All of the Blue Box shells for F7s (both A and B units) have steam generator exhaust gear atop the access hatch at the rear. I understand that this was primarily, if not exclusively, for use in passenger service. Subsequent Athearn Genesis issues of Fs and those by other suppliers (IMR, etc) have the same, plain access hatches on both ends of their Bs and on the aft end of the A units, issuing them as intended for frieght service.
I do all freight service and would like to replace all or most of the generator hatches with plain ones. If there is a maker of plain hatches out there I could swap them out, though I’m not an accomplished painter and would have to mask and match roof top colors. The other option is to cut off the generator items, float and sand the surface even and then repaint.
Any suggestions? I want to keep these old shells for the extra work that has gone into their innards and the details that are in hand and about to be added (yes, I’m redoing the windshields).
I would recommend taking a look to see if the generator detail is molded on. If so I think Mike‘s idea is best, if not I bet there are after market parts or even athearn parts from their more resent releases could be use as a replacement, so look around.
Alternately, you could keep these on as many railroads transferred f units to freight from passenger in the 60s as passenger traffic died down. Depending on your prototype and era you could just keep them as they are, the real thing of then did the same. Do some reasearch and see what your prototype did.
Athearn Genesis F-units use Highliner shells, which can be used to model any F-unit from the F2 to the F9 and all the various options (one headlight vs. two, steam generator equipped, dynamic brakes, etc.) because of all the interchangeable parts.
The Athearn “bluebox” F7A and F7B are one-piece molded shells with no interchangeable or add-on pieces (except the window glazing) so you can’t really “swap out” parts. Your best bet if modifying a BB unit would be to do what Mike suggested, carefully cut off and sand smooth the steam generator parts and then touch up the paint.
The Athearn BB F units I remember had molded on SG details causing one to spend hours carving and sanding them off. As far as the bolt detail around the perimeter of the hatch itself, Archer may have something in their line of surface detail decals, that would remove any fear of damaging the shell.
As far as painting the modified roof, unless you model equipment fresh out of the paint shop, the roof of a locomotive is one of the very first areas to become discolored due to sun fading, rain washed dust and grime, exhaust soot, etc. No reason to obsess over a precise color match unless you are modeling a brand new unit.
As you mentioned, manufacturers have become more aware of the fact that molding every option onto a locomotive can make it undesirable to a significant portion of their potential customer base, thereby limiting sales.
I’m not sure about “dumping” the F’s to freight service. I don’t about SP per se, but some railroads buying F-units back then saw them as kinda like a 4-8-2 or 4-8-4, dual-purpose engines that could pull mainline freights or passenger trains. I know GN used A-B sets of FT’s between the Twin Cities and Duluth-Superior in both services - take a passenger train from the Twin Cities to Duluth in the morning, and return that evening with a freight train. Some railroads also had ‘freight’ F-units that had a steam generator in the B-unit so it could be used as back-up power if a passenger set went down.
This Athearn F unit had the steam generator detail carved off. I used putty to fill any irregularities in the shell and sanded the center of the hatch smooth, protecting the rivet detail around the edge. The process didn’t take much time.
I read very recently (but still can’t remember exactly where) that the A-units with dynamic brakes had no steam generators, as the water tank would have been under the roof where the cooling fans for the d.b.s would be located.
If the service on which the locos were used required steam generators, they would be in the B-units, at least until the FP7 and FP9 models came along, both of which were lengthened versions (by about 4’) with steam generators and dynamic brakes.
but I was under the impression that SP had FP7’s and I seem to remember an RMC article on splicing an Athearn Nose to an Atlas FP7 body specifically for SP details.
Actually, every railroad ordered slighly different stuff in this department.
There were lots of variations of water tank locations and sizes. There were steam equiped A units with dynamic brakes. There were non dynamic brake A units with the basic tank under the boiler and a second tank were the dynamic brake grid would have been.
There were ABBA sets, and ABB sets, with boilers only in the B units and additional water storage in the boiler location in the A units.
There were A units with the air tanks moved to the roof to allow that space under the frame to hold more water.
