BLW just posted photo's of the Intermountain FT's. Keep in mind that this is a early pre-production shell but the detail is excellent. http://blwnscale.com/InterMountain%20EMD%20FT%20Diesels.htm
Bob- Any hints as to which "B" unit they'll be doing? Either the "normal" truck spacing? Or the shortened wheelbase rear truck style? BoxcabE50
Its my understanding that they are doing both B unit versions. Micro-Trains is doing both versions as well.
Bob- Thanks. I had heard about MT. But not what IM would be doing. Sounds like good news to me. BoxcabE50
Too bad Frisco never got any FTs- these models are the sharpest F-units in N scale I've ever seen!!! I wonder if IM will be coming out with any other F units with this degree of detail?
Let's hope so! And if they would also have these available in more than a limited run quantity, then I could afford to buy more over a period of time! Some day, maybe we'll be so lucky. BoxcabE50
[/QUOTE]Let's hope so! And if they would also have these available in more than a limited run quantity, then I could afford to buy more over a period of time! Some day, maybe we'll be so lucky. Imtermountain plans on keeping all the roads in stock all the time once each road has been released. This may take time and some roads may become hard to get for a while but over time they should be easier to get. The HO F units are in stock just about all the time.
Bob- That's excellent news! Perhaps we are witnessing some beginning moves for the long dreamed of "Athearn" in N scale? BoxcabE50
I think there may be some confusion about the prototype FT "B" Units..... All FT "B" Units had the identical truck spacing. There was a FT "B" unit that lacked the body overhang to the rear that was purchased by a number of roads. I believe the variations that Intermountain and MicroTrains are doing on the "B" units is not that one, but the four/five porthole variations. The "SB" (short B Unit) variation would require a new underframe and totaly new molds (shorter roof, new sides, new side grille etchings, etc... and probably wouldn't be worth the extra tooling costs to do. Charlie
Charlie (Anyone?)- By chance is there a web site, where a person could view photos as used by the prototypes of these variants? Perhaps in a side by side, to see the obvious differences? BoxcabE50
It is my understanding that the shortened car body on some "B" units was made specifically for A-B-A units purchased by a few RR's. I believe ATSF had some.
You are correct about the "FTSB" being made for A-B-A sets. But the Santa Fe didn't have any. The only A-B-A sets I've been able to track down were owned by Rock Island, Lackawanna, Great Northern and Southern. Anybody know of any others? Dwight PS- The only photo of an "FTSB" that I can remember seeing is in Kalmbach's Model Railroader Cyclopedia, Vol. 2: Diesel Locomotives. [ 31. July 2002, 01:51: Message edited by: Dwightman ]
Add M&StL to the owners of FTSBs. The carbody was 4'-3" shorter on the rear end. They were built that way as part of A-B-A semi-permanently drawbared sets.... remember the Brotherhoods wanted to put a full crew on each "locomotive" so some of the railroads went for single locomotive sets. In fact, when the Santa Fe FTs were delivered the Brotherhood served notice to the ATSF that every locomotive with a cab was to be crewed... and the Santa Fe reassembled the FTs into ABBB sets, starting the most convoluted numbering game of any set of locomotives on any railroad....some units carried the same number three times in between being renumbered..... it took X2200 South an entire issue just to cover the ATSF FT roster with its convoluted constant renumbering!! The FTs were not intended to operate as separate units (the batteries for the A/B set were located in the B unit) but the Santa Fe got ElectroMotive to design regular couplers for the end of the A unit and the front of the B unit, probably so they could endlessly swap units for future renumberings!!! Charlie
Thanks, Charlie. My book of locomotive rosters doesn't have a separate entry for M&StL. And I guess they didn't make it to the C&NW roster. What issue of X2200 South has the Santa Fe FT's? I need to get that issue. I've been going crazy trying to figure out the renumberings. Dwight
There's a small BW photo of the "Louie's" FT ABA set (445A-B-C) here ===== http://www.sjcook.com/trains/msl/engines/diesel/445.jpg ===== And the EMD builder's photo of MStL 445-A here ===== http://eldora.net/lyndon/locos/445.jpg ===== And the EMD artist's rendition is here ===== http://pages.tca.net/lruback/mstl-ft.jpg ===== The RITS website has this roster listing for Rock Island's FT's http://www.simpson.edu/~RITS/equipment/diesels.html ===== 70- 73 EMD FTA 70A- 73A EMD FTA 70B- 73B EMD FTB 74- 77 EMD FTA 88- 89 EMD FTA 88A- 99A EMD FTB 88B- 99B EMD FTB ===== The EMD artist's renditon shows an RI FT ABBA set here but the roster would indicate that they probably ran them as ABA sets ===== http://pages.tca.net/lruback/ri-ft.jpg ===== eNjoy [ 01. August 2002, 14:12: Message edited by: dbn160 ]
Let me see if I can straighten this out. In 1944, the Rock Island received 12 AB sets of FT's. The A units were numbered 88-99 (there's a typo on the RITS roster here) and the B units were numbered 88A-99A. They would have normally been run in ABBA sets. In 1945, the Rock Island received 4 ABA sets of FT's. The A units were numbered 70-73, 70A-73A and the B units were numbered 70B-73B. At some point, the FT's were renumbered so all were numbered consistently. 88A-99A became 88B-99B. Likewise, 70A-73A were renumbered 74-77. I would guess these renumberings occurred when the units were rebuilt as separate locomotives, but I don't know for sure. Dwight
