WHICH HO SCALE F UNIT IS QUIETER AND THE BEST PULLER?

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Can anyone give me their input on which unit is the best runner, the quietest and best puller?

  1. InterMountain Railway Co. factory assembled SOO Line - Maroon FP7

  2. MTH 80-2201-0, Alco FA-1 A unit

  3. Athearn G2624B Genesis RTR F3A

Thank you

Brian

2

They will all be about equal. They all have other pros and cons…depends on what you are looking for.

David B

3

You forgot Bowser/Stewart.

I’ve always found Athearn to be noisier than most.

4

I don’t own any of those engines so I can’t really say much. However, pulling power for metal driver locomotives is about 25% of their weight. Coefficient of friction, nickel silver wheel on nickel silver rail is about 0.25. Which means the wheels begin to slip when the pulling force exceeds 0.25 * weight. To make a locomotive pull harder, add more weight, OR go with a rubber “traction tire”. Coefficient of friction for rubber on nickel silver is 0.60 or better, at least when fresh and rubbery. Old and dried out, it’s less. And it costs electrical pick up on that wheel.

All diesels are better runners (less derailments on mediocre track) than steam. Far as I know, all the diesel makers are about the same in the runner department.

The old Athearn “blue box” locomotives (of which I own a number) had a rep for noisy. I quieted mine down by taking the gear towers apart, cleaning them carefully, wiping each tooth of each gear with a pipe cleaner, and reassembling. The pipe cleaner always brought out a few flecks of black plastic which had been floating around in the gears and making noise. The newer Athearn Genesis line has a better rep. I haven’t heard anyone complain about noise from Genesis or the new RTR line.

Was it me, I would buy on price, or good looks. If you are buying from a real store, have them run the locomotive for you before you hand 'em your credit card. If you are buying on the net, any of them ought to be fine.

5

Stewart F units, they used KATO drives. Nuff said!

6

My best pulling and queitest F units are Athearn powered rebuilt Varney F3’s. I rebuilt all the ones I have. Mine are all DCC (no sound). They run good and are heavy solid pullers.

7

Exactly, The Stewart/ Kato drive is the most reliable, best pulling and quietest so far. The “old” school Stewart shells do lack detail compared to the Highliner/ genesis or the IM. Hmm, an Athearn/ Genesis shell on the Stewart/ Kato drive

8

Hi Brian.

I have recently purchased an Intermountain F7 (New Jersey Transit #418) with a factory installed Loksound decoder. It is a very smooth running unit with excellent slow speed charactaristics, and a quiet (with the sound off) drive unit. Can not comment on the pulling capabilities since I use it for commuter rail purposes.

All the best.

Reinhard