MTH ABA

Mark,

The trailing A unit is slaved to the lead A unit, so it cannot be run separately.  You can run the lead A by itself, or run as an AA or ABA.

Ron,

That's what I thought.  Thank you very much sir.

-Mark

I was hoping that with the Proto-3 implementation they'd just produce the A-units as independent units in the set, but they kept the silly (and unsightly) tether system. Made things really interesting when I got the extra B-unit.

In actuality only MTH AAs, ABs, ABAs etc. are truly MU'd!

Ron 

Wait a minute.  That's only true if there is an MU wire.  If you are talking 2 rail there may not be a wire.  If there is no wire to connect between the A units then you could run them individually.  Provided the 2nd A unit is powered.

I have an ABA set of F3's and they are all powered.  No MU wire.  I can run any of them, even the B unit, by itself.  I cannot remember the maker.  Might be Weaver or Atlas.  They are 2 rail.

Rick

Didn't think of it that way, but you're right. Still don't like the tether, though. It's a hassle to set up on an ABBA.

Hi guys, it's me again.  I just checked on that F3 ABA set and guess what?????  It IS MTH 2 rail scale.  NO tether between the units.  Kadee couplers.  And like I said before all units are powered and can be run individually.

Matt, I know what you mean.  I have an ABA E8 set by MTH with the tether.  It is a pain to handle all 3 engines with only 2 hands.  And those babies are heavy.  I can only imagine ABBA set.

Rick

That's good news indeed.  Glad I asked

-Mark

It gets interesting with an ABBA setup. You have to connect it [more or less] on the tracks. It's a hassle. It was real fun with my F7 set because the ABA set has scale wheels, but the add-on B-unit is hi-rail only. Had to reconfigure the trucks on both B-units to get them set back-to-back with the right tether connections and couplers. One of these years I'll put Kadees on the backs of the B-units.

I have an ABA set of F3's and they are all powered.  No MU wire.  I can run any of them, even the B unit, by itself.  I cannot remember the maker.  Might be Weaver or Atlas.  They are 2 rail.

 

Rick

Hi guys, it's me again.  I just checked on that F3 ABA set and guess what?????  It IS MTH 2 rail scale.  NO tether between the units.  Kadee couplers.  And like I said before all units are powered and can be run individually.

Hold on there Rick.  All MTH F units (FT, F3, F7) built with ProtoSound 2 or 3 have powered As with the trailing A unit slaved to the leading A unit.  The A units are connected by a tether.  B units are unpowered and have tethers to pass trough the signals and lighting between the A units.

The earliest MTH F3 sets made in the 1990s were conventionally controlled, available in 2 or 3 rail and had only the lead A unit powered.  If more power was desired powered B units were available as were dummy Bs.

Either you have a conglomeration of 1990s vintage MTH F3s with all powered units, more modern MTH F units where someone has added power to all of them and removed the slave board and tether of you don't have MTH F units.

If you have the box with the product number or photographs I think we can identify what you really have.

In answer to Mark's original question, if you are looking for O scale MTH F units made in this century only the A units are powered and they can not be run as two separately controlled independent units.

In HO MTH Proto 3 Fs and PAs are untethered independent locomotives that can be consisted together.

Hope that helps. 

When  I have converted MTH or Lionel F Units to 2 rail operation, I wired the powered units to run independently of each other with no tethers between the units.  If I did the conversion, the Kadees will be mounted to the frames with machined brass barstock adapters.

Joe Foehrkolb