F3s For Fridays

Lots of great looking and sounding F3s and other covered wagons!!  This week I will show another F3 that is on the shelf right now.  This MTH Premier ProtoSound set were factory painted in the handsome Great Northern green and orange.  I bought them 10 years ago thinking I would upgrade to PS2.  In the interim, I damaged 2 shells and decided to putty them and repaint in the B&O solid blue I remember seeing growing up.  I then learned I would need an upgrade kit for each powered unit, so I put them on the shelf.  The last time I ran them, they didn't run quite right and I shelved them again.  Time will tell what I do with them, but for now they are nice on the shelf.

Let's see what we've got for today

Bob's late K-Line MR F units.

I was going to reply to a particular stunning set of F3 shown above, like it and then I moved on and had the same reaction to just about every set of F3s and F3 look a likes posted today on this thread.

It’s very hard for me to say that one type of locomotive is better than the other, but when it comes to aesthetic beauty, I give the nod to the F3s and their look a likes.

Below is another short video of my MTH PS3 New Haven PAs with the Alpert livery hauling milk and passengers around the ole ball park:

Arnold

2356 Southern ABA F3s pulling a 7 car Crescent consist.  These are Weaver striped cars.  Same extrusions as Lionel and Williams.

That Southern Set has always been one of my favorite PW set of diesels! Your's look terrific - thanks for posting...

Here are my Menards PRR F-3's.  New this year.

Best Wishes, Don

Atlas F3s and a Sunset DM&IR 2-8-8-4 hang out together on my layout. This isn't accurate in terms of the time frame, because the Yellowstones were leased to D&RGW during several winters (1942-1944) prior to the arrival of F3s in 1946. But they do look good together.

Good morning and welcome back to F3s for Fridays, the place where those beautiful diesel locomotives, F3s and their look a likes, can be seen and discussed.

Please remember when posting photos and videos to post only those you have taken or those in which you have obtained the written permission of the owner to post, and comply with the Forum terms of service,

I will start us off with the video below showing a set of modern Lionel NY Central F3s hauling gleaming Lionel NY Central aluminum extruded passenger cars:

Now, it’s your turn, let’s see what you have to share. Arnold

Hello fans of F3s and their sisters!  A couple of weeks ago I posted my Santa Fe F3 no. 2343 and called it probably the most iconic postwar diesel.  The diesel I’m posting today, if not number two, is definitely in the top five.

I bought my Texas Special no. 2245 from a friend for a “song”.  It didn’t run, but a trip to a postwar repairman got it running smoothly.  There were quite a few paint chips in the finish, but I found Testor’s gloss red matched the finish almost perfectly.  I touched up the chips with a fine brush; you have look closely to see the imperfections.  Finally, I located a matching B unit at a NETCA train show a couple of weeks later.

But, how does it pull?  I coupled up the same heavy coal drag I hauled with my modern Canadian Pacific FA-1 (equipped with two can motors) last Friday.  The 2245, powered by a single horizontal Pullmor “growler” motor, handled the train with ease!

John

Metro-North #412 is a K-Line model (K2544-0412) of an EMD F-unit diesel delivered in 2000 at MSRP $309.95. I ran the model with two Metro-North 21-inch commuter coaches by Atlas O on my 12'-by-8' layout. Cars of this type ran in Connecticut as did Metro-North #413, which was painted in the same livery as seen here on #412.

MELGAR

That Texas Special of yours Joh is really sharp!  I would concur that it's at least in the top 5

For today

Williams E7s.      lower. MTH F3's

New layout, also decorating for the Holidays lol.

B&O F3 AB, Lionel MPC

My favorite B&O paint scheme.

An honorable mention to the Santa Fe's on the window sill too....

Bob

While we are on the subject of B&O F-3s, Here is another one from Lionel.

Technically an F3, just not the kind you were expecting.

The PRR F3 was one of three classes of Mogul steam locomotives developed by the Pennsylvania between 1895 and 1901.  The F3 served until the 1930's and initially designed for fast freight and suburban passenger service.  This model is a Gem brass model that was offered as a screwdriver kit and has been modified with the more modern arc lamp headlight and generator in lieu of the oil headlamp the model came with. The tender has also been modified from the factory one with a reverse light on the tender.

