND F units, I do.......
But don't feel singled out, I don't own a UP BIG BOY, SP GS-4, PRR anything, NYC Hudson, or any one of a number of other "famous" locomotives.
Most of my 140 locos are lettered for my freelanced ATLANTIC CENTRAL, the rest represent the three roads listed above that interchange with the ATLANTIC CENTRAL at the division point represented by the layout.
Santa Fe passenger F units are beautiful, but again, it's just not what I model.
The ATLANTIC CENTRAL pulls lots of passenger trains with F units and has a nice fleet of FP7's and F7B units for passenger service, as well as a set of steam heat equiped F3's.
Sheldon
Life Like F7 anybody?
I would have predicted that Sheldon would chime in, and he did not disappoint. My modeling focus is actually on the Santa Fe, and I own 13 F3/F7 and one FT in Warbonnet livery (just counting A units), all with different road numbers. However, I have also a similar number of F3/F7/FT in freight paint schemes and GP7/GP9 in black with Zebra stripes.
I have a Kato N scale decoder equipped A-B-A set, They are the power for my officer special train.
Ira
LensCapOn Will everyone who doesn't/didn't have a Warbonnet F unit please raise their hand? (Thought so!)
Will everyone who doesn't/didn't have a Warbonnet F unit please raise their hand?
(Thought so!)
Been in this hobby since 1968, never owned any locomotive that said Santa Fe, in any paint scheme.
And don't have any interest in owning any.......
LensCapOnWill everyone who doesn't/didn't have a Warbonnet F unit please raise their hand?
Believe it or not, the only one I have is a Hallmark Christmas tree ornament. Does that count?
selector I had to raise mine because you asked for '...a warbonnet..." I have two.
I had to raise mine because you asked for '...a warbonnet..." I have two.
I have an A-B-A consist. Does that count as one, two, or three? I'll raise just one hand for now.
Robert
LINK to SNSR Blog
Lionel for sure played a big role in making it so popular (and since EMD and Santa Fe helped pay for the tooling I guess you'd have to say they played a role as well). There were so many Lionel layouts in store windows and inside stores at Christmas time; hard to describe if you weren't around at the time. And not infrequently the Santa Fe F unit (an F3 I think for Lionel) was heading the train.
I think there was even an episode of the then-popular Jack Benny program that revolved around Jack wanting one for Christmas in a season when they were so popular they were known to be in short supply.
The Athearn Sante Fe F7 was also extremely popular back in the 1950s. Other makes of F units had them as well; it was one road name they all had to have.
And remember the Santa Fe itself while a hugely popular "western" railroad also had a presence well into the midwest including Kansas and Illinois. So those locomotives and the trains they pulled were known and enjoyed in some very populated areas of the country, and areas where model railroading was very popular as well.
Dave Nelson
Lionel was the first to make it starting with the post war ones. It was a huge seller then. Probably why it is still so recognized today
A pessimist sees a dark tunnel
An optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel
A realist sees a frieght train
An engineer sees three idiots standing on the tracks stairing blankly in space
selectorWhat I had in mind was something like this example on the auction site...
Oh, those...
Definitely iconic, if not ubiquitous.
Actually my 1st HO train set had a red/silver warbonnet ATSF F7 in it, but the engine didn't run so it went back to the shop. It was my almost Santa Fe F7 - never did get any in all the years after that.
Ok, we've solved that mystery. Put a fork in it!
Next topic... /topic
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983