The review of this loco:

I just let her run in my layout and i must say the following:
-The sounds of this loco are slightly improved than the ones in the fx versions, i was expecting something more impressive in a such an expensive remake, the engine sounds are slightly improved.
-The loco does not have the smooth movement that the GG1 (or the BB) has.
-Only front lights exist, i guess that has something to do with the prototype.
-She has two horn sounds, one long and one short (not something new and impressive).
-The bell is identical with the one used in Fx versions.

To conclude:
The loco in my opinion is just a slightly improved F7 model, nothing actually new, just using the new MFX system, one should buy her only if he likes the f7 models, which are quite impressive.
To be honest i was expecting something more from this new model created by M, i am not dissapointed but i am not impressed, i believe they should have produced a better model for this premium price.

They are very very nice Nikos, (Drool) (envy mode on) (envy mode off) I only have 2 . AMtrak A-A and Southern Pacific A-A Sob Sob

Here´s mine!





Here´s the A-unit. It contains the MFX-decoder and draws power from the B-unit. The C-unit (the other A-unit) draws its power directly from the motor in the A-unit. As you can see there´s only 1 pair of blue and green cables from the decoder.

I agree with you Alonso. Nothing special, but nothing bad either. The sounds are good, pretty noisy though. There are more details as mentioned. Some new handrails. The horn is sometimes hard to hear because of the diesel-sounds. It will propably look better when I have a better layout. If Märklin makes a version with the Santa Fe War Bonnet oainting I want that one too. My 3060 is in bad shape and I don´t have the 37622...

I was at a dealer in Gothenburg 2 weeks ago. They had sold out of their 37624.

I also have a collection of US box cars. Both old and new. I´d love to see pics of your collection. I also like the blue ATSF. I don´t have it, but I have the 4862 car set for it. Among my favorite F7 is the Amtrak 37621. The plastic box is in very bad shape though... and some small scratches in the black paint. You don´t see where if you don´t know where.

Now I want to do a review on this loco. Is it just to copy and paste from other posts in the loco reviews section? I actually think that this train will be sitting in some shelfs at some dealers but will eventually become rare. As the train is made of metal I think it will at least keep it´s original value.

/David

Hello Everyone,

Here is my 10 cents on the subject, wish it was my display case .

http://www.flickr.com/ph...n/set-72157610588950449/

Cheers,

J.

Gretings Svein,

Here is a photo of an A-B-B-A unit (courtesy of Modellbahn):

http://www.zuckerfabrik2...isenbahn/pic3/F7_4sf.jpg

Very cool looking imho,

Jeremy.

edit. Owing to a complte balls up of my inventoy and plain idiocy on my part,
I have ended up with two complete Alaska sets. With Robert's (RJF) help I am making an ABBA consist
for planned laout and I will display other set as an AA.jp.

Hi Jeremy and all for great photos of F7 stuff.

To partly answer Jeremy's question, the F7 was made by the Electro Motive Division of General Motors (Cadillac and Pontiac were also divsions of GM).

The F7 was a development of earlier F (freight) units from the FT onwards starting in the early 1940's. Originally about 1500 HP each unit, they eventually got them to about 2000 HP each, so a Märklin lash-up (that is the correct term) of A-B-A, or A-B-B, would be representative of 6,000 HP, about the equivalent horsepower to one Big Boy.

The flexibility of being able to add more or less units to one F unit greatly increased the efficiency of the railroads. The bottom line was though, that one GM unit of say 2,000 HP cost similar $dollars to one Big Boy of 6,000 HP. So there had to be lifetime savings to justify purchase of these diesel-electric engines.

regards
Kimball

Edited by user 04 August 2010 01:21:04(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Macca,
F7s are the best, I only have 2 at present but will increase the number given time and Gold.

