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[Anonymous]

Just asking, were any of F Units (any of htem) ever used in any type of switching job? Thanks, Kyle.

[Anonymous]

Rarely I believe? F units are cowl units which makes it hard to see for switching. Railroads mainly used F units for road freights and passenger trains.

[railman]

That would be a real son-of-a-gun to do. Maybe if they had a pair of A units back to back, but I think crews would protest.

[joseph2]

There used to be a shortline that used a F7-B as its sole power.I think it was called the Haysi,it connected with the Clinchfield RR. Joe G.

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

Carbody units (F's, FA's, Sharks, etc) were used in switching generally as a last resort or if it was the power on a local freight. I do remember seeing a photo in TRAINS in which GM&O fitted an FA1 with footboards front and back and a roof mounted rear headlight for local freight service.

Haysi was not a common carrier and I believe that the F7B in question, although fitted with a cab, was primarily used as a remote control switcher for a coal mine.

[Anonymous]

There was recently a topic on the Trains Magazine forums all about remaining F units. Here's the link to it: http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?page=1&TOPIC_ID=21110

[ndbprr]

Early on they were used in switching which resulted in the GP line of locomotives. The short comings were no different than switching with a steam locomotive when you think about it. It was when Alco introduced the RS-1 that the true nature of a freight engine car body occurred and led the way. Even so it took until well into the 60's for short hoods on the nose to happen which helped visibility even more. Evolution takes time.

[tree68]

I recall a TRAINS article/pictorial many moons ago that included a Santa Fe run that required some enroute switching. They were doing it with an A-B-B-A set of F's. And probably no radios, so everything was hand signals.

True switchers were an early entry in the world of diesels, IIRC. The RS's made the bridge between the yard-type switches and the over-the-road cab units, which probably weren't supposed to have switching as such in their repetoire.

[Anonymous]

Milwaukee Road used Fs in transfer service on the Milwaukee Terminals Div'n in the early '70s. They included F3s, F7s and F9s, as well as ex-passenger FP7s and F9s. For all the reasons cited by Alco GE, they weren't suited to this service...but the FM switchers they replaced were either being retired or rebuilt.

If there was anything worse than the vertical grab irons installed at the factory, it was Alaska Railroad's modification to those grabs. For clearance reasons, ARR had to shorten them by cutting off the bottom 6 inches or so. I'm over 6', and there were times I had to jump off the ground to latch onto those suckers.

[mvlandsw]

While going past the main generator with the unit in run 8 my MAC card was demagnetized. The B&O often used them on road jobs that made set offs and pick ups but rarely in yard switching.

[espeefoamer]

The Sonora-Baja Calirornia railroad in Mexico used an FP7 to switch cars in Benjamin Hill,Sonora,90 miles south of Nogales.