Athearn/Cary F-Units

Discussion in 'Diesel Locomotives' started by w3hodoug (Doug Hughes RIP 03/24/2021), Dec 16, 2010.

  1. w3hodoug (Doug Hughes RIP 03/24/2021)

    w3hodoug (Doug Hughes RIP 03/24/2021) 2008 Engineer of the Year Frisco.org Supporter

    Here is a photo of my Athearn/Cary F-3/7 number 62. It won a few contest awards. The rotary beacon is an operating LED. Doug
     

    Attached Files:

  2. yardmaster

    yardmaster Administrator Staff Member Administrator Frisco.org Supporter

    Doug -
    Nice looking model! And this may solve a mystery for me...

    FMIG NL #10 has a Ray Bullock photo of #62 at Fort Worth, TX. However, I could not identify it as an F3 or F7, and I had already packed away any of my info on the F-unit renumberings.

    Was #62, in effect, an F7 after rebuilding?

    Best Regards,
     
  3. renapper (Richard Napper RIP 3/8/2013)

    renapper (Richard Napper RIP 3/8/2013) Passed away March 8, 2013

    according to Frisco Diesel Power the 62 was still a F3A.
    Richard
     
  4. yardmaster

    yardmaster Administrator Staff Member Administrator Frisco.org Supporter

    Thanks, Richard. In the index, I'm trying to identify photos and information accordingly for searching purposes. Just listing "F-Unit" wasn't too helpful, my opinion, even if the unit number is included.

    Best Regards,
     
  5. pensive

    pensive Member Frisco.org Supporter

    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 25, 2011
  6. HWB

    HWB FRISCO.org Supporter

    I love that consist. First generation in second generation paint can't be beat
     
  7. meteor910

    meteor910 2009 Engineer of the Year Staff Member Frisco.org Supporter

    I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I don't like seeing the F's in the o/w scheme at all - probably because I saw them all in clean b/y colors in my "Frisco formative" years. Really neat.

    I even prefer the b/y austerity scheme over the o/w on a cab unit. And putting o/w on a few of those wonderful E-units was a crime against good taste.

    Just my opinion.

    Ken
     
  8. tmfrisco

    tmfrisco Member Frisco.org Supporter

    I agree with your opinion and would go further to say it was a crime against humanity. Terry
     
  9. gjslsffan

    gjslsffan Staff Member Staff Member

    Nice work Doug,
    Great looking model. I am always glad to see some one using this old stuff. Those Cary shelled locos will pull the paint of the wall too. And I always enjoyed how the extra weight seem to make them run smoother as well.
    I had a couple Cary shelled GP's years ago.
    Thanks for sharing and posting your work. I fear sometimes we get too close to this RTR stuff. And Actual modelers are going away.
    Tom H.
     
  10. meteor910

    meteor910 2009 Engineer of the Year Staff Member Frisco.org Supporter

    Agree with Tom - the RTR stuff today is really nice, but you wonder what will happen to our modeling skills.

    I had a Cary F3B done up as SLSF 5102 (I think) that turned out pretty well, even though I hand painted it back in the early 1980's before I had my first airbrush. It was on an Athearn drive with Ernst regearing - a real puller, like Tom says.

    I sold it on HOyardsale after the Athearn Genesis F3 A's & B's came out. Sigh!

    Ken
     
  11. Joseph Toth

    Joseph Toth Member

    While the Cary, old metal Varney and all of the brass diesels that were imported over the years lack the fantastic details of their plastic counterparts today, the aluminum passenger cars (OK Engines, Mantua, etc.), brass heavyweights and wood kits (Ambroid, LaBelle, etc.) and metal, brass and wood freight cars and cabooses of yesteryear, most generic in appearance, I could still envision returning to HO scale using these models. True, nothing close to the prototype but if properly painted and detailed they can still provide the spirit of the Frisco or any other railroad.

    If you look carefully at the many photos of John Allen´s Gorre & Daphetid from the crude beginning to his final layout that featured the floor to cealing mountain scenery his modeling skills far outweighted the overall prototype look of many of the locomotives and cars that he rostered. True, the GD was freelanced which permits taking many liberties that hold back the rivet counting sound equipped locomotives that so many modelers feel are a must in order to properly model the Frisco or any other chosen road today.

