Lemon Locomotives

[brokemoto]

.I'm pretty sure there were at least a few 5 stripe F units in Tuscan,.

There were five stripe F-units in Tuscan, the FP-7s, for one.  Some showed up in  Tuscan, some in DGLE.  I do not know if PRR had passenger F-3s  Given the EMD's reputation for reliability, I would suspect that the FP-7s did not require major shoppings until 1960, or so.  At that point, many passenger trains had been discontinued, so I would not be surprised to learn that PRR might have converted these to freight power thus painted them DGLE.  At that point, most of the local trains were powered by road switchers and there were enough E-units and even serviceable PAs from the discontinued passenger trains to power even the remaining secondary trains.  Again, this is all speculation, I do not know what PRR did with the FP-7s.

[VonRyan]

A happy note (for now)...

Over the weekend at Bedford I picked up a Kato PA-1/PB-1 set for only $60. They are currently only DC, but I'm going to either get the drop-in boards, or go the work-involved route and hard-wire in TCS Z2 decoders.

[garethashenden]

A happy note (for now)...

Over the weekend at Bedford I picked up a Kato PA-1/PB-1 set for only $60. They are currently only DC, but I'm going to either get the drop-in boards, or go the work-involved route and hard-wire in TCS Z2 decoders.

Get the drop in boards. They're the same price and will save you lots of aggravation. There's really not point in hard wiring a decoder in that situation unless you want more locomotives that don't work. 

[nstars]

There were five stripe F-units in Tuscan, the FP-7s, for one.  Some showed up in  Tuscan, some in DGLE.  I do not know if PRR had passenger F-3s  Given the EMD's reputation for reliability, I would suspect that the FP-7s did not require major shoppings until 1960, or so.  At that point, many passenger trains had been discontinued, so I would not be surprised to learn that PRR might have converted these to freight power thus painted them DGLE.  At that point, most of the local trains were powered by road switchers and there were enough E-units and even serviceable PAs from the discontinued passenger trains to power even the remaining secondary trains.  Again, this is all speculation, I do not know what PRR did with the FP-7s.

Only the FP7's ever came out in tuscan. All the others F-units were DGLE and single stripe.

Marc

[VonRyan]

Get the drop in boards. They're the same price and will save you lots of aggravation. There's really not point in hard wiring a decoder in that situation unless you want more locomotives that don't work. 

I was just thinking in terms of how my F3B had contact issues between the decoder and the contact strips, and as such how to potentially circumvent that.

[mmagliaro]

I was just thinking in terms of how my F3B had contact issues between the decoder and the contact strips, and as such how to potentially circumvent that.

Well... if we have some pictures of the insides of that F3, I bet we could get to the bottom of that one.
Bending strips, even drilling and tapping some small 00-90 holes into the frame for some screws... it should not be that hard
to fix that F3B problem (which is why I still think it's where your repair efforts should go first).

[VonRyan]

I'd say so. I may just put the brass set up for sale as-is.

[brokemoto]

Only the FP7's ever came out in tuscan. All the others F-units were DGLE and single stripe.

Marc

Thank you, that answers my question.  Now I can state that the paint job on the brass units is incorrect.  it needs a complete, new paint job.

[VonRyan]

Thank you, that answers my question.  Now I can state that the paint job on the brass units is incorrect.  it needs a complete, new paint job.

I'm just gonna try and sell them off. Hopefully recoup my $100 and go and buy my jump boots.

[mmagliaro]

I agree, Cody.  For somebody who wants those brass F units, $100 is not outrageous.  (And if you are patient,
you can find a pair of Kato F Units for that 100 bucks that you could repaint and detail to your heart's content).
The decals, grills and trainphone antennas are all around as detail parts.  Gold Medal Models 160-33 and some fine wire
will do the trick.

[VonRyan]

I agree, Cody.  For somebody who wants those brass F units, $100 is not outrageous.  (And if you are patient,
you can find a pair of Kato F Units for that 100 bucks that you could repaint and detail to your heart's content).
The decals, grills and trainphone antennas are all around as detail parts.  Gold Medal Models 160-33 and some fine wire
will do the trick.

I essentially bought a trio of Kato F's for $90. It was the old '90s split-frame ones with the single-stripe shells, and I was given a present of the new mechanisms. Luckily the shells just drop right on.
I just have to get the second A unit up to speed as well.

[VonRyan]

The brass F3s are as good as gone. And I didn't even have to eat a loss.

That being said, I'm going to focus on the getting a new decoder into the Kato F3b and decoders in my Kato PA-1/PB-1 set.

[peteski]

The brass F3s are as good as gone. And I didn't even have to eat a loss.

Excellent!

Like I said, $50 for a brass loco (even a crappy-running re-motored one) is not a bad price. 

[mmagliaro]

The brass F3s are as good as gone. And I didn't even have to eat a loss.

That being said, I'm going to focus on the getting a new decoder into the Kato F3b and decoders in my Kato PA-1/PB-1 set.

Congrats!

Now... how do you know the decoder in your F3B is bad?   Before you spend any money on a new one, you should prove that
the existing one is bad and the problem isn't being caused by a broken wire, bad contact to the engine or motor, or something like that.
First step should be to pull the decoder and make sure the engine runs right on plain DC.

[VonRyan]

Well it worked before, and now it doesn't. I'm going to fiddle with the meter tomorrow and check.