S Info at trainfest

Well, well, well... 

The paint samples are encouraging (as is the lack of steam generator parts on the Santa Fe F3 A-unit) but MTH has a mountain of skepticism to overcome. 

I decided not to cancel my F3's based solely on the fact that Badgerland is sort of in the same boat with their "due in December" Fest cars...  and that maybe some the F's are actually ON the same boat as the Fest cars.

Strange logic, I know...

Rusty

I will wait to see how they run and sound before I make a decision. I would really like to see them do Erie on the F units. I would order every road number they made and maybe a couple extra. Perhaps we are finally getting close? We shall see.

Kinda the good with the bad as I look at it...MTH seems to be leaving the S guys in the rear view with the lack of information and communication....but then they are also doing it to the HO and O gauge guys too.  They really seem to be sinking a lot of energy and effort into the DCS APP and I hope that is what accounts for the lack of product for everyone else.  

On the topic of "I would buy"...the F3s in Soo, Milwaukee and C&NW would not even be a question...sold! And with MTH I would not have to pay until 2021 

I asked about more runs of the billboard reefers, box cars and if the cabooses will happen and I was given a non specific "they are on the list".   

Ben 

I find myself (for the first time EVER) agreeing with Jonnyspeed.

I would dearly love to have an F3 in an Erie paint scheme.

I am not thrilled to have ANOTHER operating system, so I really am hoping the F3's  run WELL on conventional power.

LittleTommy

LittleTommy posted:

I am not thrilled to have ANOTHER operating system, so I really am hoping the F3's  run WELL on conventional power.

LittleTommy

That's the $64,000 question.  I know MTH O gauge stuff runs better on DCS than conventional AC.  How the F3's respond to AC, DC or DCC remains to be seen.  The sample on Ben's video seems to do OK, but it's probably running on DCS.

I plan on running he F3's on DCC.

Guess we'll have to hide our "man cards" and read the instructions...

Rusty

All the trains running on that MTH layout were running on DCS, with the crowd controlling all of it via the iPads attached to the layout.  

Ben. 

OK, since one of the F3's was actually running at the show, did anyone happen to notice if it had one motor or two? There has been some question on this issue, since early on someone at MTH mentioned they were "improving" the drive, when the single motor drive used by SHS was one of the best running models in any scale, plus the statements made that the electronics are the same as what is in the new 3-rail O gauge 44 tonner, which has two motors.

Bill in FtL

Well, their HO stuff has a single horizontal motor, I see no reason as to why the S F3's wouldn't be the same.  Supposedly the new PS3 board was developed for the F3's and adapted to the O scale 44 tonner.

Regardless, good performance comes from the quality of the motor and gearing and not the position of the motor.

Still, I'd rather deal with 3 motors in an A-B-A set instead of 6.

Rusty

NOTINWI,

   I just looked at the photos you supplied and the front hole for the AF compatible coupler looks sooo Large yet the scale coupler looks like a completely different pilot. Will MTH be suppling a scale pilot with the purchase of the F-3 A's as SHS supplied for the scale coupler change? I intend to change to scale couplers on all of the engines I ordered with Hi Rail wheel sets. That is the same as I did with my SHS F-3 A's I have now.

Don

I too, noticed how HUGE the Hi-rail couplers looked.  Didn't realize they were so big. Did MTH upsize the couplers or something?

LittleTommy posted:

I find myself (for the first time EVER) agreeing with Jonnyspeed.

I would dearly love to have an F3 in an Erie paint scheme.

I am not thrilled to have ANOTHER operating system, so I really am hoping the F3's  run WELL on conventional power.

LittleTommy

What have I ever said that was so disagreeable?

laming posted:

I too, noticed how HUGE the Hi-rail couplers looked.  Didn't realize they were so big. Did MTH upsize the couplers or something?

Don't forget, SHS shipped the F's with the coupler cover insert installed and the customer had to install a coupler if he wished. 

I have one SHS F3 AB set up for HiRail and after seeing how big and distracting the Flyer compatible coupler was, I put on the freight pilot and mounted an AM snap-lock dummy coupler.  I also put AM snap-locks between the A and B units to lessen the gap between the two and left the big ol' coupler on the rear of the B unit.

Looks a lot better.

Rusty

I will chime in here, if MTH does the F units in Milw. Rd. I would probably find myself purchasing another operating system, hope Legacy and DCS can play well together. As far as delays go I remember the delay in the P.E. by Lionel, these did not all come as good running sets after 3 yrs delay, but the majority did operate well although, maybe[ no most likely], needing some owner tweaking. I would rather wait and get some fine running equipment than purchase a $400.00 locomotive and end up having to pull electronics that do not work as expected.

Looks to me that I will have time to sock some money away to purchase the DCS and Milw. Rd. locomotives, I'm starting now.