There were ABBA sets with boilers in all units and shared water from the larger tanks in the B units.
F3’s in particular were purchased by many roads as “dual service” locos, but with later F7’s this was much less common.
Then there was the ulimate solution, the FP7, the stretched F7 with more room for water tanks.
As older boiler equiped F units were transfered freight service, boilers were often removed. Because Federal rules said if the equipment was in place, it had to be in working order…
Would every vent hood get removed from every roof?, Maybe, maybe not.
Thanks for the link to Tony Thompson’s blogspot. His site is a real trove of information. Note only is his content exceptional, he has a flair for clear expression. I used your URL and then did a seach of his blogspot using “Southern Pacific F Unit” and pulled up a link that had all of his articles on the subject. There were at least four, covering a number of years. Here it Is: http://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/search?q=southern+pacific+F-unit+diesels
Your help from down under is appreciated. Good on ya, mate.
I think the big problem with the steam generators was finding room for the water. Since say an F7B didn’t have a cab, it could use that space for water tanks - IIRC, an F7B could hold about 1200 gallons of water for the generator. In and F7A, you could fit in a steam generator but it only could carry about 300 gals. of water. As mentioned, the extended body of the FP series allowed an A unit to hold more water for the generator. Then a railroad could just use say an FP-7 to haul a short to medium sized train in cold weather, instead of having to use say an F7A-B set where the B unit wasn’t really needed to pull the train, but was there just to get the benefit of the larger water capacity of the unit. (However, some ‘cold climate’ railroads like CP and NP used FPs along with multiple B-units on long passenger trains because they needed all the steam heat they could get during the extremely cold winters they faced.)
The D&RGW purchase two F7A’s with steam generators so they would have the option of using a single F in passenger service if needed. Naturally their capacity was limited due to the smaller water tanks. Both of those F7A’s were involved in wrecks in the early 1950’s and during rebuilding/repair, the steam generators were removed.
Those steam generators were apparently not scrapped but re-used in other F7B units which were not originally delivered with them. Notes indicate steam generators were installed in two F7B units: “F7Bs 5582, 5583 (added in about 1953)”. That time co-incides with the wreck rebuilds of F7A’s 5571 and 4474 suggesting the steam generators removed were installed into the B units listed.
For further reading on the above, see notes here at UtahRails.net:
I am not aware of any aftermarket hatch parts for HO F units.
Some years back I wanted to model the Rio Grande Zephyr F9A, before Stewart F units were made, so I was faced with modifications to an Athearn blue box F7A. Among the modifications to match the RGZ F9A was to removed the steam generator details from the rear roof. I put masking tape over the rivet detail to preserve it and carefully shaved off the details until the area was flat, and used fine sand paper to smooth the surface out. Lastly used details west lift ring parts to add one in each corner per photo’s.
In the end, there were other details that I couldn’t easily modify, such as the horizontal vertical slit side louvers. When Stewart came out with their much nicer F units, it was a no brainer for me to buy their F9A and all problems solved. I sold of
I had an extra B unit shell in the wrong paint scheme and did the shaving and sanding exercise early yesterday as a first time experiment. As it went well, I did three of the Black Widow units that are the subject of the thread. Figured I’d go ahead with the project as it should be easy to mask off the tops. I’ll find someone in the club to show me how to repaint them with their air brush equipment.
I do have an A-B pair of Genesis locos and four Stewarts (two of each). I have chosen to spend the effort, and the relatively few bucks, on the BBs as much for the upgrade experience as anything else. I’ve already exposed myself to the overhaul of one drive train, and mods on three frames to allow closer coupling. These are fruitful lessons and training. Being rather “old school”, I’ve always put an emphasis on the development of DIY skills of all sorts. They not only save money everywhere (cars, houses, yards, etc.) but provide a sense of personal satisfaction that cannot be bought.
I suppose that, when done, the BB’s will still look marginally inferior to the later loco issues when standing side-by-side. If I find that unacceptable at home I can use them on our club layout. Its size and the large presence of BBs of every sort will swallow these concerns.