The most delicious F3 ever made…….heading west going under the New York State Thruway on the Kingston Branch of the NYO&W…..

Picture taken June 7, 2006 on my 53rd birthday……

Peter

Peter very cool, you will be passing my house haha!

@Steam Crazy - Boy that 2245 Texas Special really runs smooth.  Thanks for posting.

Here is the Marx #901 Western Pacific E-7 ABA.  The A units were available 1956-1960 but the B unit was only available 1957-1958.

Best Wishes, Don

Don, that Western Pacific E7 by Marx is really cool!  I didn't know Marx continued to produce trains until - at least - 1960.  I learn somethng every time you post!

John

My Marx 901 Western Pacific E units.  I modified the units with an E unit lock out and a Lionel coupler at the rear.  They're nicely proportioned pulling green and yellow small Lionel streamliners.

@Steam Crazy- John : Believe it or not, Marx continued well after 1960.  The end of the traditional Marx and Co operation in Erie, Gerard, and Glendale plants occurred on March 10,1972 when an agreement was reached with the Quaker Oats Company of Stamford, Conn for the sale of the domestic Marx toy plants.  Marx sales for 1971 totaled $67,000,000.   It is interesting to note the parallel between Marx and Quaker Oats and Lionel and General Mills.  Quaker Oats however was no where near as successful with the Marx line of toys (including trains) as was General Mills (MPC) was with Lionel  and sold off their interests in 1975.  Marx train production stopped in November 1975.

Thanks for your comment.

Best Wishes, Don

All-Nation. Some of the best tool-and-die work ever. From the early 1950's. How such precision was possible then is beyond me. No CAD. No CAM. No AI. Just tools (hand and otherwise), care, skills and experience. They came in 2- or 3-rail.

Place of manufacture, if you can make it out. Not my home town, but, still.

@D500 I agree that the All Nation F3 is an amazing model for its time, and it still holds its own against many modern models in terms scale fidelity and detailing.  In 1947, Varney did a similarly casted F3 that while not quite as well-proportioned as the All Nation O model, set a benchmark for HO models of its era.

Apologies for the crude images.  These are flatbed scans of 3x5 prints done in the late 1990's.  I detailed and custom painted several of these for my father and my uncle who are both big WM Fans in the mid 1990's.  For those who are keeping track this would fall into the phase II configuration with high fans, but they aren't totally accurate as the high fans were changed to the F7 style fans during the mid to late phase II production of the F3.  Still wonderful models for the time period.  I have several in my own collection that one day I'll get back to completing .... or not.

Not posted to this thread, but from a period where I thought it was fun to photograph in what passes for grass in my desert Arizona backyard are a pair of Sunset F3s in PRR.  These are Phase II late with chicken wire grilles between the portholes.

I like the All-Nation F-3s.

F7s

Good morning and welcome back to F3s for Fridays.

i will start us off with 2 videos I took on Wednesday at the New Jersey HiRailers magnificent layout showing an MTH PS3 Illinois Central E6 A-B-A units hauling MTH custom painted Illinois Central passenger cars:

That Illinois Central train is the classic City of New Orleans passenger train.

Now, it’s your turn to show us your F3s and F3 look a likes. Please remember when you do so to post only photos and videos you have taken or those in which you have obtained the written permission of the owner to post.
Arnold

Good morning, Arnold!

Glad to see your City of New Orleans in operation through New Jersey.

My F3 for this Friday is Boston & Maine Railroad EMD #4227 delivered by Sunset Models in 2021 at MSRP $699.95. The model is scale-sized and highly detailed with a fixed pilot and operates reliably through the Atlas O-54 curves and switches on my layout.

This 3-rail version has ERR Cruise Control and Lionel Trainmaster Command Control (TMCC) with Railsounds 5.0. It has a single Canon motor mounted horizontally that drives all wheels through a toothed rubber belt, metal driveshafts, metal universal joints, and axles supported in ball-bearings. The drive is very quiet and produces smooth acceleration and low-speed running.

The B&M purchased two F3 A-B locomotive sets in 1948, #4227 and #4228, for passenger service.  Each individual unit had an EMD 567 two-cycle, supercharged V16 diesel engine that developed 1,500 horsepower. The #4227 remained in service until at least 1966.

