Hi all from down under,
I am thinking of getting an early F unit for my layout (F3 or F5). There are a few different brands around and I’m wondering which one is best value for money. I would like to get one with DCC and sound. The railroad doesn’t matter as I freelance. I don’t want a 'B’unit as Australia had no ‘B’ units.
I’m interested in what others have bought and how they run and sound.
Happy New Year!
While I don’t have any sound F units, I would still recommend Proto 1000’s F’3. They pull great, fairly cheap and last a long time.
Only down side might be they are normally sold as A & B units, both units are powered. But you free lances so why not run a B unit?
It is not that hard to add sound to the Proto 1000. Model Railroader did a article on installing decoders a few years ago and I don’t think they had to mill any metal.
Cuda Ken
I own a few sound equiped Intermountain F7’s in Ontario Northland colours. They are great running with lots of fine detail. They produce F3’s as well so you might want to take a look at them. If their F3’s are anything like their F7’s or FP9’s then you will be very happy with them.
I have a few of almost all of the F units out there, and my recommendation would be either Athearn Genesis or Intermountain with no preference between them.
Both have great detail, run well and are well built. As to sound I have no personal experiance since I don’t use sound or DCC.
Sheldon
Bachmann makes HO FT-A units, both DC adn DCC, but no sound versions. I don’t care for sound.
I have The B&O FT-A & B in DCC. They, like all my other Bachmann DCC OnBoard locos, run great, and the pair run great togeher, I wouldn’t see why 2 A’s wouldn’t run just as great together,
Good luck on your hunt.
I have a PCM set made by BLI F3 A/B set in Lashed up mode with LokSound.
A BLI set, F3 A/B with Tsunami in each.
In ABBA mode. Over 4 lbs of loco and can pull over 50 cars but cannot do more as the club layout is not large enough.
BLI now has a variety of F diesels that are quite nice.
Bowser has some nice F units with Tsunami. I have some Bowser VO-1000’s with sound that are nice runners.
Rich
It seems that several manufacturers have done a good job of these particular early diesels. I happen to have the pre-Walthers ownership Proto 2000 F2 A/B from Life Like. They run very well and look good…to me. There must be variations between the models, so sticklers would be able to point out some of the grosser errors.
I don’t know if Alan has a particular set somewhere in mind, but if he has not, I would urge you to spend a couple of hours looking for bargains. If you need to order from the USA, don’t overlook trainworld and modeltrainstuff. Between those two, you are sure to find a decent model at a good price. There may be some even better deals at other shops You may save the price of shipping of a more costly model.
Crandell
I have Proto 2000 (P2K) and Intermountain. All have sound and are EXCELLENT runners and details are fantastic.
I forgot about the pre Walthers FA’s. They are also great running loco’s once you swap out the cracked gears in them. Don’t let that scare you away from them, they really are nice running but lack DCC/Sound versions.
But have you missed the O.P’s question. He is asking about EMD cab units, not Alco. Very different units.
John
Happy New Year, Alantrains!
I’ve built a fleet of 20 FT As and Bs, F3 As and Bs, F7 As and Bs, and FP7s within the last 4 years. All are Intermountain with DCC and sound. I’ve been very satisfied with appearance, sound, running ability, and pulling power of all of them.
I also have a few F models with DCC/sound from Athearn Genesis and Proto 2000. They’ve been OK, but the Intermountains have proven to be my most reliable workhorses. Best prices I’ve found for them have been at Model Train Stuff (M.B. Klein).
Good luck with your new loco, whatever you decide.
Well, most people I know associate the term “F unit” with EMD locos, FT’s, F3’s, F7’s, etc., but when it comes to ALCO covered wagons, I also have lot of those. All Proto2000, FA1’s and FA2’s, all great running and well detailed, about 15 units in all.
And I would recommend them to anyone interested in that era and type of loco. I did have a lot of those “split gears” but replaced all of them with PROTO/WALTHERS parts and have never had an additional failure.
Sheldon
I have F units with sound by BLI, Walthers and Intermountain.
All have great detail and run great, my favorites are the Intermountain units by far, followed by BLI and Walthers.
My recommendation is that for the money the Intermountain sets are by far the best buy.
As far a service you can not beat BLI or Intermountain, great to deal with. Walthers, well they do respond and are of some help if you persist.
Athearn Genesis F’s
-higher priced
-best shaped nose and overall shell
-good drive but occasional lemon
-nice detail added on “modernized units”
Stewart F’s
-A little lower priced
-Nice overall shell
-Best drive
Proto2000 F’s
-higher priced
-good drive
Proto1000 F3’s
-very modest price
-good running drive
-decent shell for lower cost F
-only one model is available (F3 phase 2 chicken wire side grills)
I have a Proto 2000 unit with sound and an Intermountian without, I am still not totally sold on the sound stuff. But for running , they both run sweet but I like the InterMountain Better, that bugger is just so smooth. by the way i have a TCS decoder in it.
Also consider the Proto 2000 FA1. It’s a rugged little tyke, built like a tank like its bigger P2K brother E8-E9. I can get it to crawl at nearly imperceptible speeds and even the headlight is beautiful when lit. This is the blue box 23XXX series from several years ago, DC, no sound.
Alan,
If you want the smoothest and strongest pulling locomotives out there, go with the Stewart F-units. The Canon and Buehler drives are second to none. I have a Stewart FT A-B and a VO-660 and VO-1000 switcher. They all crawl extremely well.
Bowser/Stewart “Executive” line has very nice detailing and comes with Tsunami sound. Their “Traditional” line is less detailed but Stewart carries detailing kits for them. Singe units can be found at this link.
Hope that helps…
Tom
Thanks again Tom (I like your website) and Mister Mikado,
now I’ve got so many options and the Auzzie dollar was buying $US1.01 yesterday. When I was in the USA in July it was only buying US 82 Cents.
cheers
Got my Intermountain F3 today from MB Klein. It run as sweet as anything and I’m happy with the QSI Sound. Thanks to everyone who helped me.
Alan J in Sunny Queensland Oz
Good news, Alan! [Y][8D] Thanks for reporting back.
Tom