intermountain locos

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I am contemplating purchasing an Intermountain F7 loco DCC with sound. I don’t have any knowledge of their reliability etc. Anyone own them and are they a solid train? My 7yr old grandson will be using it with adult supervision and I thought that the lack of extensive handrails would be a plus for handling purposes.

thanks,

Dennis

2

Dennis,

While I don’t have any with DCC/sound, I do have a number of Intermountain F7’s, they are very good locos.

As for the suitablity for a seven year old, that depends on the seven year old. An Intermountain F7 is still a very fragile and highly detailed locomotive, dispite not having walkways and handrails.

While they are not offered with sound, an Athearn “Ready to Roll” F7 is a lot more robust from a handling point of view.

Sheldon

3

Dennis…I have to agree with Sheldon. I also have a few Intermountan F3 an7’s. My b unit has problems with parts coming unglued, steps, fuel tank skirts ect. Neat thing about DCC is that you can program it to run sloooow[8D] Seeminly the first thing kids want to know is, “Grampa…how fast will it go”[:D]

take care…John

4

I have a number of Intermountain F units, some with sound and some without. While these are very detailed engines they do have a lot of glued on parts. They are IMHO great running engines with exceptional slow speed running characteristics and have good pulling power I would think twice about having a 7 year old handling it.

I would agree that for a 7 year old the Athearn RTR F units would be a better purchase. DCC decoders could be added to these engines, however, these engines do not have sound. So if sound is important to you and the 7 year old then the Intermountain units it is.

The Intermountain units are very well priced in comparison to the other F7 units made by other manufacturers who offer DCC and sound.

5

Dennis,

I would go with Sheldon’s advice and get one of the Athearn RTR F-7 A/B sets, not the Genesis version, just their regular line A/B sets. They’re good looking engines that run well and are reliable without all of the small detail parts to get broken, plus they are a heck of a lot cheaper than the Intermountain, Genesis, or any of the others.

Mark

6

Another good F unit for a 7 year old is MetalTrain. Solid as a rock, relatively cheap, and not that bad looking.

Here’s a pair in action:

http://s73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/steemtrayn/?action=view&current=20081207163501.mp4

7

The dude is looking for a good sound F unit. Saying he should get a Athearn one is like saying he should get a Hyundai instead of the Corvette that he really wants. The Intermountain sound units are great running and looking loco’s. Because I actually have a few I can honestly tell the original poster that, lol. The only draw back that you MAY have is the grills supposedly tend to warp. I’ve seen it happen but not to any of mine. I’m sure a 7 year old will be able to handle it without breaking off a few of the detail pieces.

8

can’t say anything about the diesels but if they are anything like the cab forward i have then they are very very good.

9

Great help. Thanks for your replies.

Dennis