F3s For Fridays

It’s the wee hours of Friday and time, once again, for F3s for Fridays.

The video below shows my smooth conventional running Williams Penn Central F3 powered A unit (2 motors) and non-powered B unit hauling oil and coal plus Penn Central caboose through My Little Town:

That powered Williams F3 with 2 motos is a great puller,

I would love to see your F3/F3 look a likes that you would like to share today. When you do, please follow the Forum Terms of Service and post only photos/videos you have taken or those in which you have obtained the written permission of the owner to post.

Arnold

Good morning, F3Fri fans!  I was fast asleep when Arnold opened the throttle, but I’m ready to pour on the coal now!

The star of the show, again, is my 2343 Lionel Santa Fe F3 A-B-A combo.  In the first film, the Steam Crazy Lines official photographer, Kamra Lenz, captured the F3s starting a heavy passenger train.  Just listen to the sound of real power!

In the second two films, Mr. Lenz is shooting the F3s, hauling the Chief, on the Nowheresville (Nowheresville?  A friend, frustrated by the fact I haven’t named the Main St scene on my layout, gave it that name) Straight.  The first film was shot atop the signal bridge on the Straight, the second on the end with the train going away.

John

My F-series diesel for this Friday, February 21, 2025, is New Haven Railroad EMD FL9 #2043. The model was made by Sunset/3^rdRail in 2013 and is the only O gauge model of an FL9 that has been built to date.

The New Haven Railroad was the only buyer of new FL9s from the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors. The design was developed specifically for the New Haven because it needed a dual-mode diesel-electric locomotive that could operate throughout the system and also into Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan on 600-Volt Direct Current from an electrified third-rail. The FL9 was the longest F-series locomotive. It carried a steam generator for passenger service and rode on a 3-axle rear A1A truck due to axle-load limitations on the Park Avenue Viaduct. The middle axle was unpowered and served to distribute the weight onto three axles instead of two.

Thirty FL9s entered service on the New Haven Railroad in 1956 and another thirty were delivered in 1960. All sixty had a Hancock air whistle mounted on the upper part of the windshield whose melodic sound is reproduced by the model.

FL9s continued to run in Connecticut during the Metro-North era and hauled commuter cars like those pictured behind my model on my 12’-by-8’ layout.

MELGAR

Hi All, wow Friday already. My submission this week is the handsome F3 ABA set in the short video below. The set is a 1999 Premier DAP set, which I originally added a while back. She has just been converted to PS-2 electronics. It was running great but shortly after this video sadly the trailing A unit slave board went on the fritz. So we are now waiting for parts to get her rolling again. All in a days work I guess, ho-hum.

This too shall pass, as a wise man once said!

Well good morning covered wagon fans !  My offering today, like MELGAR's comes from the New Haven.  It is the Marx, New Haven E-7 A unit, pulling a small passenger train. She only offers a single motor and no features but she pulls her share and still runs fine many years after being new.

Best wishes, hope you have a great weekend

Don

I guess this counts?  A K-line F3b that had all the electronics removed and was "dummified".  Okay, more accurately stated, made non powered.  Photographed on my modular layout which is currently and sadly stored for lack of a place to set it up.

A pair of F-3's about ready to pull some famous brands out of the brewery for the trip south...

How about a variation on @MELGAR and @Don McErlean’s New Haven theme… here is a Lionel NH C-Liner from a couple of years ago.

This pic is very timely since Metro North is readying a new NH scheme heritage engine!!!

https://www.trains.com/trn/new...it-honors-new-haven/

EDIT: you probably need Facebook to view this, but MN posted some beautiful photos of the new scheme on their official page…

https://m.facebook.com/story.p...p;id=100064359837027

You'll never know what you may find in a thrift store!

@Tom Morris posted:

You'll never know what you may find in a thrift store!

Score!!

These are Lionel scale B&O F3s, no. 14565. One thing that's unique about them (and kudos to Lionel for adding this) is that the number boards on the front center ( in the door) are actually illuminated. A cool effect. Mine aren't out currently, but here are some shots posted by forum members D&H 65 and c.sam from several years ago.

