Hello fellow train lovers. I just came in from the old train room after a couple of hours of running my Southern Pacific Black Widow F-7 units which are by far my #1 all time favorite 1950s era diesels.
Anyone else out there have a favorite road that ran F-7s ?.
Tracklayer
Those Black Widows are awesome and ranked near the top of my list until I saw the Maine Central pine green & gold F3s…wow!!.
Here are some photos of my new MEC units visiting Colorado…
My favorite is the D&RGW Aspen Gold scheme (see the little train in my signature line[:D], followed closely by the WP orange & silver passenger scheme.
Conagher, that is some spectacular scenery you’ve got there. [bow] Do you have a website for your layout, or can you at least post some more pics?
I agree with you there. Here are my G Scale versions:
Leading a fast freight:
Picking up speed:
While I run the CB&Q, and have an F7 in the greyback scheme that I like very much, I have to say the best looking F7 would be the Great Northern orange and green scheme. It just looks great with goat emblem. I like it so much, that I was almost tempted to model the BN at the time of the merger so I can have all kinds of mixed power.
Rick
[#ditto] You beat me to the punch… gotta love GN’s gorgeous F7 scheme… although, Northern Pacific’s was a beaut too!
Brian
The pine tree, passenger, or Lowey green? I like the Lowey green but I don’t know that I could go as being my favorite.
My memories of F units are those from the Missouri Pacific which ran through Omaha. We would frequently be stopped at the grade crossing at California and Saddle Creek while trains passed led by as many as 6 units in various A&B configurations. I wasn’t knowledgeable enough at the time to distinguish whether they were F3s or F7s but they formed my earliest impressions of diesel locomotives and to this day an F unit is what I picture when diesel locos are mentioned. I model a freelanced eastern railroad which interchanges with several real eastern roads. My freelanced road has several sets of F3s but my favorite set is a NYC F7 ABB set from BLI.
Don’t know if they where 7’s, but I always liked the white, black and red SOO Line scheme. Also love the CP maroon and grey.
I’m fond of the SP’s in Bloody Nose:
…and the Santa Fe in War Bonnet
I had the opportunity to ride on trains pulled by both in the early 1960s on a trip from N. California to Los Angeles.
that is some spectacular scenery you’ve got there…Dan
I wish I could take credit but the layout belongs to my friend Tom who lives over in Florida.
And Dan…I can still remember seeing your D&RGW F units pull the California Zephyr through Winter Park with snow everywhere. An incredible sight!!
I thnk the Reading ones are classy looking.
Nick
I have to agree with conagher about the MEC F3s. I have a few of them on my layout as well as a B&M E8. My wife’s dad used to be an engineer on MEC and he drove F3s, although they were the maroon freight units.
Note to conagher, photos on Yahoo groups will not show unless you are a member of that group.
Note to conagher, photos on Yahoo groups will not show unless you are a member of that group.
Thanks but I am a member of that Yahoo group…MEC_Modeler.
Do you know if your father-in-law ever rode up through Crawford Notch?? Talk about some great scenery. The Conway Scenic RR has a few ex-B&M F units with the Minuteman logo. Those B&M maroon & gold locomotives are nice-looking, too.
In fact, I’d be hard pressed to find an F unit I didn’t like…
He ran out of Bangor most of the time, usually on the Downeast run. There was nice coastal scenery, and on a slow day in the summer he could stop and pick blueberries. [:D]
He also drove MEC busses down Route 1 in the midcoast near where we live now. Moodys Diner in Waldoboro was the lunch stop.
My favorite F units have to be the Santa Fe units with the stainless steel panels.
The WP units are very nice too!!
CAZEPHYR
They owned F3, F7 and FP-7. Here are a couple of FP-7s.
In the original scheme:
In the later red/white:
Jim
I do not think I have meet an F Unit I did not like! I love those ABBBBA sets of CGW F’s leaving South St Paul with the entire production of Swift/Armour packing right behind the power.
Jim
Tracklayer–
Like you, I think that the SP “Black Widow” scheme was just about the most handsome and striking ever applied to an F-unit.
There is one other scheme that I like just a LITTLE bit better, but it wasn’t applied to an F-7, but to an F-3. And that is the early Rio Grande black and yellow scheme as originally used on their portion of the “California Zephyr.” It was both striking and utilitarian.
Like the SP “Black Widow”, it gave the locomotive a look of really HANDSOME power. They’re my two favorite F-unit paint schemes.
Tom
Hey F unit fans…here’s an awesome site