Thoughts on Lionel FT Diesels?

I have seen the ATSF passenger livery units.  ATSF did hve FT's converted for passenger service.  the FT's were shorter han the F3's.

I have the White Burlington's, they are good runners and sound nice. Disappointed that they never made a B unit for that AA set though.

Many folks say that the FT's ARE scale size. They were a tiny bit shorter than the F units in real life.

I like my Burlington AA set, but it was expensive powering the dummy A unit. I had to buy another powered FT to get the power train. Then the E-units were two different designs that could not be made to synch, so I bought a pair of Dallee units.

They have the same drive train as all the other diesels with the "China drive" so they are powerful, quiet and smooth. Do I recall that they do not have flywheels, though? Can't remember. Anyway, they run great, like almost all of the diesels built in the last eight years or so.

I too, would like some B units for this loco, and now I know why I never see any for sale. .

No flywheels.  I love mine, its smooth and can pull a ton.  I know I had at least 20 cars behind mine once, and of course my forum name is from this locomotive.

I have the B&O FT AA with TMCC/Railsounds that I got about 11 years ago when some of the large dealers had them on blowout for less than half the list price. I also manged to find a matching B unit for it a couple of years ago.

I like it and have not had any problems with it.

There is a review of the Lionel FT in the August 2000 ( RUN 174) issue of OGR beginning on page 58.

Yep, same here. I've got one of those FT sets that was on blowout years ago. It's the Santa Fe AA with 3 passenger cars. For a fairly  basic set, very nice. Smooth runners and pulls a ton.

My B&O set runs well, the cab's front windows aren't very accurate (squared off).  Good, inexpensive engine for running.

They are very nice. They don't have flywheels but the motors are not mounted in the trucks and are huge wich is a very good thing. hey are very reliable I have a lot of engines with the same reverse units and they are probably one of the best reverse unitS and very reliable. 

One item of note. The AA units (Santa Fe, B&O, NYC) from the 2000 catalog do have flywheels. My B&O FT does.

http://www.lionel.com/Products...neID=&CatalogId=

Have the Rio Grande Ski Train Set.  Like it alot!!!  Engine sounds are great and it runs perfect.  the paint is right on too  Ed P.

Thanks to everyone for your replies. It sounds like the FT is a nice running conventional locomotive that has plenty of power to pull a good number of cars.

I'm curious about the flywheels. Is the main purpose of flywheels to smooth out the operation of the motors due to the inertia/weight of the flywheel? How does that effect the operation if one wanted to convert the engine to cruise control? I know some control systems require putting tape on the flywheel for speed control. As a hypothetical question, could you upgrade a locomotive that has motors without flywheels to cruise control using ERR components because it doesn't require tape on a flywheel? Or, does the lack of a flywheel make the operation more erratic and difficult to convert to cruise control?

You don't need a flywheel with ERR. I have upgraded numerous FT to Cruise. I bought a dummy unit and powered it and added cruise. If you click on the link below and then Pic's you will see one that I have upgraded.

Bill

Boxcar Bill, thanks for the info. The FT looks like a good candidate for an upgrade.

hello guys and gals........

I like those engines but i think they came with black plastic side gears which is why i avoided buying one. 

the woman who loves the S.F.#5021

Tiffany