You guys are terrible at taking hints. Watch the announcement videos! Go to ztrack on YouTube...it will really solve a lot of your problems. These discussions will become moot.
Oh yes, in fact I purchased a bunch of the CBQ F3's to strip and repaint into NP F3 ABA's in they Loewy green scheme, but I have not found the right light green color paint to match the light green (more avocado than mint) that AZL used on it's passenger cars. NP put their FT's in freight service painting them in the black scheme. They repainted all their F3's and F5's in the Loewy Green, and all their passenger F7's, FP7's, and F9's were also painted in Loewy Green. Since I model the NP Mainline at Lester through the Stampede Pass, all the Mainstreeter and North Coast Limited trains passed through to and from Seattle, So I need a couple different passenger trains running. NCL's had 4 domes, and Mainstreeters had no domes for the most part. What a wonderful sight it must have been sitting on the porch of the Lester NP railroad hotel in the late 1950's and watching these trains go by.
No way. The Marklin diesel they put off as an F7 looks more like a PA, and the trucks are super long, almost like C trucks instead of B trucks. I never purchased any Marklin F's because the MTL F's were much closer. Sadly, out of about 10 MTL F units I have purchased, I have never received a decent runner, all being balky, erratic, and noisy runners that refuse to ABA even when drawbared. AZL is the ONLY option for F's.
That is good to know. I am culling my Marklin collection and converting what I can to MTL couplers. That means tank cars and some gondolas. I have only two MTL F-7's. Both have wheel wipers and LED's installed by the late Glenn Chenier and run like tops, though I have never used them as A-B units. Each will pull 8-10 cars with no problem. I have too many Marklin F-7's. I got into Zee because of Marklin but haven't bought any new loco's or rolling stock since the GG-1. What Marklin offers to the American market is too limited and unchanging. AZL and MTL have more than taken up the slack and with guys like Rudy and Gerd pushing the envelop with relevant switchers and popular locos the future looks good. I have several switchers waiting to be built. I'm still a bit intimidated by the process of actually building a loco. Jim
The Marklin US style tank cars are real nice 1950's style with platform. I really like them. I have about 20. My favorite is the Hooker Chemical. I have not actually builds a Z Loco from scratch, but I will someday.
My first purchase of anything Marklin/Zee was the Marklin 3 car tank set that featured the Hooker Chemical, Baker Chocolate and Dupont tank cars. I lived in the recently converted Baker Chocolate Factory in 1994 when I bought them. I knew nothing about model trains but I have a collection of Baker Chocolate stuff. They have been converted into operable, nicer looking cars with Jon's converter kits and "33 inch metal wheels. I never understood how Marklin could put so much detail in the tank cars but could not (still) put operable doors on their boxcars. BTW. Jon's conversion kits come with added brake line details, including two sizes of brake lines. I thought for sure you would have built a loco from scratch. I have an SW1200 and a 55-tonner in the pipeline. I'm still trying to figure out how to add the back-up light on my NHRR tender using the wiper kits. It is not as easy it it looks. Jim
I did the MTL conversion on a bunch of Marklin tank cars too, but the frame was made of wood, and the metal wheels were not out yet so I used MTL rust colored plactic: I need to re-visit my underframe and wheel mods for a newer update: I even took the platform off some of my Marklin repaints to represent different cars: Even this 15 year old mod was better than stock: Stock Marklin vs MTL and Dullcote update
Nice work. The wood conversion kit is just as impressive as the 3-D kits and has the same effect. I like the cargo markers. Did you make them? The dull-cote makes a difference. I did not do that to mine yet but will wait for a rainy spring day to do it. Taking the platforms off of a couple of cars is also a good idea. I have several more to convert and will probably do that, too. Do you think we will ever see 33" metal wheels again? They have been OOS for a couple of years now. Since I am focused on switching it is important that as much of my rolling stock be equipped with MTL couplers as possible. I just received a dozen more of Carlos' vehicles. I have tooo many things in the pipeline at the moment. Jim
