Hi folks, I’m looking for advice on buying some decent F Units in the near future without breaking the bank. I admire the great detail of products like Broadway Limited and the Athearn Genesis line, but unfortunately these are out of the price range of a young upstart farmer like myself lol. My idea is to buy some “middle-of-the-road” models and add detailing kits to dress them up. I don’t have a layout right now and may not for some time, so having detail projects like this appeal to me anyways…and will be a good way to keep me engaged in the hobby.
That being said, what are some good looking and good running Fs to start with for my freelanced Great Western Railway? I will need mostly FTs and F7s. How are the new Bachmann models? I remember reading good things about the Stewart F Units, but are they still even available? Any others out there you can recommend, preferably under $100 a unit? I’m even okay with having dummy B Units. I don’t really consider myself a rivet counter…if it can be made into a nice looking model with a detail kit and a bit of weathering, that’s good enough for me. I guess what I’m saying is, I want some good, solid entry level models (but not cheapo train set crud)…some “good-for-the-money” stuff. Something with provisions for DCC would be nice for the future, but I’m not worried about sound equipped models.
If you’re a fixer upper you can pickup good used locomotives on eBay, I have several Athearn Blue Box diesels that are very good runners that I paid less than $25 including S&H. Their shells are very durable allowing you to customize or kitbash them easily.
The Proto shells have more detail but they’re not as durable, Proto chassis are very good runners too.
Have fun dinking around in the Greatest Hobby in the World.
Mel
Modeling the early to mid 1950s SP in HO scale since 1951
I have Proto 1000 F3s A&B units Some Athearn blue box and Intermountian Fs. All are dcc. The Intermountain in my opinion look and run the best. Another place to look is in the Facebook groups. I use Buy and Sell HO Trains. Good deals no bidding if there is a problem with a transition the offender gets removed sometimes it gets turned in to law enforcement.
I would go with Stewart. Their F-units are nicely detailed and Cannon and Buehler motors are 2nd to none in smoothness. If you hunt around on eBay you can find some bargains. And F3s are a nice go-between your FTs and F7s.
As others have suggested, you may be able to find good deals on the high end models on Ebay and other secondary market sources.
I model the 50’s and as such I have a lot of F units, Intermountain and Genesis are by far the best all round, detail and mechanically.
The Bowser/Stewart model has a great drive, but most come/came without handrails and other small details, making them no better than a Bachmann or Athea
I own two Stewart-Kato drive F9’s that run as nice and smooth as they did when I purchased them new in the early 90s. Converting to DCC was a hardwire affair, but not complicated. There are lots of details available and Detail Associates offers a basic dress up kit #DK 701. Only bugaboo with the early 90s Kato drives are cracking of wheel set geared axles.
The Blue Box F’s, and all its’ comtemporaries, had the shape of the roof and nose WRONG. People lived with them and some nice modeling was done on them. When the Stewart/Kato F’s arrived, with the correct shape, it was “game over” for the Blue Box.Stewart’s can be cheap used. The only thing wrong with the Proto 1000’s is the model was rare compared to the later F-3 plus F-7’s.
Well I guess I’m on a different page than most of the other poster’s, meaning…I won’t buy a used loco of any kind, unless I can hold it in My paws. I know starting off can be tough now-a-days, money wise, so You have to be a little frugal…but I always would rather save for it…not saying You can’t find a good deal…but that’s just Me.
I also would agree with Tom about the Stewart’s. I have a couple AB sets that I got back in the early 90’s and they run like a charm…I added detail to them, along with a Kadee close coupling conversion kit and I believe they look just as good as other MFGer’s offerings. They are F7 AB Phase I early ATSF Freight engines.
Also have Walther’s Proto F3A powered, with a Intermountain F3B powered, came with a motor ESU Loksound decoder, which I replaced with a 21pin DC jumper, a Athearn BB F7 heavily weighted dummy, along with a Athearn BB F7A powered, detail added from the 70’s. They all run perfect together, even with the Athearn being a 12 to 1 gear ratio and the other’s 14 to 1, but I do run DC, so I don’t have to speed match anything…even the ‘‘growler’’ run’s great…don’t growl much in the match -up. LOL.
