Celebrating 80 Years of EMD F Units

Greetings All,

Happy 80th Birthday to the EMD F Units!

On November 25, 1939 four unit FT demonstrator set number 103 left the EMD Plant at La Grange IL for an eleven month, 83,764 mile, twenty railroad, thirty five state demonstration tour. History shows us it was a very successful tour.

The Terminal Yard engine terminal is happy to host and celebrate an 80th birthday tribute to the EMD F units!

The bull nosed F units, the brainchild of EMD Engineering Dept boss Richard M. Dilworth and his staff,  were introduced at a time when steam power ruled the rails.

F Unit construction ended in 1960 with camera shy New Haven FL9 #2059 being the last unit built. A total of 7,628 F Units were constructed and sold.   

The Big Seller

The A.T.S.F. was the biggest buyer of the original FT engines purchasing 155 A units and 165 B units. During World War II the War Production Board placed restrictions on manufacturing and allocation of diesel locomotives. The Santa Fe was a vital route to the west coast and had priority for acquiring the FTs. The Santa Fe would buy 910 F units and their war bonnet model train is the best selling engine of all time by far.

The Lightning Stripe

The New York Central purchased four FT A units and four FT B units. The A-B sets were draw bar equipped and this was pretty much the early FT standard except for the A.T.S.F units. The FTs served the NYC well and one AB set last into the mid 60's. These units are painted in a revised lightning stripe scheme.    

Revising the F Unit for Mass Production

In 1945 EMD estimated that the assembly of a four unit FT set would take 40,000 man hours of labor. Ass't EMD Chief Engineer Eugene Kettering and the Engineering Dept began work on a new design suitable for mass production of the next F Units that would enter a highly competitive market now that WWII was over. 

The 1,350 HP EMD F2 would be built from July 1946 thru November 1946 and sell 74 A units and 30 B units. 

The 1,500 HP EMD F3 would be built from July 1945 to February 1949. The F3 hosted many improvements and sold 1,006 A units and 694 B Units. 

The Greyback

The CB&Q purchased 53 F3As and 52 F3Bs. A distinctive spotting feature are the chicken wire grills and high profile fans. These Proto 1000 CB&Q F3As wear the freight "Greyback" paint scheme.

The F3 also introduced passenger equipped A and B units. The NYC purchased two sets of such F3A units for use on their B&A lines. These were numbered 3500, 3501,3502, 3503  Their steam generators were removed in 1961, at which time were renumbered 1874, 1875, 1876, 1877, painted in the black freight scheme and assigned back to freight service. The 1876 would be renumbered to 1801 replacing the first 1801 that was damaged and scrapped.

Non Prototypical Lightning Stripes

This MRC Platinum passenger equipped and painted F7A has been on my roster for about 25 years. It has the F3 passenger scheme but is totally non prototypical. It's such a good looking engine though, I'll never repaint it.

The Lightning Stripe Fleet Grows

A more traditional New York Central F7 A-B-B-A lash up idles at the Terminal Yard engine facility. EMD produced 2,393 F7As and 1,463 F7Bs. The NYC purchased 238 A units and 55 B units.

The NYC Cigar Band

In the 1960s the NYC began applying the cost saving cigar band scheme to their cab units. This A-B-A set would wear this paint scheme to the end of the NYC. 

The Pennsy Freight Fleet

The Pennsylvania RR was another big buyer of the F series locomotives. The Pennsy purchased 80 F3A and 40 F3Bs then came back for 123 F7As and 76 F7Bs. During 1948 - 1950 PRR bought 69 F3s and F7s in A-B-A sets for helper service west of Altoona PA.

Spartan Paint

As the Alleghenies took their toll on the PRR F3s and F7s their paint schemes became very spartan as the merger with the NYC loomed closer. 

Pennsy Passenger Units?

A trio of old Athearn BB passenger F7As. The 1223 and trailing units are not prototypical but they look good and run well. The PRR did have FP7s in this scheme.