Ray

Donald Payer posted:

NOTINWI,

   I just looked at the photos you supplied and the front hole for the AF compatible coupler looks sooo Large yet the scale coupler looks like a completely different pilot. Will MTH be suppling a scale pilot with the purchase of the F-3 A's as SHS supplied for the scale coupler change? I intend to change to scale couplers on all of the engines I ordered with Hi Rail wheel sets. That is the same as I did with my SHS F-3 A's I have now.

Don

Assuming the coupler cover for the passenger pilot insert is included, it can be modified (with some very careful X-acto use) to close the gap for use with the scale couplers:

And yes, the Q had passenger pilots on their freight F-units.

Hopefully however, the freight pilots are also included because that's what the Santa Fe used on all their F-units.

Rusty

We had a great time at both the S Fest in Oconomowoc and at Trainfest in West Allis.  I am attaching a video link of Ron Schlicht's American Flyer portable layout as set up for Trainfest.

Ray

https://youtu.be/aLodgR0wV4Q

jonnyspeed posted:

LittleTommy posted:

I find myself (for the first time EVER) agreeing with Jonnyspeed.

I would dearly love to have an F3 in an Erie paint scheme.

I am not thrilled to have ANOTHER operating system, so I really am hoping the F3's  run WELL on conventional power.

LittleTommy

What have I ever said that was so disagreeable?

Hi Jonnyspeed,

I have never seen you post anything disagreeable.  You, however, have very different opinions from those that I hold, and very different needs and wants regarding the type of products you would like to see produced.

I am delighted that we BOTH would like to see an F3 in ERIE paint, (let's hope we see it in our lifetime)  and I look forward to finding other areas in which we are in agreement. 

LittleTommy

Now, the Erie Lackawanna scheme is a beautiful scheme. F3's or Flyonel PA's would be a done deal.

Rich

LittleTommy posted:

jonnyspeed posted:

LittleTommy posted:

I find myself (for the first time EVER) agreeing with Jonnyspeed.

I would dearly love to have an F3 in an Erie paint scheme.

I am not thrilled to have ANOTHER operating system, so I really am hoping the F3's  run WELL on conventional power.

LittleTommy

What have I ever said that was so disagreeable?

Hi Jonnyspeed,

I have never seen you post anything disagreeable.  You, however, have very different opinions from those that I hold, and very different needs and wants regarding the type of products you would like to see produced.

I am delighted that we BOTH would like to see an F3 in ERIE paint, (let's hope we see it in our lifetime)  and I look forward to finding other areas in which we are in agreement. 

LittleTommy

I see. I can understand that. I'm not a Flyer fan. I tried to get into S scale 5 years ago as everything was getting bad. Lionel teased me with scale models with Legacy, sound, and smoke only to apparently give up. MTH purchased SHS and we know how that has gone. I love the size of S, but I want scale or at least Hi-Rail. Not a fan of the Postwar stuff much, but I certainly can respect those that do.

It's hard not to love the Erie and Erie Lackawanna

last January I went to the train show at the big E in Springfield Mass. I asked the the MTH rep. what was going on with the F3, he said Mike W. was also asking his people why it was taken so long, he did say they have the issue resolved with the Electronics and that I should see my order no later then June 2016, I felt at that time that it looks like  an end was in sight, needless to say June came and went. 

at the show they had a Union Pacific F3 running. Anyway time will tell.

toy1 posted:

last January I went to the train show at the big E in Springfield Mass. I asked the the MTH rep. what was going on with the F3, he said Mike W. was also asking his people why it was taken so long, he did say they have the issue resolved with the Electronics and that I should see my order no later then June 2016, I felt at that time that it looks like  an end was in sight, needless to say June came and went. 

at the show they had a Union Pacific F3 running. Anyway time will tell.

Hi Toy1,

   Like you I thought all the excuses were handed out and by at least June 2016 the S Gauge F-3's would be in out homes. There was another hook to dash our hopes and that was the speakers MTH ran out and there were no more because the manufacturer of the speakers closed their doors and didn't even send the speakers on order. This caused a problem with the existing packaging with in the diesels because of the size of those speakers were the smallest ones available. So MTH had to find another manufacturer to build new speakers that size to complete the packaging of the components in the S Gauge and O gauge Diesels. There was enough time to make good on the delivery of the  GE44Ton O Gauge diesels but the F-3's required the new ones to arrive before they could be completely assembled and tested. The UP F-3. you seen running at the big E in Springfield Mass., had some operating issues this year and was pulled from the shows to find and fix the issues. I see the it was running at the Train Fest in Wisconsin this year and has a video of it in this thread. This engine was a production sample and does not represent the approved finished product so it could have had the original speaker as the O Gauge GE44Ton have and the problems incurred with the F-3 earlier this year could have a been the results of the preproduction sample. Any way lets keep our fingers crossed and hope that will be the last delay of The F-3's.

   Early next year, in the first quarter, maybe we all will have our S Gauge F-3's running on our layouts. Merry Christmas!

   The above is pure speculation based upon on what I have heard, read and seen from January thru November 2016. I had written a question in October to MTH but to date have not received any conformation from MTH direct. I guess even they can't predict when they will be coming in. Good Luck!!

Don