Santa never brought a Lionel F3's for me, but I did have a Tyco HO F7 once. 
By the way......this picture is from my old layout, shot about 15 years ago.
I have it on a dsiplay shelf in my smaller layout room now.
Peter
Had to be sometime in 1950, I remember as a kid, my family went to visit one of my father's sisters and her family, they were living in Jackson Heights, Queens, N.Y.C., at the time.
Their house was a converted WWII U.S. Army barrack, in a row of other similar barrack houses, I don't know off hand, what used to be the name of the U.S. Army field/post.
My uncle, who had hands like Brother Love-Malcolm, would scratch build models of many modes of transportation.
Well, among all of his creations the greatest thing that caught the eyes of my brother and I was a store bought 'A-B-A' set of Lionel 'O' Gauge Santa Fe F-3 diesel locomotives.
I loved that scheme ever since and I finally bought an original 'A-B-A' and aluminum passenger car set, ( all second hand and in excellent condition), back in 1974, for our first born child.
Of course, yours truly had to run them, sort of checking them out, like kind of.
A few years ago, I was able to pick up another original 'B' unit, also in good condition, in order to have a set of four diesel locomotives, as the Santa Fe, at times, prototypically ran an 'A-B-B-A' set.
The only car I now need, as original and in good condition, is the 'Baggage/Mail' car with the 'Large' doors, we have the 'Small' doors version.
Talk about a long train. Oh and by the way, we have an Extreee 'Vista Dome!'
On a whole, this is one BIG, beautiful train set!!!!!
Ralph
I received a set of the Santa Fe F3s when a cousin of mine "outgrew" his trains in the 1960s. Otherwise I was running a set of the Lionel 218 Santa Fe FAs.
Neal Jeter
I still have my 2343's my dad got for me. And I still run them along with the new stuff.........Paul
My first F3s arrived by accident, when my folks tried to get me a "B" Unit for my recently aquired 2023 UP Alco set. Well, they got a new, boxed F3B Santa Fe and gave it to me for my 13th birthday! Awesome chooch, but totally useless. It was then decided to get a match for the AT&SF 2343C for my Christmas present, just a short time away. So Jaygee gets an Exc. + near new 2343 "A" Unit that year, under the tree. Thus my first Lionel F3 is a mutt.....and a finer mutt you never saw !
All of you who received those iconic F3s as youngsters sure were fortunate. Like so many others who have posted on this thread all three of my engines were hand me downs and all of them were 2-4-2 steamers from Lionel and Marx. Nevertheless I loved them and still have them and they all still run great. As far as the F3s are concerned I more than made up for my boyhood F3 void and now own several in different liveries.
When I was a boy my first set was the Steam Turbine freight. But I always wanted an F unit. I loved the NYC for freight and the Santa Fe warbonnet for passenger. I never got any of them as a boy. Before my mom died she made me promise to never get rid of my Lionel set and I haven't. I also was instructed to use some of the money from her estate to buy my Santa Fe warbonnet and I did. It now proudly pulls my Lionel Santa Fe El Capitan on my current layout. Will always love you mom!
Art
Chugman GOD BLESS your mom!
Ralph
As others have stated, money was an issue when I was a tyke. I think the $25.00 or so freight set in 1949 was very dear to our family but after two daughters, my dad was so happy to have a son that he splurged on that set!
I would like to add onto my comment above.
The set reissued a few years ago has 2 items not the same as my original.
Mine came with a red hopper, not black.
And the operating box car came with NYC markings, not ATSF.
You gentlemen realize that you were among the fortunate. Not only did I not have an F3. None of my Friends had an F3. One kid had a Berkshire and one had a Lackawanna FM. Two had the Burlington GP-7 . I had the 56 Minn. & St. Louis minning locomotive and the 229 alco that was also Minn. & St. Louis. That was life in the south in the 1950s.
Chose to buy the 2322 instead of the 2383 in 1968. Toy Craft of Norfolk still had a small inventory then.
"I think that will be my final purchase if I ever wind down from this hobby (read, "never")."
Hopefully, this will be a long time coming. Not that I don't want you to have a set of the 2333s. They can wait. 
Santa brought us an American Flyer PRR K5 set for Christmas 1949. I was glad that he liked the 2 rail track but along the way I realized that I always wanted an F3. The Flyer PA's looked 'strange' to me since we'd never seen a real one in New Orleans but the F3s were fairly common then.
We eventually acquired the Flyer 'Silver Comet' single A unit with blue striped cars and one year Santa brought a 4 unit Warbonnett PA set. Problem was it consisted of the original No 360 AB set plus a B unit with Diesel Roar' and horn and a dummy A unit. To me it was beautiful but didn't run well. Dad had purchased it used and the powered A unit just never ran right. It could not pull the ABBA plus 4 or 5 silver cars...
The only Lionel F3 in our neighborhood was a friend's 2356 Southern that he received one Christmas. He was somewhat reclusive and an only child. I never actually saw them run. Other neighborhood friends with Lionels had the Erie FAs that were really nice.
It was many years later when we had our hobby shop that I finally acquired or first real Santa Fe F3 (Lionel). Picked several dozen after that.
Hello guys and gals...........
Does anyone recreate the F-3 set for the ones they lost years ago ? I am recreating the Lionel #12730 (2383 and 4 cars and a caboose) listed in the Lionel 1966 catalog by using the S.F.18117 AA set and same type of freight cars but in different colors. This recreation set holds a dear in my heart.
The woman who loves the S.F.5011,2678,2003,200
Tiffany
I had a A-A set of second hand ATSF 2383's as a child that my dad bought from a co-worker for $20 and then I picked up an A-B-A set of ATSF 2343's for $40.00 as a teen. I still have those and now have all the postwar F3's except the Milwaukee Road and the Canadian Pacific. They all still run very well.