The Dual Service FP7

One class of F units that would come off the PRR mostly intact were forty dual service FP7s and 14 concurrent steam equipped F7Bs. The PRR 9832-9835 came painted in the passenger Tuscan red with five stripes. The rest were painted in the DGLE with a single buff stripe freight scheme. Penn Central inherited them all assigning them to mail trains in four and five unit sets, freight service and helper service. Seventeen FP7s and two of the F7Bs made it to Conrail but none were painted blue. 

Mating Worms 

The Penn Central would inherit another 281 F units that would soldier on out of Collinwood Yard where they were based. Some would see service for Conrail. 

Conrail Blues

In April 1976 Conrail took over the ashes of the bankrupt Northeast Railroads and inherited their mostly worn out fleets which included 110 EMD F7As from the PC and EL. Conrail did paint at least one F unit blue, CR 1792, but none received the can opener logo or Conrail lettering. This Mantua product has some other discrepancies as well. Is it 6302 or 6502? Part of my son's fleet it runs very well. Don't tell him I messed up the number boards. 

Seven cars to an F Unit

On the B&O Railroad it was seven cars to an F unit on the B&O's west end mountain battleground in 1960. Those B&O F units made their living working the famed 2.4% Cranberry Grade and 2.28% Seventeen Mile Grade on the slopes of the Allegheny Mountains. Used in head end and helper service A-B-A and A-B-B-A sets moved everything from coal drags to Time Saver freights.

Chessie F7?

This old Bachmann C&O 7071 looks sharp in this Chessie System livery. I'm almost positive the 7071 nor any of the other 93 C&O F Units received this paint scheme after the formation of the Chessie System in 1972.

More F7 Fleets Combined

The Erie Lackawanna RR when formed in 1960 inherited six F7As and 6 F7Bs from the Erie, nine F7As and 6 F7Bs from the D.L.&W. The ex Erie units were numbered 7111-7133 and the ex D.L&W. in the 6311-6362. As late as October 1974 the EL ran true A-B-A sets on revenue trains. 

The one of a kind FL9

Athearn BB New Haven Railroad passenger equipped F7As idle at the Terminal Yard engine facility pretending to be New Haven FL9s. Introduced in 1956 the NH purchased sixty of the unique dual mode FL9s for commuter service into Grand Central Terminal. The FL9 was eight feet longer than the standard F9 featuring a B-A1A truck arrangement with third rail shoes for electrical pickup.

After joining the Penn Central many of the NH FL9s migrated to the former NYC Hudson and Harlem lines to eliminate the diesel for electric changes at Harmon and North White Plains. The FL9s wore many different paint schemes during their years of service with the survivors ending their careers on the Metro North Commuter Railroad and the Connecticut Department of Transportation.

F Units on Parade

Final Thoughts

The EMD F Units to me are timeless classics with their beautiful factory paint jobs that gave us war bonnets, lightning stripes, and other classic schemes for every railroad that purchased one. They were reliable power in passenger, freight and helper service. Even as they aged they retained their class and dignity in faded paint and patch outs. 

Restored F Unit in Revenue Service

F unit fans will be happy to know that at least one F unit is still in revenue service in 2020. Checkout this video of the Clinchfield 800.

 

Thanks for reading and watching!!!!

See ya soon!!!

Track Cleaning Coal Hoppers

Greetings All,

Track Cleaning Coal Hopper Project Phase 1

Followers of this blog know that there is no train like a coal train. Model railroaders know there is no track like clean track. Over the years I've converted several freight cars and a pair of cabooses into track cleaning cars using cut down hardwood or Masonite pads to shine the rails. 

Legendary model railroader John Allen used the same method on his Gorre & Daphetid RR and had one or two in each of his trains. This worked well for him and has worked well for the N.Y.C.T.L.

A small dilemma cropped up recently when I was running a unit coal train with my lightning striped NYC diesels. The two cabooses used in the Penn Central Car Movements coal trains are PRR focal orange units. Good for the PC. No good for the NYC!   

Since I like to have at least one track cleaning car in every train a NYC coal train ran with an EBRR track cleaning car equipped with a hardwood pad. Not what I want on a unit coal train.

