Shorter F3s and EP5s

Is THIS what you saw in an F3?

That's not it Rob.  The ones I saw had four wheel trucks and looked just like a normal size F3, except shorter or should I say more compact.  They may have been FTs.  

Lionel made EP-5's with shorter bodies and two-axle EMD trucks. Until they produced the EMD FT diesel, the only other "covered wagon" unit they had smaller than the F3 would have been the Alco FA.

---PCJ 

Here is the MTH Railking F3 "shorty":

It's probably early MTH Railking Rugged Rails. The PS1 F3's were shorter than the Lionel postwar f3's

And here is the MTH Railking EP5 "shorty":

That be them Rob.  Thanks.  Not as much detail as I thought on either of them.  What kind of money are these things bringing if indeed they are still available ?

I just found an MTH F3 "rugged rails" on Ebay.  Looks like what I was talking about.  11 3/4" long.

Dan - you may also check out Williams Golden Memories line of locomotives which are semi scale.   These are basically Lionel semi scale loco imitations done very well! 

Here's my MTH "shorty" Railking Santa Fe ABA from 1998 or so. The have dual motors and QSI sounds. They are very good runners and look good also. I'll get a  model number when I can dig out the box.

franktrain

Dan P,

idk what you mean by not as much detail. These rugged rail diesels have more detail on the body than the postwar F3's and Lionel's FA? Mutt.

True that there is not much separate detail but for the price point you do get your money's worth.

Dan, the Railking F3 is approximately 8 scale feet shorter than the Atlas scale F3, I have both.

The MTH Rail King F3 is shorter AND smaller overall. They run GREAT and look the same.......but now that I am going scale they really look out of place. If they were not D&RGW I'd sell them. 

prrhorseshoecurve posted:

Dan P,

idk what you mean by not as much detail. These rugged rail diesels have more detail on the body than the postwar F3's and Lionel's FA? Mutt.

True that there is not much separate detail but for the price point you do get your money's worth.

The separate detail was what I meant.  It wasn't meant to be a criticism though.  Your photos show excellent detail.  The only time I saw the MTH F3s was at train shows.  At the time I wasn't back into O scale but still heavily into large scale, so I gave them a passing glance.  

Took some comparison photos of my early MTH Railking F3 and Dash 8 with a postwar F3 and a scale Atlas Dash 8. I wonder if MTH was trying make these for the 027 operators then later dropped that line of thinking. I also remember K-line came out with a UP bigboy that was closer to S gauge. Have not seen to many of those around.

I remember preordering the RK Dash 8 and was disappointed when I received it being very compressed, hardly ever ran it. I see the shorty F3s on eBay and if you did not know how short they are you would be disappointed when you got them.

Merry Christmas!

franktrain

Postwar F3, Railking F3

franktrain posted:

Took some comparison photos of my early MTH Railking F3 and Dash 8 with a postwar F3 and a scale Atlas Dash 8. I wonder if MTH was trying make these for the 027 operators then later dropped that line of thinking. I also remember K-line came out with a UP bigboy that was closer to S gauge. Have not seen to many of those around.

I remember preordering the RK Dash 8 and was disappointed when I received it being very compressed, hardly ever ran it. I see the shorty F3s on eBay and if you did not know how short they are you would be disappointed when you got them.

Merry Christmas!

franktrain

Postwar F3, Railking F3

 

They way I am looking at the shortened locos is that when running them along with semi-scale GG1s and most post war Lionel steamers, they actually look better.  An F3 is about 50' in length, while a GG1 is close to 80', so the shortened F3 plays better in that case, IMHO.  Not to mention that post was freight cars are generally not full O scale but more like 3/16" to the foot.    

Agree with you Dan. Even though our hobby has been segmented into Scale and Traditional (semi-scale, whatever), there are great variations in the latter.  I have a Lionel semi-scale K4 that's bigger than my Lionel semi-scale Berkshire (labeled a Junior Berkshire).  Within Traditional, they almost need a "near scale" and an O27 designation.

If I was starting over, I'd do like you and look into the shorty Railking F3's.