My latest purchase is the elusive very nice condition Lionel 2240 F3 Wabash A-B. Did the usual basic maintenance, resoldered wires, replaced the pivoting stud for the front truck, cleaned, greased and oiled .   

Oops, been so busy with my law cases lately, almost forgot about starting up this thread this morning.

This one’s from my archives, and let’s pretend it’s the mid 1950s and we are passengers on this NY Central F3 driven passenger train rolling through an upstate NY town;

Arnold

Happy F3 Friday!  Arnold, I was wondering where you were, but I guess we can forgive you for concentrating on your work!

A trip to the archives is in order for me, too.  Maine Central F3 no. 671 is a postwar Lionel model.  I picked up the custom painted shell at a NETCA show and bought a chassis from my favorite postwar repairman.  I need to pay a visit to my friend soon, because no. 671 currently refuses to move!

John

Well here is one I haven’t put in before. Its a K-Line TMCC GN A-A pair from the early 2000’s, not sure exactly when. There is also a separate sale B unit that goes with it that you sometimes see for sale on ebay. Alas I don’t own one. She’s pulling the morning passenger train (RK Empire Builder) up the big hill this morning and doing a fine job.

Amtrak #102 was an EMD F7 Phase 1 locomotive. My model was made by Atlas O (30134002) in 2015 at MSRP $499.95 with TMCC and runs on O-36.

This locomotive was Northern Pacific 6509A prior to becoming Amtrak #102 in 1972. Photographs online show it at the head end of Amtrak Train 9, the North Coast Hiawatha, at Three Forks, Montana, heading west to Seattle on July 31, 1973. It was built in November 1949 and retired in October 1975.

MELGAR

Wow, there’s a lot  of beautiful F units made by many manufacturers, both in the presence and sad to say in the past. Happy F 3 Friday everyone.

Wonderful F3s for Fridays today thanks to all of your outstanding replies, photos and videos this morning.

Here is my brief weekly reminder to completely comply with the Forum Terms of Service, as required by our Forum Head Coach, Alan Arnold. Only post photos and videos you have taken or those in which you have the written permission of the owner to post.

Arnold

Just finished shoveling snow  and I'll have to go along with Arnold and John and post an archive front end video until I get back to the layout.

Here are K-line Santa Fe F3s that I replaced the shovel pilots with fixed freight-style pilots.  Santa Fe used these on both their freight and passenger trains.  Also upgraded with Kadees and diaphragms.  While they aren't in the same class as csam's MTH F7s with the stainless steel panels, the K-lines are nice low cost scale F3s. Their main defect is the squinty eye windshields.  I may take a file to them someday . . .

Bob

@NJCJOE posted:

Joe is that set 6-21759 from 2000? very nice indeed. And love the trestlework; how many hours did you put into that?

@Rod Stewart posted:

Joe is that set 6-21759 from 2000? very nice indeed. And love the trestlework; how many hours did you put into that?

Yes, that set is from 2000. The trestle was actually built by a friend of mine.  You can read more here.

https://ogrforum.com/topic/154...8#175427630686922358

A pair of K-line F-3's reporting for duty to haul the coal train...

MTH Premiere Texas Special ABBA at the club layout some years ago.  They have a 'special' memory as I purchased them from Marty Fitzhenry

@NJCJOE posted:

Yes, that set is from 2000. The trestle was actually built by a friend of mine.  You can read more here.

https://ogrforum.com/topic/154...8#175427630686922358

Everybody needs friends like Steve and Owen!

Here is the Lionel # 8351 Alco FA in Santa Fe freight colors pulling a short freight train.  This is an Lionel MPC engine dating from 1973-1975.  She is simple but on my relatively flat and short layout she does fine, pulling a respectable freight train anywhere I wish.  

A side view of the same Alco FA

Happy Friday, Best Wishes

Don

@Rod Stewart posted:

Everybody needs friends like Steve and Owen!

Amen to that!

Two classic Lionel F3s from the post-war era.  NYC and Santa Fe still look great.  Santa Fe is a 2343 and the NYC a 2344.

