L&N F-7/F-2 #554 or 835 pic added

It was not delivered to the L&N that way.  L&N did not buy any F2's or early F3's.

 

Monon did buy a small fleet of early F3's (with the 3-porthole A-unit style), and was merged into L&N.  However, the oval builder's plate and the rear  suggests that it is a later F3.  The High cooling fans may not be the original fans applied to this unit.  The carbody is definitely not F7 with chicken wire applied in place of the stainless steel grilles, as the shape of the radiator openings would have been different.

 

As to its being an F7 in an F3 carbody . . . many railroads upgraded some or all of the original F3 components to F7 standards, but putting a Chevy 283 V8 in a World War II Jeep never made the Jeep a 1955 Chevrolet.

 

Some of the components that may have been upgraded to more reliable and higher capacity F7 standards include:

• Automatic transition (F3's required that the Engineer "shift" the locomotive from Series to Parallel to Series-Parallel, based on the speed and ammeter readings, to avoid overloading the traction motors and creating destructive levels of heat)
• Main generator
• Traction motors
• Prime mover version (primarily to stop internal water leaks when shut down)

L&N bought a some of old "one-owner" locomotives at low prices from other railroads*, so you'd probably need an L&N roster to properly identify this locomotive's origin and how long the L&N actually used it.

 

*Frisco E8's and L&NE FA1's come to mind.

That's a former Monon unit if I recall correctly.

 

They did buy F3s in 1948, called "black cats" and were assigned to pusher duty on the EK Division.  Those were numbered in the 2500 series.

 

It started out as this....http://donsdepot.donrossgroup.net/dr0102/mon84b.jpg

 

You can read this...http://donsdepot.donrossgroup.net/dr1907.htm

 

Chris

There is a picture on rail pictures 169714  dated 1967 with 835 in it. When did L&N and Monon merge?

1971

 

Rusty

Well, the buck stops here. I sent the question to my good friend Ron Flanary who forgot more about the L&N last night in his sleep than anyone on the forum will know in a lifetime... Here's his response:

It's the carbody of former Monon 210. The L&N acquired the unit (an F3A) in April 1966 after F9A number 554 was nearly destroyed in a derailment. The internal parts (prime mover, generator, etc.) were salvaged from the 554 and placed in the old Monon carbody, which had been stripped inside. The resulting unit internally was a 1750-horsepower F9A, and that's how the L&N classed it. The external appearance, however, remained that of an F3.

With this strange exception, all the Monon cab units were long gone when the L&N acquired the Monon in 1971. The "Frankenstein" 554 remained on the roster until June 11, 1975---one of the very last F-units on the L&N roster.

WOW what a great story! , I have a Lionel F-3 in need of paint, It will be 554.

 

I'll post pics of Frankenstein when it is done.

 

Thanks

 

Scott