Athearn is coming out with some N scale F45’s in May. They sound wounderful equiped with DCC and sound straight from Athearn, but they listed three versions.
What are differences between BN, GN, and SF F45’s? I’m looking at them for my own freelance so I don’t really want to just close my eye’s and buy the one that my finger points the closest to.
The Milwaukee and ATSF bought FP45’s that were passenger versions of the F45. They were the only two, the other railroads bought F45’s. The FP45’s were equipped with steam boilers for heat etc. for passenger trains, the F45’s weren’t. The extra stuff on the rear of the FP’s roof is probably the steam generator stack and vents relating to that. Other than that, they’re very similar.
Athearn has a pretty good explanation on their website:
http://www.athearn.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=ATH16805
BTW the GN ones are the BN ones. GN rec’d their units several years before the BN merger, they eventually became the BN F45’s.
The BN version is just like the GN, except the headlight is on the nose instead of on top of the cab.
Really wish athearn made a GN version painted or patched for BN.
The Santa Fe bought 40 F45s in addition to its 9 FP45s. The freight units were originally nos. 1900-1939.
The BN did acquire the GN’s 14 F45s, nos. 427-440, in the 1970 merger; they became BN 6600-6613. However, the BN also received 31 more, nos. 6614-6645, delivered after the merger.
Altogether there were 14 FP45s built, for the Santa Fe and the Milwaukee Road, and 86 F45s.
So long,
Andy
Addtionally, the FP45 was several feet longer than the F45 to accommodate the steam generator (boiler) assembly for passenger train service.
Athearn (actually the overseas manufacturer) did a very nice job on these EMD cowls.
Packer, you mentioned that you’d like to see a Burlington Northern version of the F45. Why don’t you write Athearn and ask if there are plans to include this paint scheme in future releases? Athearn’s management does value input.
Have you checked out the Athearn site? In HO there are F45 & FP45’s available in all the roads that had them. I would expect that Athearn will have the same line in N Scale.
This is an old post and obsolete. If you look it was new back in the begining of December. Athearn all ready makes the N scale, which is what raised the questions I have.
If you’re talking freelance, I think the big difference would be the winterization hatches that may or may not appear (they’re on some BN units and not others, for example). If your freelance railroad is the TSC (Texas South Coast), for example, the hatch would be useless. The other difference is the headlight placement–the low mount would seem to be more modern; but I would choose based on modeling convenience: light leakage, wires showing in the cab, etc.
Since you’ll be getting undec’s, you’ll probably be getting some “extra” parts to play with, but I have no idea which ones. The big thing, I guess, is whether the BN undec comes with a winterization hatch.
Ed