So I looked at some of my older coal hoppers and came up with an idea using the below parts that were readily available. A treat stick, a good quality paper straw and Aleen's tacky glue.

I've cut the straws and wedged them into the recesses of the bottom of the coal hopper. Two holes are drilled in the hardwood pad and the cut down treat stick was tapped in with a hammer. After I adjusted the straws so the sticks would slide in easily I glued the straws into position.

Here is a track cleaning coal hopper on a test run. No more track cleaning boxcars or PRR cabooses on my NYC coal trains!

With the success of the first car I made two more. This way one can run on an empty train, one a loaded train and one in reserve for use on another coal train or elsewhere as needed. 

Note the pad on the right. All four sides have been beveled using a razor and rough grit sand paper. This is an important step that will allow the pad to go over uneven joints and thru turnouts.

A track cleaning coal hopper is just in front of the NYC caboose.

The track cleaning coal hoppers work great and are just what was needed. In Phase 2 of this project the L&N hoppers will look a lot different.

The proof is on the pad! All of that New York Central lightning striped equipment sure left its mark on the RR! The pads are easily cleaned using an alcohol wipe or by light sanding.

The Track Cleaning Coal Hoppers in action!

Track Cleaning Coal Hopper Project Phase 2

Just before he passed away in August 2018 our late friend Engineer Ed had HO scale decals custom made for his Hoschton Railway. Part of the order included decals for coal hoppers. Here are the L&N hoppers just out of the Patti O Paint Shop.

HR 651786 sporting a patch out paint job that left the "Dixie Line" intact. I think Ed would have liked this as the slogan for his freelanced RR was "Hoschton Serves the South".

Two fully painted black HR coal hoppers loaded at Hudson Coal.

A newly painted Hoschton track cleaning hopper coupled up to a 
pair of previously painted HR 100 ton hoppers in a unit coal train.

The Hoschton Hoppers in an Engineer Ed inspired coal train;

This project has paid big dividends. It honors Engineer Ed who loved running coal trains on the NYCTL, keeps the tracks clean and the unit coal trains pure. That is a win-win-win.

Modelers can find similar ready to install Masonite track cleaning kits at PPW/A-Line. A google search will also give you plenty of how to articles to make them yourself.  

Thanks for reading and watching!!!

See ya soon!!!  

Empire Belt RR 50' Boxcar Project

Greetings All,

If you've ever had one of those simple kit builds that was anything but simple read on!

I recently purchased this Front Range Products New York Central boxcar kit via an online purchase. This may be the first piece of rolling stock I've bought from this manufacturer. I was drawn to the "Made in USA" and the pre mercury green NYC paint scheme. 

The instruction sheet congratulated me on purchasing one of the most accurate railroad boxcar kits available today. Prototype information supplied report this boxcar was built by ACF Industries between 1938 and 1962. There were about 10,000 cars built and they represented the standard ACF steel boxcar of the period.

The sheet lists the original buyers and the numbers of cars purchased. Not included in that list is the New York Central! So much for accurate. The car still looks good though so I checked my NYC freight equipment book and other online sources to see if it was close to any NYC equipment. The answer was no. The big discrepancy is the reporting marks that are on the wrong side for a NYC double door boxcar. Would this bother me?

The answer was yes. Now, I have many non prototypical pieces of rolling stock and motive power running on my layout and never give them a second thought. But I also have a lot of accurate New York Central rolling stock and this car was not going to fit in. So I stripped off the lettering in 91% alcohol and repainted the car. 

After scrounging around in my decals box and checking online sources I decided to letter the car for my freelanced Empire Belt RR which is a NYC subsidiary. Below the car is partially assembled and in the Solvaset phase of the project. 

The car is now fully assembled with Kadee #5 couplers and Intermountain metal wheels. Not a fan of the plastic pins included with the kit for the coupler box cover and trucks I substituted 2-56 screws and coupler box covers from my parts box. The trucks have been painted with red automotive primer.

