The F3s were ordered and initially ran as A-B-B-A quadruplets. Were the A and B units ever permanently coupled? Also, when did the Frisco start breaking them up, mixing and matching them with other F units, and subsequently other diesels? Curious to know. Thanks for any information!
F3As and F3Bs were never permanently coupled. That pretty much ended in the industry with the FTs. Mixing and matching likely began pretty quickly after the units were in service. K
Mixing the covered wagons with the GP7s occurred during 1954. See the attached photograph at Rosedale Yard, Kansas City, KS with a F7A, GP7, 2 F3Bs and an Alco FA-1.
Gotcha. Part of the reason I ask is because I have an opportunity to buy what are labeled as Athearn Genesis F3 units. But there is a semi-permanent coupling between the A and B unit. What is the reason for the models having a semi-permanent coupling if the prototype did not? I figured the real F3s did not have that, so was not sure why those models had them.
I would think that what ever it is you are describing is something that was changed by the previous owner. Athearn ships all of their diesels with knuckle couplers front and back. What do you mean by semi-permanent? Could you post a picture? Unless they did something to modify the coupler boxes, you should be able to replace whatever was changed with knuckle couplers.
I recently had a coupler box cover on an Athearn F3B crack in half at the screw hole. A Kadee #5 would not work. End up using a Kadee #252 with #148 whisker coupler without the cover plate. The design of the power truck when it swings on a curve will hit the Kadee #252. So by eliminating the cover plate there was enough clearance for the swinging truck. More than likely the previous owner experienced a broken coupler box and the quick fix was what he used. I tried to contact Athearn about a replacement part and was not successful. The design of their coupler box was intended to clear the swinging truck.
Here is the photograph for reference. Everything else about the locomotives looks great, but I am unclear why it has a drawbar instead of a couplers. It looks too clean to just be a makeshift fix. I reached out to the seller to ask about it. Waiting to hear back.
I do not think that drawbar came with the Athearn Genesis model. I have the F3 ABBA Genesis set and each unit has couplers on each end. Besides, that drawbar is way too long. It makes a way too big gap between the F3A and the F3B. K
The Genesis F3s did not have drawbar connections. They had couplers at both ends. Ken is right about the length of that drawbar as well.