Photos and videos show the model on the O-54 loop of my 12’-by-8 layout pulling two B&M heavyweight passenger cars by MTH.

MELGAR

Hello F3 diesel fans!  My Maine Central F3, no. 671, is a postwar Lionel engine.  I picked the custom painted shell at a NETCA train show.  The paint job isn’t perfectly accurate, but well done and attractive.  The shell was installed on a chassis I purchased from my favorite postwar repairman.  Unfortunately, no. 671 recently stopped running, so another trip to my friend is in the near future.

John

As mentioned earlier, I have only one ABA set of F3s and it is from 3rd Rail.  Here is a video of them.

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Good morning and welcome back to F3s for Fridays.

i will start us off with 2 videos I took on Wednesday at the New Jersey HiRailers magnificent layout showing an MTH PS3 Illinois Central E6 A-B-A units hauling MTH custom painted Illinois Central passenger cars:

That Illinois Central train is the classic City of New Orleans passenger train.

Good Videos.  But, thought the audio might include you "singing the song".

Good afternoon, Arnold!  Great looking F3s everyone.  This time I am posting a photograph of a mixed origin Western Maryland F3 AA set.  The F3 on the right, the lead engine, is an MTH Premier PS3 in "new" Speedletter livery.  The "older" Fireball" F3 on the left is also a Premier, but was originally ProtoSound and I upgraded it to PS3.

One of the F3’s distant cousins… an A-B-A set of Canadian Pacific FA-2’s (Lionel 2019). Definitely one of my all time favorite paint schemes.

Well here are of few of mine, but a day late.  Just couldn't make it work on Friday night so I had to delay.

Here is the Lionel #2023 UP ALCO FA AA units from 1950-1951

Here is the Lionel #2344 NYC F-3 AA units from 1950-1952 and the #2344C F-3 B unit from 1950-1955

Here is a very low end Lionel #221 Rio Grande ALCO FA A unit from 1963-1964

Best Wishes, Don

@Mark Boyce posted:

Lots of great looking and sounding F3s and other covered wagons!!  This week I will show another F3 that is on the shelf right now.  This MTH Premier ProtoSound set were factory painted in the handsome Great Northern green and orange.  I bought them 10 years ago thinking I would upgrade to PS2.  In the interim, I damaged 2 shells and decided to putty them and repaint in the B&O solid blue I remember seeing growing up.  I then learned I would need an upgrade kit for each powered unit, so I put them on the shelf.  The last time I ran them, they didn't run quite right and I shelved them again.  Time will tell what I do with them, but for now they are nice on the shelf.

Mark, that's a great shelve system you have for storage...installing similiar is my next project!  Here's an F-3 ildeing at the "Charles Street Yard" the other night...

Welcome back to F3s for Fridays.

The videos below show one of my best pullers: scale Williams New York Central F3s hauling gleaming Williams New York Central aluminum extruded passenger cars:

You now can share your F3 and F3 look a likes with your Forum friends. When doing so, please post only photos and videos you have taken or those in which you’ve obtained the written permission of the owner to post. Arnold

My F3 diesel for today (11-21-2024) is Maine Central #686 – an MTH Premier model (20-21458-1) with PS3 delivered in 2020 at MSRP $469.95.

Photos show #686 heading a passenger train on my 12’-by-8’ layout with a consist of two Boston & Maine heavyweight coaches by MTH. The Boston & Maine and Maine Central railroads operated jointly between 1935 and 1954.

#686 was built in November 1948, wrecked at Oakland, Maine in November 1965, and scrapped in April 1967.

MELGAR

How about a delicious FL9?  

Another birthday cake from long ago……a Metro North repaint….

Peter

Happy F3 Friday, Forum friends!  Arnold, I enlarged your videos; your diesels look like Alco FA’s to me.  That doesn’t diminish the fact your train looks great!

My covered wagons for today are MTH Railking EMD E8 models, PRR Nos. 5793a and 5698a.  These locomotives were designed for - and primarily used in passenger service - but could be pressed into freight service if needed.  The E8s are seen today hauling a short string of empty ore hoppers back to the yards.  The diesels will be serviced there for their next passenger run.

John