Upgrading to a fixed pilot on K-line F3 and Lionel Legacy F7

Rapid Transit Holmes posted:

Mario,

Thanks!  Now I know the difference between passenger and freight pilots!  40 years of railroading and I find out on the OGR Forum.  Who knew?  My only experience with F units was as a Brakeman on the CNW, weekends, when Fs from commuter trains were assigned to freight trains.  We'd usually start with about 4 units and creep into our terminal with only 2 still on line.  I was sometimes assigned to sit in the cab of a trailing unit to push the ground reset every time the unit dropped out.  Climbing those side ladders and walking between units was an adventure.  Fs are nice to look at but that's about it.

Lionel, which is usually good about parts diagrams, has nothing for the powered A unit or non-powered B.  However, there is a page and also a diagram on their website for an non-powered A (6-14562) listed in the 2002 catalog, four years after the original set was listed in 1998.  Strange.

This is industrial archaeology at its finest, just like tracing long abandoned rail lines!  Raiders of the Lost A Unit, Indiana Holmes at your service.  Nobody has more fun than us!

I had a similar experience, where on the weekend after Thanksgiving, while in the cab of an Adirondack Scenic F unit northbound from Utica to Thendara, on fresh snow, we were having difficulties and was tasked to sit in the engineer's seat of the lead F so that the engineer could go back and troubleshoot.  My sole assignment was to wait for the slip light, and pull the sand. 

Good times.

... and pour Vu: (6-18138) Milwaukee Road Conventional F3 A POWERED #75A

Check this out, as well: https://www.lionelsupport.com/...lement43Complete.pdf

I bought the P & D pilots. Where do I obtain the spacers? Does somebody make them or do I have to make them myself?

I will be working on MTH F-3 units and K-Line F-7 units.

RoyBoy posted:

I bought the P & D pilots. Where do I obtain the spacers? Does somebody make them or do I have to make them myself?

I will be working on MTH F-3 units and K-Line F-7 units.

With the P&D pilots, they'll need to be cut down at the specific location, so you won't need a spacer, per se.

Best idea I have is to contact John Sethian and ask for his instructions on how he did it.  Read them carefully, and all the way through before starting (there's changes he's made along the way that you might find useful).

You can skip the parts on the side frames and the body lowering, if you'd like.

I lost my set in a HD crash.

But, I'll be doing it his way when I do my MTH F3s...

Thanks!

- Mario

CentralFan1976 posted:

Check this out, as well: https://www.lionelsupport.com/...lement43Complete.pdf

 

Mario, Thanks for the link!  I searched the web and that's as good as it gets.  Now, all I have to do is to wait for USPS and Shapeways.  I hope you'll post your MTH F3 work, too.  Your fans await!