The removal of the roof walk and addition of the shortened ladders, COTS and ACI labels put this car into the 1970's. The NYC Early Bird 46000 series cars received similar treatments as seen here 

Trust me when I tell you adding the separate ladders, grab irons, stirrups and brake wheel details was very time consuming. I spent a lot of time drilling open holes and finessing the parts into their proper locations. Nothing fit this car easily including the roof and doors. 

A brake end view.

Here is EBRR 46035 with some of its NYC Early Bird cousins.

All in all this was a tough build. I still have not figured out the door system so I just glued them on closed. I'm happy with the end result but would be hesitant to purchase another of these kits.

Special Bonus for reading the whole story!

Enjoy this NYC Lightning Stripe Weekend Part 2 

video I just posted:

Thanks for reading and watching!!!!

See ya soon!!!

Last Trip to Local Hobby Shop?

Greetings All,

On June 19th, 2020 I made my final trip to my local Hobby Shop, Trainmaster Models in Buford Georgia. Trainmaster announced it was closing it's doors at the Buford Store effective June 20th. 

The building and property has been for sale for about two years now. Whether it is actually sold is unknown as they are playing their cards very close to their vests.Whether they reopen a brick and mortar location in my general area is undetermined at this time.


I took a good look at the last of the stores used offerings that had a 50% discount on their price and purchased the below items. 

LV 40' boxcar #65050 is a Rail Runner Custom Painted Athearn BB product. 

The car weight and under frame were painted flat black with Kadee underset shank couplers and Proto 2000 metal wheels installed.

The Lehigh Valley 65050 is representative of LV 40' ex 62000 series PS 1 boxcars that were sold to US Railway Equipment for rebuilding from 1969 - 1973 and then leased back by the Lehigh Valley with new reporting marks 65000 - 65069.

All in all a nice looking rugged Athearn model with an opening door. Prototypical modelers of the LV would find that the Youngstown door is better suited for the 66000 series AAR rebuilds by Bethlehem Steel during the same period. The USRE rebuilds had Superior doors. This is not a problem for me, I'll live with it.  

Prototype photos of LV 65050 show an ACI label next to the COTS panels so I added that.

This older Life Like LV 66392 recently shown in P.C.C.M. 74 is a good representative of the Bethlehem Steel rebuilds from 1973 numbered 66380 - 66524.

The LV 66393 had an ACI label adjacent the data under the LV herald so that was added to LV 66392 which also serves as a track cleaning car. Look for it in future virtual ops! 

Next we have an older Athearn Blue Box Soo Line 50' boxcar that has been added to the fleet. After 25 years in the hobby I found this is my first piece of Soo Line rolling stock. The model is a good representative of a prototype Soo Line car. 

Soo Line RBL #177850 is perfect for loading the adhesive backed rolls of printed labels manufactured by Berk Enterprises.  

The under frame of the car and metal weight have been painted with rattle can flat black. The car has received Intermountain metal wheels and Kadee #5 couplers. Note the small screw that fixed the drooping coupler box. 

As an avid fan of T.OF.C. and tractor trailers in general this Athearn Blue Box Navajo tractor trailer kit was a nice find.

The tractor and trailer are fulled assembled parked at Moore & Co with the rear rims painted red like the prototype Navajo trailer .

Here's the Navajo Trailer crossing the Empire City viaduct on an ATSF 10-Pack Fuel Foiler set of spine cars from Athearn.

Last but not least was something I never saw before. HALSAM Skyline kit #93 was manufactured circa 1962. It was discontinued when Plaskool bought out Halsam in January 1962.

HALSAM Products Company

 

Not sure if all the pieces are present but there were a lot of them.

I spent a rainy afternoon building the newest Empire City skyscraper. Assembly was pretty easy once I figured out how the pieces had to go together following the photos in the color pages above.

There is no glue required and the building is very sturdy. The kit comes with blue tinted plastic windows that I did not apply. I'll keep it like this for awhile to make sure I like it and then dismantle it for painting. Or maybe I'll build something else?

While I was very happy with my model railroad finds it was a  bittersweet day of close out shopping at Trainmaster Models. I do hope the reopen a brick and mortar location somewhere near me. Last report was an estate auction that was held the weekend following the store closure.

Thanks for reading!!!

See ya soon!!!