I have Walthers Proto 2000, Intermountain, Athearn Genesis, and Stewart F-units.
All run well. … The Stewarts come without grab irons and handrails which you will need to install yourself. Most model railroaders make their own grab irons for Stewart models from wire.
One of the detail kit companies (Detail Associates?) makes a detail kit for the Stewart Fs. I think it’s in the $10-$12 range and has all the grab irons and handrails needed to outfit your FT, F3, or F7.
Tom
[Edit: It’s Cal Scale and you can get them directly through Bowser.]
Thanks for the info guys, I’ll definitely keep these in mind. I have an old (Athearn I think) F7A shell somewhere that I’m going to strip the paint on and try my hand at custom painting, as well as several 40ft boxcars and some bay window cabooses. If it turns out decent, I may buy a detail kit for it just to experiment.
Thanks for the interest in my railroad, CGW. The Great Western Railway was my first freelanced railroad idea that I ever came up with, and I’ve never been able to shake it. It’s my interpretation of what the epitome of western railroading would be during the 1950s and 60s. Bear with me, it’s a little long winded lol:
The GWR is a large system who’s mainline runs from Galveston, Texas to San Francisco, California. The railroad began in the 1880s when a group of prominent, wealthy investors from the East Coast acquired several smaller railroads between Texas and California, and then financed the enormous task of bridging the gaps and connecting them as a single line linking the Gulf of Mexico with the Pacific Ocean. The route runs a relatively straight, diagonal line across Texas to Santa Fe, New Mexico. It then turns northwest and crosses the Continental Divide near Chama before continuing across the corner of Colorado and on into Utah. Passing near Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, the GWR then turns west and travels through the center of Utah and through central Nevada to Carson City. Here, the line turns slightly southwest through California and finally arrives in San Francisco.
Traveling through long stretches of some of the loneliest places in the U.S. through Utah and Nevada might’ve killed the railroad had it not been for all the mines that sprung up in the area, giving the GWR years of steady business to supplement the through traffic. Within Nevada and Utah, long drags of various types of minerals are the mainstay of traffic for the Great Western. The trademark of the system, however, is its fast freight philosophy. Taking what the
Your scenario sounds very interesting! Lots of potential.
I like InterMountain Fs. They can occassionally be found on eBay for prices within your range, although most of the eBay InterMountain listings are much higher. There are a couple of listings now which might interest you. These are from the Canadian site so ignore the prices shown in Canadian dollars. Also, ignore the shipping costs. I can’t seem to get into the USA site:
These two are hybrids. They have Stewart/Kato drives. They could be a bargain or…:
I think your best bet between looks and cost would be Stewart. Ever since Athearn Genesis, Intermountain and Walthers P2K came out, Stewart has fallen off many modelers radar but their shell is in a totally different class than the Athearn blue box F7 which was tool in the 1050’s and really looks it. Stewarts are also among the best running on the market and look quite good, even if they don’t have the etched metal air grills and all that stuff.
Which is pretty good for the best running F unit on the market and the shell’s are very decent looking. Until the Genesis, Intermountain and Proto2000 F units came out, Stewart was “THE” F unit to get. The shell has good overall proportions and the molded on side grills look very good with 3 dimensional appearance and good rivit detail. The only minor bother is the are mold parting lines on the sides of the nose but otherwise Stewart F units are excellent for the price and bonus, they have KATO drives which are second to none.
I still have 10 Stewart F unit in D&RGW 4-stripe and plan on keeping them - they are nice and heavy, and with the Kadee #450 close coupler kit, the B units have the correct scale 3’ distance between them. I think Stewarts passed over when they are still quite good, especially for the price.
The Stewart Fs and Baldwin switchers I have all come with Cannon and Buehler drives and they are excellent. Athearn may be a better looking unit but I have yet to find one that runs as smooth as a Stewart because of electrical pickup issues. That - to me - is not worth the extra money spent.
Since the Genesis shells are from Highliner shells and Highliner shells were originally designed to fit the Stewart/KATO drive, you should be able to mount them and have the best of both words; but of course for the price, you shouldn’t have to.
Anyway, Stewart gets my vote for best budget F unit.
