I agree with Mark. I use only Kato Stewart drives on my F units. You can put just about any shell on them that you want with some interior mods. The highest quality shells are the Genesis or Highliners shells. By far the best running drives are from Kato in the older Stewarts models. If you are confused they say Kato on the bottom on the trucks. If you have an Operating layout you need quality and consistency with all the same gearing in your drives. Katos are smooth as silk and can be done with Tsunami decoders for sound. They will last you for years but eventually will have to be replaced after a good 20 years of running in OP sessions. The Genesis drives with MRC decoders are not as high quality but are descent. Intermountain drives are fantastic but I hate QSI decoders. Get Intermountain F7s for the drive and shell but no DCC and put in your own. Replace your Genesis drives with Katos and you cant go wrong.
I have bought 4 Stewart F-7’s on the C&O paint scheme, they run well and look better than the older Stewarts that I had to super detail to make them look better. The only pain I have with the new Stewarts is the low end, some of the units are a little jerky on the bottom end. But as for a GN Empire Builder I have a complete train but mine is Riverossi Cars with Stewart engines. Looks good and runs well.
I am puzzled that the latest new Bowser Stewart diesel engines releases in both the FT and F7 series in their Heritage line have been cancelled.
Meanwhile Intermountain is bringing out new FT and F7 series engines. As I indicated I have preordered a set of the FT’s, and I recently contacted Intermountain who assures me the engines are still set for release soon.
Not forgetting Athearn and Walthers and their EMD F series which also continue to produce new runs.
Is it that Bowser concludes the market place is just too crowded?
I am also disappointed that Bowser/Stewart cancelled the FT units. I was looking forward to getting the Western Pacific set in the as delivered paint scheme. Oh well, maybe Intermountain will do one.
As I mentioned I was informed by staff at Intermountain that the GN FT’s are on track and expected to be available to the market in January. Take a look at the FT schedule posted by Intermountain.
Must be an economic decision to cancel the Bowser/Stewarts. While there are still fans of those F units around, it may be that the sales figures do not support furthur production of anything with the Stewart line affilated. ie, Stewarts may be not “sexy” enough for a lot of the modelers out there who prefer the details of Genesis, Intermountain, Proto 2000 and BLI etc. They have the etched metal side grills and newer runs have extra trimmings. IMO, the Stewart shell holds up pretty well but the molded on side air grills and the mold seams on the nose, etc may hold them back in comparison to the other lines available. The market place is pretty crowded with F units too, and F units that may end up getting preference when people open up their wallets. Personally I’m guessing that the Stewart/KATO drive is still considered the best or among the best available for an F to this day.
I was looking forward to buying one of the new Bowser F series, they were part of the new line of Stewarts that are updated with all of the detail previously missing, they would have been in the same league as the Genesis, Intermountain and BLI.