I have 2 SF F7A's and was wondering if the real RR's ever used then in tandem (2nd one facing backwards) that way? Anyone know where I can get a B unit?
They used them in all kinds of combinations. Most publicity shots were set up with specific arrangements of A and B units, but for everyday operations, they grabbed what was available and MUed them together. Some units were coupled together with a drawbar. They were only seperated for maintenance purposes. These were dedicated sets of power for certain high priority trains. But because of maintenance headaches, most sets were broken up.
I saw F units in that type of combination many, many times. More often, they would be spliced with at least one B unit. as the 1960's moved along, we'd often see them with an A+B+GP9/18, and so forth. Boxcab E50
The only 'trick' on ATSF F-7's was to remember that the A's didn't have a steam generator - only the B's did. So you'd almost always see an A-B or ABBA or ABAB, even if the train was a couple cars like the Phoenix-Williams Jct. train. Some of the shorter trains got PA's or one of the E-units because of that. When the F7's were bounced off passenger service after the F45's and FP45's arrived (1967), lots were regeared and used in freight. Anything went then including big-time lashups. When Amtrak was formed the surviving passenger-geared F7's were leased 1971-73 until the SDP40F's arrived. Then the conversions to CF7's were wide open. ATSF did the B's last, and MU'd them with CF7's a lot in Texas. I use F7's for my 72 Chief in Amtrak, they were grimy and used but they still could do over 90. Amtrak ran 'em ABAB because if the lead unit died they always had another A turned the right way.... that part I find hard to live with and choose to ignore it!
When I worked for the SP back in the 50's and 60's We had all combinations of F7' ABA, AA, AB once Ieven saw a AAA. That looked funny.
Mike: You should get a B unit to run with the two A units as Randy said "the B unit has the steam generator. You could probably scratch build a B unit without too much difficulty.
Katousa (www.katousa.com) still has F7B shells, undec, in their online parts list. Surprise! Phase 1 & 2. Phase 1 is part 921210, Phase II is 921200. I painted all mine from Undec's and one stripped Soo, because the ATSF's were selling WAY too high on Ebay. Testors paint and Micro-scale decals. If you get the unloved road names the Ebay deals aren't too bad at all. [ 11. July 2004, 02:52: Message edited by: randgust ]
The Bachmann B unit shells are also very nice. You could use an Atlas or LL GP9-20 as a power chassis to give you a very capable B unit. I have seen a picture of a CN F7a Mu'd to a GP-9. That is why they were so popular and lasted so long. The crew liked the roomy cab and the 1500 HP could be used in numorous combinations.
I recall the days right before the CF-7 program converted all the Fs. It seems Santa Fe sent most of their Fs to Texas to live out what miles were left in them. They would lash up a string of around 8 Fs to power a grain train out of Cleburne heading for Houston or Galveston. The only thing for certain was that the lead unit was an "A" and it was facing cab forward. The rest was a motley assembly of A and B units in all kinds of different paint schemes and orientation. By the time they got south of Sealy maybe only 4 units were still running but the train was moving. The Milby Street shops in Houston were always working on a line of dead locomotive so they could put them on a train heading back to Cleburne and get rid of them before the next batch arrived.
You can never go wrong with a covered wagon. Many still exist on branch and tourist lines and they had some of the classiest paint schemes ever (IMHO). Russ
great, now I just gotta figure a way to get a decoder in them - and the right decoder anyone with suggestions? it's a Bachman Plus F-7a if it matters.
Mike: You can hardwire a Digitrax DZ 143 in a Bachmann F unit. This is a Z scale decoder that is used in N scale for tight decoder placements. This decoder also has BEMF. Have fun!!!. I use this decoder often for some of my steam loco's. Decoder for Bachmann F units
Back ElecroMotive Force. The decoder senses when the motor slowes down for some reason and gives it more power to smooth out the performance.
BEMF allows the loco to manintain a set speed up and down grades. It smoothes out performance of the loco, while maintaining a constant speed. All my decoder installations in loco's have this BEMF feature.
FWIW, the Louisiana & North West, a shortline out of Gibsland, LA, used F-units as their motive power for quite a few years, running their power (all A-units) back-to-back.
The Texas Limited, an excursion train that ran between Houston and Galveston for a while, bought two of these engines. I have a photo somewhere of one of them still painted for L&NW down in Galveston. Will try to dig it out when I get back from vacation.
My non-historic Road runs an A-A pair of FTs. The issue of CLASSIC TRAINS on the Baltimore and Ohio has a photograph of a single C&O F-7 spotting a car on a spur in Charlottesville, Virginia. The caption implies that it is the sole power for that day's local. The point of the second item is that you can even go with the 'trainset' consist, if that is what you have. As someone here stated, the railroads used what was available. Switching is no doubt more difficult with a cab unit than a road-switcher configured unit, but if all that is available is an F-unit, guess what the engineer assigned to that train is going to drive that day. More than one B&O passenger train had an F-3A coupled to an E-type A unit for a power consist. Oh, and if you can, get away from the Bachpersonn PLUS and go with the SPECTRUM. I am no fan of either Bachmann F-unit, but the SPECTRUM is the better of the two. You can buy a SPECTRUM in any road name and switch the shells.
