milwaukee F7 diesel question

F7'S where in freight service only, FP7's where in Passanger service.  With that said, With my Walthers HO Scale Twin Cities or Olympian Hiawatha I run an A-B-A consist, Other tains may be run in other consinsts

Mike is correct about F7 vs. FP7 - the FP version is what was used on passenger trains. As to the combination of A and B units - the Milwaukee was much given to ad hoc arrangements. If you are talking about a scheduled long-distance train like the Olympian or the Twin Cities Hiawatha you would expect ABA or ABBA - but on shorter and local trains, AB, AA, single A unit, whatever was available to do the job is what you would find at the head end. I've seen photos of a bunch of A units running elephant style, a lead A unit in yellow with a couple of B units in orange and maroon, etc. etc. For locals and mid-distance runs, nothing is really incorrect - anything you can dream up was probably run by the prototype railroad at one time or another. 

oh well, on my crazy railroad, the F7's will, in fact, head up passenger trains...but what else to expect from someone who has a bi-polar pulling UP cars with no cat?  i have gotten much less strict about what i run over the past couple of years.

And I am guessing you are enjoying it more. 

well, it has given me some flexibility in cases where i was not as pleased as i could have been.

Since nobody makes an FP-7 in 0 gauge, an F-7 is as close as you are going to get. As far as I know, the only external difference is that the FP-7 is a bit longer (3 feet?) to accommodate the steam generator. There were never any FP-7 B units; the F-7 B units that ran in passenger trains just had steam lines added. 

Hey Forrest, If the Milwaukee could run tenders with freight Little Joes for steam on passenger runs you can run F-7's with passenger trains. Don

And if you run freight trains like Milwaukee did (and I do, too), then F7A's, B's, geeps, u-boats, and FM road engines together is prototypical!

The extra length wasn't for the steam generator.  Some road's F7's were equipped with steam generators and a 500 gallon boiler water capacity.  An F7 B could have 1200 gallons boiler water capacity.

The FP7 was 4 feet longer than a standard F7.  The extra length was to accommodate additional water tanks for an additional 1150 gallons capacity. (up to 1750 gallons without the dynamic brake grid.)

Rusty

thanks, all.  the problem with being late to the milwaukee bug is (a) lack of knowledge and (b) difficulty finding the "correct" stuff.

Forrest, if it runs, you can run it. Get a few good books on the Milwaukee Road. One of the best is "The Milwaukee Electrics" by Noel T. Holley. If covers more than just electrics. Great book. Click on the picture for a larger version. Fm, Alco, Baldwin. Don

With the Milwaukee you can run just about any bizarre combination of diesels that pops into your head and still be prototypically correct.  In the last 15 years or so of the railroad's operation you'd routinely see old EMD F units and FM C-Liners MU'ed with GP-30's, GP-38-2's, SD-45's, MP15AC's, etc. - whatever got them enough horsepower to (hopefully) get over the road. Then again, on another day you'd see a freight with strictly F units or C-Liners, as if the Motive Power Dept. wanted to see how many they could put on one train. Like Don said, investing in a few books will give you some good pics to get ideas from. There are enough Milwaukee gurus on here to make recommendations if anybody's interested.   

so, don, i have found two versions of this book (and they ain't cheap!).  one has four electrics in profile and a big MR emblem on a yellow background and the other (revised, it says) has little joes in snow covered mountains.

are these the same?

Buy the snow version. Yes they are the same with added stuff in the snow version. Believe it or not I have three versions. Can't be without them. No they are not cheap but if you want to learn about Milwaukee get one. I will be grading you in a few months. Don

Milwaukee's FP-7's were originally purchased as passenger engines and soon became their primary power.  However as the engines got  older, some of them did find their way into freight service.

I'm not near my library at the moment, but as I recall, FP-7's were only made as A units.  When they were in ABA or ABBA combination, I think that the B units were regular F-7's.  Someone can check my accuracy on that.

Paul Fischer

"I will be grading you in a few months"

you milwaukee guys are tough!

There were no FP7 B units because added length wasn't needed for extra water capacity.

Rusty