I just picked up a pair of Stewart F-7 A/B set stock number 5912 from my LHS. Owner was not there today and person that checked me out was the R/C person. He knew nothing about the engines. We did open the box and saw they are DCC ready.
How would you folks rate them? What I have to compare them to are Athearn RTR, I really don’t care for these engines and will not buy any more. I all so have Proto 1000’s and 2000’s, I love my Proto’s, good pullers, little power draw and never had to fix one.
Would you rate these closer to the Athearns or the Proto’s? I am not going to open them till I get a few answers on there quality.
Far as details on the body, they seem a lot a like to Proto 1000’s, not much detail but I am fine with that. I like the road name Rio Grand and the colors schema. Prices seem fair at $59.99 for the pair, B is none powered.
In my experience Stewart engines from the mid-90’s on are very quiet and smooth runners, among the best out there. When they first came out their F unit shells were considered very good (20 years ago); they’re still good IMHO but don’t have the detailing of say Athearn Genesis shells, which are actually Highliner shells. You can add handrails, grabirons etc. yourself using the Walthers “Diesel Dress Up Kit” from the LHS. It only costs a few dollars and works quite well on Stewart F units.
Ken, I have a pair of their FT’s, so you can borrow them if you like to see if they run to your satisfaction. I find them to be quiet smooth runners, a bit better in detail to the P1K F units. Drop me a PM and we can figure out when they can come over. I have some of your Amtrak passenger cars that need to come home as well.
just talked to my hobby shop about this manufacturer. He had some big 6 axle alcos for sale and on the box it said that the can motor was a Buehler that they now use. Here is a web site http://www.buehlermotor.com/C12572C600247071/CurrentBaseLink/W27VQK55490WEBREN . These motors are supposed to be of quite good quality. Also they are supposed to be coming out with some more variations on the six axle Alcos in Canadian paint schemes.
Please keep us posted on your thoughts about this manufacturer.
The 5912 D&RGW F unit should serve you well. These engines are extremely good runners and with proper maintenance last almost forever. This engine is as mentioned an old 20 year old shell and somewhat lacking in detail by todays standards.
Stewart/Bowser has released a new series of F units in their Executive line, these units certainly in my opinon rival either the Proto 2 or Genesis F units in detail. There are also DCC?sound equpped units available as well in the new line.
All of my F units (FT’s, F3’s and F7’s) are Stewart. I don’t care what detail they have, I wouldn’t have any other. They and my Atlas engines run better than any other locos I’ve had in my 50+ years of model railroading.
Dale Latham, Piedmont Southern Railroad, Great Model Railroads 2009
The only Stewarts I have are some Baldwin switchers(6) and a Baldwin RS(1). All are great runners. Best slow speed and quiet to boot. They all came with a 8 pin plug and LED lights. IMHO they are way better than Athearn and P2K.
I have a Stewart FT A-B and a VO-660 switcher. Great locomotives! [:)][tup] Yes, Stewart locomotives are more spartan on the detailing than, say…a Proto 2000…but you can purchase a superdetailing kit for the F-units that really dresses them up quiet nicely.
And their Canon and Buehler drives are the best on the market, IMO. My FT has a Lenz Gold decoder in it and it’s scary how slow that thing will crawl at speed step 001.
I had a set of Rio Grande F-3’s from Stewart in the original black and yellow paint scheme. I gave them to my grand-nephew when he started in model railroading, and I’m still kinda/sorta kicking myself. The shells were nicely detailed (if not up to current super-detail standards), the mechanisms were quiet, smooth, and AMAZINGLY powerful.
If I were into diesels, I’d contact my grand-nephew and negotiate for their return. However, he’s in Guam right now, and I’m still not into diesels, LOL!
Well, sure sounds like they are a keeper. Better than Proto’s yet? [bow] My Proto’s Mono F-3 F/A (both powered) pull 50 cars with no effort. If the the one Stewart A can pull 20 cars I will be happy.
I agree with your assessment of the first Stewart F units and they were great runner, and they made by Kato. I ended up buying about thirty of those units and most still run like new.
When Stewart started making their own units, they were almost copies of the Kato and ran very well also. The latest ones are now by the new owners and I do not have any of those, but have heard they also run well.
The dress up kits work well on the Stewart F units and I installed several of those including all of the handrails and other details. l they are a great model to use on club layouts where they can be handled more often than the highly detailed Genesis or Brass.
They are a good overall model but do not have etched grills and details like the Genesis or Intermountain and the last Walthers.
Details: lacking, but easily added. Mechanism: first class all the way, super quiet, low current draw, and great slow speed running (and mine are the new ones, not the Kato motor - compared to Kato motors in older Atlas locos, I have to give the edge to the Buhler motor in the Stewarts).
The Stewart Baldwin switchers adn road switchers - probably the finest plastic models of those locos you can find, especially the DS and S switchers which were actually made for them by Ajin, known for their top-notch brass, plus they have Canon can motors which when I tested one on DC drew .1 amps. Yes, my Zephyr would run out of loco slots before it ran out of power runnign those babies. Definitely the best diesels I own.
So if you just picked them up. Why don’t you try them out and see what you think for yourself. Of course just search and check out any of the “which is the ‘best’ HO diesel” threads and these units will come up. I can’t believe you haven’t already seen one.
For what looks or running? For looks this is late 1980s style. Way above Athearn BB but well below Proto-2000. For running they will put both to shame. For pulling it depends. I’ve had two powered units pull (skid-grind-scrape) 65 cars up a 3% grade on a 36" radius curve. I would not recommend that, so 50 is a much better number “max” load number. What I don’t know is how one all by itself will do. All of mine are AB, ABA, and ABBA (all of which have at least 2 powered units - I never need to pull more than 50 cars).
A few years ago I “stepped up” to Stewart F units for my HO transition era ATSF collection. Today I have 6 ABBA consists - with all units powered. Three of the consists are F3/F7s, three of them are FTs. The F3/7s are all Kato powered, the FTs are Stewart powered. Operationally, all run really nice.
I had to purchase the motor chassis separately for the FT B units, but got the F3/F7 B units already powered.
For the money, these are absolutely terrific! You can still get units on Ebay for $40/$50 each. The detail is not the same as Genesis or others of that ilk. So, I added the special KD coupler sets and American Limited diaghprams to mine, and IMHO, they turned out pretty neat. Yes, you can add additional details, but I am not ready for that (yet).
These are fairly easy to convert to DCC. I picked up NCE DASR and NCE D13SRP decoders and they installed with no significant difficulty. One type is for the F3/F7 units, the other for the FT units (forgot which is which).
In short, for the money, these are absolutely great - and I highly recommend them.
The very first Stewart engines from about 20 years ago had Athearn motors and drives, which at the time were considered to be good. My SOO AS-16 came with Athearn drive. In the early-mid nineties they switched over to Kato drives and used them for about the next 10 years. They were quite an improvement.
I recall there was some trouble with the big Alco C-628s when they came out, something about the gears or something?? I didn’t get my pair until they came out with the high-nose ones a few years later, and both my CNW units run and pull great.