    There is still room for the older models to find their place onto layouts in the 21st Century. With NorthWest Short Line providing replacement gears for most of the older brass imports I would be perfectly content to purchase an older F unit, geep, hood unit or switcher and upgrade it with their gear sets, custom paint and detail same and place on the track and run for sheer enjoyment and not worry that I am not meeting contest modeling skills. I model railroad for pleasure and leave the fine scale modeling to the guys like Andre Ming. My first toy train was a Marx wind-up, replaced by a Lionel 027 2-4-2 steam locomotive with a Pennsylvania GP7 joining the roster in 1956, to the sell off in 1962 when I made the conversion to HO scale.

    The Athearn diesels did leave a lot to be desired as did their Hi-F drive (Hi-Tech rubber band?) but my improperly silver painted Burlington F7 A unit and plastic streamlined passenger cars that made up my "Texas Zephyr" still provided me with hours of enjoyment! Every modeler has his or her own ideas of just what the "Dream" layout will look like, be it the simple plywood sheet with a trackplan from an Atlas layout book or a realistic shelf layout or a layout the size of the GD with properly modeled Ozark Mountain scenery, the basic roots of the hobby should not be forgotten nor those early years when many of us broke into the hobby with a limited budget and somewhat crude equipment.

    For this reason, Andre is not going to sell off his custom painted and detailed HO equipment that he created for his Kansas City & Gulf. In retrospect I wish I had retained my "Texas Zephyr" to remind me of the fun and enjoyment it brought me despite the lack of the fantastic models on the market today. Dig your first attempt of modeling out of the box or closet and dust off same and just run the models a few laps around your super detailed DCC equipped layout. It will bring back fond memories of youth lost to a new generation of model railroading unheard of in that not too distant past. I don´t think it will disappoint you?

    Joe Toth
    The Trinity River Bottoms Boomer
     
  12. meteor910

    meteor910 2009 Engineer of the Year Staff Member Frisco.org Supporter

    I had a Cary F3B on a dummy Athearn chassis - not a bad looking model. I used Athearn fans on it, and made it up as SLSF 5102. Sold it on HOYardsale after the Athearn Genesis Frisco F3's came out.

    Ken
     
  13. Joseph Toth

    Joseph Toth Member

    Before Andre Ming gave me the S scale pep talk I was considing a return to HO scale. One project would have been to acquire some Fujihama brass SD45s and paint and detail them in the O/W scheme with a train of old Ulrich diecast hopper cars and a Hallmark brass caboose. I switched the cabooses on these heavy trains when the Frisco delivered them to the Santa Fe´s old East Dallas Yard to hand to the Louisiana & Arkansas (Kansas City Southern) for final delivery to the Texas & Northern Railway where the coal was used to fire the Lone Star Steel plant in East Texas.

    I had planned to lay Tru-Scale Ready-Track for the mainline until Peco in the UK introduced their beautiful Code "83 Line" of nickel silver HO track designed to North American track standards. My German dealer can order it for me plus passing on a slight discount. Alas, if I do return to model railroading it looks like S will be my final choice. Now retired and on a fixed income with medical priorities my return entrance into the hobby has been derailed for the time being.

    The older HO scale diesels, metal or brass, are nice and heavy and despite the lack of super detail found on the models offered on the market today, would still be my choice. If regeared with NorthWest Short Line gear sets, properly painted and detailed, they would not only provide me with yeoman service but satisfy my requirements for a proto-lanced Frisco providing me with the liberty to "bend the iron" to fit my desires and just run trains for pleasure without the need to count rivets. No sound, no DCC, just play train like I did when I converted from 027 to HO in 1961.

    At 65, living in an apartment, I am from the old school that burned down a few years ago! Besides that, a lot of water has run under what used to be the bridge over the creek that ran through our farm in Farmers Branch, Texas, during my younger years, where the Frisco mainline ran behind same. The farm? If you travel down I-35E from Dallas to Carrollton you will run over it! Progress?

    Joe Toth
    The Trinity River Bottoms Boomer
     

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