Hey, do ya' think M-T will ever do another paint scheme on the F's that they haven't done yet? It's been awhile, (I think Milwaukee Road was the last), for a new road name. I was thinkin' BN is good, or maybe NP!
I don't think they will expand their F Lines anymore because this Locomotive is very long on the market (like Märklin F7's too) and I think today the people looking more for quality and realistic look. I think with their GP35 and soon GP 7/9 line they will have the products the people are looking for.
I would imagine that they will continue to produce F units in the future... but... they will be intermingled with the GP series. Perhaps one month GP35... next month F7... following month GP7/9 and then repeat the cycle. I would guess that at some point they may do F3's and maybe F9's too since they all would use the same chassis anyway. I'd like to see them do FT's and FP series too... but that would require them to do new chassis tooling. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that their next GP unit after the GP 7/9 could be a GP20.
I thought there was talk of trying to put the new GP chassis under it and maybe retooling the A unit to be as crisp as the B.
I would love to see them do the F3 next. I like the FT's a lot, but they were a special case due to the drawbars between the B units, and almost every road that bought them bought ABBA configurations. While 1 of those ABBA sets would be nice to have, I would rather do mix and match between some new F3's and mix in with F7's, and for passenger do an ABA set for my North Coast Limited train.
Yes, Joe D'Amato has talked about wanting to retool the F7, possibly using a new chassis similar to the GP35's (or at least the same motor). But he has also made it clear that this is not his decision to make, but rahter upper management's, and that there are other priorities that are likely higher (like the GP9). An interesting side note is the possibility of some day seeing a detail kit for the F7 from BLMA. Craig said they will be working on the Z scale diesel detail kit sooner than later. Presumably this is for the GP35's, but they do have an E/F unit detail kit already in N scale. The MTL F7's just scream for detail kits. The body is very good proportionally, it just doesn't have a lot of fidelity left in the details, either because it wasn't there to begin with or because the tooling has gotten old. Another side note is that a FP7 might fit right on to a GP35 chassis. I want to look in to this but I have a ton of other projects first. Randy
Chris, You bring up an interesting point. I am a 'rookie' at Z scale... I only have a couple of F units and haven't ventured into the other units available from MT or other manufacturers. The F "B" units are all unpowered... so... when you mentioned 'crisp'... I'm guessing that you are describing the appearance of the B units versus the A units. The F unit mechanism doesn't seem to be bad. So... why use the GP35 mechanism on the F unit... unless you mean to power the "B" units?
The B unit is newer tooling than the A unit, so yes, the details on the B are fairly crisp while the A unit detail is either missing or wearing out on the tooling. Many folks have powered the B units by putting the chassis form the A unit inside the B. Requires some shaving down of the inside of the B shell. I think the idea was to get a better economy of scale on the motors and to spread them through all of the MTL locos. Keep in mind, this is not official word from MTL. I actually like the F unit chassis. No it's not high tech and the motor and gearing is loud, but it pulls better than anything else out there in Z scale hands down. The GP35 won't pull as much since it's lighter. AZL SD70M's pull well, but rely on traction tires that won't slip. They have no weight to them at all. I'm not sure if anyone has done scientific and definitive pulling tests on either the GP35 or the SD70M yet, but in use they have gotten up to around 40 cars. I've seen single MTL F7's pulling over 50 cars. Randy
Randy, I have tested the SD70s at over 50. One client runs over 60! You are right, I found the GP35 to be arround 40. The F7s from MTL are work horses. But in my opinion, the best loco for pulling is AZL's F45. It is heavy and has great traction. Rob
Well Rob, now that you mention it, I do love my F45, though I've always MU'ed it with other AZL's so I have never tested it by itself, but I suspect that you are right. Had you given us an update on the SD70M tests yet, or is this an upcoming article? That last I heard was 40 cars. Randy
Randy, The upcoming July/August issue of Ztrack does officially announce the SD70s. We rate them at 50+ car locomotive. Of course good track work and broad curves are key for this kind of operation. By the way, I now have part for the SD70s! We have trucks, we have snow plows and we have horns! Yeah! Rob
A Northern Pacific F7 unit would be nice... but... I'm still holding out for the "B" units to go with my Rio Grande "A" units. How long between an "A" unit run before Micro-Trains decides to make a matching "B" unit for a particular road? Whats the longest someone has waited to get the matching "B" unit...???
Another point about the ability to pulls cars is the load (i.e. rolling stock). While the MTL product rolls well, they do not roll as well as the Marklin metal wheel sets. Therefore, you'll pull a less cars of the MTL trucks. I was reminded of this, again, when I placed a couple of quick scene setting Marklin freight cars and was really amazed at how well the three of them rolled, effortlessly down the 0.5% grade on both sides of the layout. When I originally laid out the roadbed, I intentionally 'lowered' the sidings/spurs so I could uncouple and freely 'drop' the cars off (plus I wanted to make sure they would not roll back on the module, especially at shows where we may not be all that flat). Something to consider.
It can be a long time. I'm still waiting for an NYC. The LV took a long time, and the Tuscan Pennsy has a dummy A unit, but no B. So, I don't think there is a set time period. Dan S.
I'm going to stick to my incorrect guess about what MT's next diesel was going to be. Maybe it's just wishful thinking, but... I'm going to say that they will make an F3 shell and a new chassis (which can be nice and heavy because of the space in the cab unit shell). Then they can use the new mechanism in the current F7 shell, and to power the F7B. The biggest problem with the F7A isn't the lack of detail in the shells or the worn mold for it. The problem is the mold for the chassis halves. They were becoming more and more inconsistent. The electrical pick-up and truck mount depended on the quality of the chasis halves. I think a new mechanism would breath new life into the cab unit line. Then, maybe a new shell mold for the F7A will come along. I still like F units, and there were a lot of them on the rails for a very long time, so, I think (or at least hope) that new cab units will continue to be offered along with the new, and long sought after, hood units. Dan S.
Everyone says how great the F7 was, but all of mine are dogs. I bought them all new about 2 years ago, and they are all grindy, they get hot, then they start running jerky and slow down then stop. I have tried fitting the GP mechanism inside the F7, but even after all the grinding to make the mechanism fit under the shell, there is still the problem of truck swivel. I cut off the stirrups, which helped, but the wheelbase is a bit too long. Just short of an FP7, and just too long for an F7, the GP35 mech won't work well. That's why I hope for an F3 with a new mechanism. I can put that mechanism under my F7 shells to do a mix and match. I still want the GP7 and 9 first though.
In the prototype, do F3/7/9s have the same length and distance between trucks than GP35/9/20/30s ? Dominique
