John, The prototypical blind end distance between coupled F-type units is 36". Protypical car body end wall to coupler pulling face of each unit is 18". Hope this helps. Thanks! Mark
I haven't found any prototype photos yet, but I'm starting to wonder if the light casting sticks out further than its supposed to.
That casting looks like a Details West BL-162 casting that someone tacked onto the surface of the door. I can't see Athearn tacking that on a Genesis unit without adding the light.
It actually comes wired with those new micro LED's that they're putting in everything. I don't actually have the lights hooked up in my units, so I couldn't tell you how they look lit up.
It appears , In my opinion, that the back up light on the rear door on your model is not in the proper location. It appears on some photos I have seen of F units that the fixture should be on the left side of the rear door frame. So if the units where coupled rear to rear they would be on the opposite side of each other and not interfere with each other as you have indicated on your photo illustrated.
Interesting. Do you have links to any of these photos by chance? I didn't have any luck finding any last night.
Marr/Harper book page 88 (center) showsF3B with a back up light on the door. Page 82 shows F3 with no back up light on the F/S rear, (cant see the door). Which further confounds me, as I seem to have put my back up lights on the F/S rear as John mentioned on my cab units that are so equipped. Wasn't there a Mainline Modeler article on this? I think during some of my detail builds this was delved into, but with the search down, I am not having any luck so far. P.S. I also recall the story an incident where there was a collision while backing up, and it was found that the F or E units, were not delivered with back up lights. and were subsequently fitted with same by the Frisco shops. I wish my memory was better on these stories and info. Perhaps Ken W, or others, will chime in with more info.
Tom - Correct, there was an incident as you describe it. The late Lee Buffington described it to me in a letter (I'll have to find it - it's downstairs in our storage locker). One of the E's was backing down from Lindenwood to StL Union Station in the darkness to hook up to its train. There was some obstruction that fouled its path and it collided with it. Did minor damage, but it did not look good at the top management level. Several E's were thus quickly fitted with a back-up light to allow the crew to see down their track to avoid fouling anything. I recall a rear shot (Mike Condren) of maybe SLSF 2007(?) in Ft Smith(?) showing the light - centered on the rear door. Not all the E's received a back-up light, and I suspect not many of the F's did either, be they EMD FxA's or a FxB's. For the record, I put back-up lights on the rear door of all my Frisco E8's, (now down to three); none on the E7's (down to one). Sounded like a good idea for E-units out in the StL Union Station environs in the dark. I did not put any back-up lighting on any EMD or Alco F's as Lindenwood was reasonably well lit. I still have my letters from Arthur Johnson and Lee Buffington. Wonderful gentlemen, and Frisco experts among the many others we all learned from, both gone now. One of these days I'll post these to frisco.org. K
Ethan and Ken, You might find the following image from the Frisco Archive interesting. Note the single lamp headlight centered above the rear door of E8A 2006. Please see http://frisco.org/mainline/2017/09/19/gp7-565-6/. Locomotive SLSF 2006 carried on its car body sides under the cab windows the famous horse name Traveler. Traveler was the name of the horse of American Civil War General Robert E (Edward) Lee. The locomotives are on one of the wye tracks leading to the arched covered train shed at St. Louis Union Station. Just out of view controling movements into and out of the depot is Terminal Railroad Association's (TRRA) Tower 1. The depot power house and smokestack are behind the photographer. View is looking southwest. Hope this helps. Thanks! Mark
Thanks Mark! Interesting high mount on the E8 2006 rear end. Like I said in my post above, there is a Mike Condren pic of 2007 (I think!) at Ft Smith (I think!) with a back-up light mounted midway on the rear door. K
Ken, There is a good shot of an E8 with the back-up light mounted midway on the rear door as you indicated on Mike Condren's link. John
I finally took the time to look at this issue again. Turns out the light casting is brass instead of plastic, so cutting and or sanding is out. I took a pair of small tweezers and poked the micro LED back into the shell. Then I was able to grab the piece with a pair of needle nose pliers and gave it a pull. The piece came right out with no issues. I can now run this nice set of F units. Pictures attached, can't tell it was ever there as long as they're coupled together.
