I have a Athearn Genesis F3AB set and have an opportunity to pick up a Genesis F9 cheap. Did the Santa Fe ever run F3’s with F9’s? I know the F9’s had more HP’s. I’ve seen pics of F3’s with F7’s but never F3’s with F9’s.
Whether they did or not, get the Genesis F9’s if you found a deal. They are great runners and look gorgeous. I have two pairs of AB units on my layout.
Rich
Hi!
The Santa Fe had “tons” of F3s, and relatively few F9s. And, I would bet the RR that at one point in time any and all existing loco types were mixed in consists. While I prefer my ATSF locos to run in matched sets - usually ABBA - the prototype was just not that particular, especially in later years of the units existance.
Mobilman44
PS: Good deal on the F9s!
my understanding is that when newer F unts were used with early ones that the earlier one had to lead. This was to prevent traction motor overload in the earlier engne.
If they had both, they probably ran both together. How the engines were geared had more to do with how well they ran together, rather than horsepower. Since freight and passenger engines used different gear ratios, you normally wouldn’t see a passenger F and a freight F running together, but freight F’s running with each other, or passenger F’s running together, would be very common.
We’re talking blue-and-yellow freight units, right? In that category the Santa Fe had only two 4-unit sets of F3s, the 200LABC and the 201LABC (the “As” and “Bs” are always B units on the ATSF). The rest of the 200 class, up through the 280 set, were F7s. The 281-class F9s, built in 1956, actually outnumbered the F3 freighters, comprising the 281LABC through 289LABC four-unit sets.
When first delivered the F9s were mostly kept together, although by that time the 200-class units, F3s and F7s, were being mixed pretty freely. By the 1960s all the covered wagon freight units were mixed and matched as needed. Power sets of six or seven units were common, sometimes even with a GP7 or GP9 thrown in.
Some Santa Fe 200-class F7s are sometime mis-identified as F3s because they lack the stainless steel carbody filter grills. What happened was that those units gave up their grills to be installed on passenger F3s that were built without them in the late 1940s.
The numbers are usually the most reliable “spotting feature” for Santa Fe freight F3s, F7s, and F9s. The 200 and 201 were F3s, the 202 through 280 were F7s, and the 281-289 were F9s.
See www.atsfrr.net/resources/funits/index.htm on the Santa Fe society’s Web site for a really thorough account of all Santa Fe Fs, by the late Lee Berglund.
Santa fe all the way,
Andy
Thanks for the info folks, much appreciated!!
One of my favorite diesel lash-up combinations are Geeps and F-whatever B units.
Mark (mourning the modern absence of cabless units, believing modern railroads are less interesting than earlier periods despite editorials attempting to convince otherwise)
I got the Genesis F9A with sound today! Get this, The location is closing shop, so I got another 20% OFF!!! $91 and change for a Genesis F9A with sound…not bad, I believe the original retail price was $209.98. Sad that the location is closing shop, but they are concentrating on their web business, its more profitable.
Sound decoder is Tsunami? If yes, great catch!
I have Genesis F3 in B&O colors, with MRC sound. Motor control part of decoder leaves much to be desired… [B)]
Yes, these are blue and yellow freight units and no they dont have the Tsunami. I heard the Tsunami 567 sound tonight for the first time and WOW, its soooooooooo much better than MRC or anyone elses I’;ve heard. IBasically, if I understand it correctly, Tsunamis are actual recordings of the actual loco and most everyone elses decoders use digitally created sounds. If I had the money, all my locos would have Tsunami’s. The price is comming down, I found my last one for $79.
ps this unit is really awesome looking with better detail than the earlier Genesis units I have.
I see that you live in east central Missouri. What is the name and location of the shop?
Rich