FT vs. F3 Lionel locomotives

The Lionel F-3's have die-cast frames while the FT's are stamped sheet-metal.  The F-3's have big Universal (PullMor) motors, while the FT's are can-motored.  Beyond that, a TMCC-equipped FT runs great, pulls well, and sounds terrific.  I happen to think that they're a terrific bang for the buck!

Jon

I believe that the original run of Lionel FT's were marketed as top shelf items but delayed in the late 90's due to issues with the new Oddysey motor that never ended up being produced. When the FT's were finally released in 2000, they did have tmcc but lacked many features found on the pricier F3's of the time (no cab figures, no door grabs, etc.)

Not sure if they changed course because they didn't want to canibalize sales of future f3 units or they just decided that they needed an economy F unit.

I was really looking forward to the FT's introduction back in the 90s. I could do without the cast frame, and F3s used to be really expensive. Unfortunately, they did a pretty poor job rendering the nose and windshields. It doesn't look like a real F-unit, nor does it resemble the Lionel F3, which is a little off but in a familiar way that I can live with.

Now that many more F3s have been made by Williams, MTH, etc, the price of older Lionels has come down.

The other consideration that by the time the Lionel FT came to the market, MTH had already produced their own version of the FT, which had the advantage of being designed during when the hi-rail market tastes evolved further, resulting in the MTH model being more accurate and overall higher detailed in comparison to the Lionel one.

The Lionel FT simply suffered from being a day late and a dollar short, coming out when model detailing trends had already changed.  Not to say it's a horrible locomotive, just suffered a bit of a disadvantage due to it being delayed. 

I have the Lionel Texas Special FT AA units from the "Texan" set and added two B units.  I also upgraded the powered a to TMCC and it is one of my best running and pulling engines......great looking too boot.  A friends has the complete Lionel Santa Fe FT ABBA consist with TMCC and loves it also.

They are great looking diesels, run good and all are easily upgradable to TMCC and Railsounds.  I just wish Lionel would add the B units and dummy A units to the newer FT's they are releasing.  The paint jobs are top notch.

Steve, Lady and Tex

Sunset 3rd rail is still taking reservations for the FT's I have an ABBA set of Santa Fe passenger units on order.