Actually in time (as soon as you get your first F7) thay are sexier than the LLL (to me that is)

Hi Nikos - she already is ...
And since old me got no F7s (almost) I'll avail myself that NYC livery by next year

Svein, in real life they ran up to six B-units, generally. Sometimes even more when in need of power ...

Rarely. Most common configuration was A-B-B.

To what. That grey NYC livery or yer upcoming trouble ???

Oh - I didn't think about this one ... All the best for the latter, my friend

Are you going to Oz, Macca, or is Nev coming here? Whatever way, Nevie is in for a treat when he meets the LLL (and Lord Macca too!)

Hi Guys, I need a bit of help here...

I have ordered the trix 22590 (AMTRAK) bec I have managed to get the coaches (trix 21263)...As i understand, the 22590 is an older model and in order to fix a DCC decoder (such as the ESU 52610 Lokpilot v3.0) some soldering needs to be done....Any ideas on that? Would the decoder wires be color-coded to enable me to understand where to solder??

This is a challenging area for me, but I appreciate your help...

I like to make this trix f7 DCC ready...

Nice pictures, Macfire.

Just wrote something in order to revive this great topic, soon i will post images from my future 45642 set.



George the silver GG1 can do the job.

Thank you my friend .

Edited by user 06 January 2011 15:57:37(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

The 45642 set:





















Some comments:
The set is overall quite nice, the box cars have now two moving doors, the plastic that protects the wagons inside their boxes seems to be of better quality, but they are still producing way too many coal wagons, i would prefer, if they were producing more box cars or oil cars, i have the impression that these coal cars are cheaper to produce, the price tag remains quite high though.

If you're good with yer re-railer ...

I'm not getting my hopes up over MTH making any AC ho trains, I also wonder if they thought marklin wouldn't recover. I'm so glad marklin did.:)

I like MTH's Quality, Detail, Sounds, Smoke, and Support and service, even though there made all made in China they do come out good.

What I don't like is the way they decide when and if to build stuff.
You must pre-order and most dealers are going to want some kind of deposit and I am ok with that. I'll Gladly do that for a marklin item.

But here is the thing I don't like. MTH will not make a production run till they get enough orders (they may denigh this, but its the way it goes) A friend of mine that worked at a train store waited 3-1/2 years to get coaches to match his Loco that he waited on for 2 years. Almost 6 years before he got a full train

Their is always the chance that MTH wont even make the item, so now you have to get your deposit back form the dealer, I feel sorry for the dealers having to refund money a after a year or so, how can they keep there books straight.

If they have built it in the past or its just a change to the livery there is a good chance they will build it. My bet is the Daylight has the best chance of being built as an AC loco because they have built DC version in the past.

Or you may order one thing one year give up on it then order something else the next year and then they both show up at the same time, that's a big hit on the bank account when two $1000 loco come in at the same time.

It would be nice if they would add a pole to there website to see what people want so you would have an ideal of what will be built first. Say they have to have 100 orders before they build a production run. They could have pole like this.
Which AC HO items do you plan to buy this year?
Challenger 60
Daylight 71
BigBoy 3 // why would I buy a MTH version when I can buy the marklin one.
Tryplex 14
That way when you go to place your preorder you might switch from a tryplex to a Daylight because the daylight has the best chance of being built according to the pole which would then up the daylight numbers more.

And then I don't even have to sell those (way too light) plastic cars.
The Grandkids will take them happily ...

Edited by user 27 January 2011 01:33:35(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Found another tinplate caboose (plus flat car) for my small collection.
Texas & Pacific Set #4580 ...

Very nice John .
Just one remark the UVP for 45642 is 379,95 EUR and for the 45644 it is 349,95 EUR, strange , i thought made of metal wagons are more expensive...

Re that #30050 - according to M's data base she oughta come in January, already.
OK, let's get serious and make February out of this. Whatever - they're fast, now

Just happy to see her back, again. Owned a #3005 when I was little - but sold her, eventually ...

John, Seller don't accept paypal.