F2

Snow is cleaned up ......now back on the layout for real on the last day of February 2025

MTH Premier F7 locomotion front coming at you.             Be safe , get ready for March.

Some scribblings of Jimmy Don McCradden in his old scrap book...

Autumn 1964...

Don't happen very oftin, but this mornin' down at the small engine service area at Ozarka wuz one of them engines the KC&G boys call a "Covered Wagon".

I've always liked 'em, them Covered Wagons. They shore sound great when they's pullin' hard on Buck Mountain.

When I git a chance to hop in Ol' Faithful (Ol' Faithful is my trusty ol' 1950 Chevy pickup) an' do a little bit of watchin' the KC&G here in my region... I'm always mighty pleased to see Covered Wagons on the head end. Yesiree, it sounds awful good to hear 'em pullin' their guts out comin' through Sweetgum as they's headed fer Buck Holler.

Anyways, I found out from Ol' Jess Hargar (he's the Engine Shop Foreman at Ozarka) that #321 had some sort of "ground relay" thing goin' on that wuz causin' it to drop power. Jess found an' fixed the issue, so now ol' #321 can git picked up by one of them other trains and be on its way agin.

Anyways, I wuzs able to take my little Kodak Brownie an' snap a color pic of #321 as it sat there a' purrin' on one of the service tracks. Here's the pic...

About the photo...

Shot early in February shortly after finishing up F7A #321 and getting it into service. The model is an HO scale Stewart/Kato that I've modified slightly, then had DCC/Sound added, and eventually applied paint/decals/weathering. It's sometimes like pulling hens teeth to get another unit finished! I also finished a GP7 alongside the #321, but this thread isn't about Geeps!

All fer now!

Andre

Good morning. It’s now the wee hours of Friday morning so it’s time for F3s for Fridays. This is where we discuss and post photos and videos of our F3 or F3 look  a like diesels.

i will start us off with an F3 look a like, specifically E6 diesels. Below are photos from my archives showing MTH PS3 Illinois Central  E6 units with matching MTH custom painted Illinois Central passenger cars:

Yes, that Illinois Central passenger train is also known as the City of New Orleans and the subject of what I regard as the best train song of all time: City of New Orleans.

Now, let’s see what you’ve got to show us this morning. When you do, please follow the Forum Terms of Service including posting only photos and videos you’ve taken, or those in which the owner has given you written permission to post. Arnold

From the archives (Nov 2012)…….a Williams ALCO PA ABA set with streamlined passenger cars on our club layout….

Have a great and safe week, everyone.

Peter

Metro-North #412 is a K-Line model (K2544-0412) of an EMD F-unit diesel delivered in 2000 at MSRP $309.95. Photos and video show 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

Good morning, F3 folks!  Like Peter, I’ve chosen to show Williams Alcos today, but I have a Canadian Pacific FA and FB, not PAs.

Alco FAs were primarily designed to haul freight, but some were equipped with steam generators so they could pull passenger trains. My FA-FB duo is hauling the “Canadian”, a passenger set also by Williams.

This passenger set is the first I’ve bought with silhouettes in the windows, not clear windows with interior seating.  I wasn’t sure I’d be happy with it, but I bought it because 1) CP cars are scarce, 2) it was inexpensive and 3) it reminded me of the beautiful 1957 Lionel CP F3 set.  I used to own two cars from that set but sold them, not wanting to pay the high prevailing price for that classic.

It turned out to be a good purchase.  I’m enjoying the classic “feel” of this set and I think it looks great with my FA-FB.  I hope you do too!

John

A Weaver first generation FA-1 A&B units along with another first generation Weaver RS-3 all in New Haven livery head a revenue freight through Meriden Connecticut on the NYNH&H section of my layout. The lead unit in Hunter Green was a custom paint job.

The above post is missing this video, I have always claimed I'm glad I never had to make a living in the IT field.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/mg2q3paJEEQuXLdG7

K-line F3s notching up to make up time for the El Capitan.

Bob
(Stillmeadow Crossing Modular Layout)

The F-3 Fridays roll around quickly these days...here are three F-3's at the Charles Street Yard (and two PA's...have a great day!