F7A

Is the F7A Marklin is a good buy?

charles wrote:

Is the F7A Marklin is a good buy?

That depends what you are looking for.

If you are a Marklin collector then yes provided the price is in range

If you just wont something to run and are not too particular then maybe yes based on whether the price is a steal or not

If you want something North American that has close to scale trucks and pulls lots of cars and has Micro Trains couplers then probably NO

If all you have are Marklin cars and couplers then probably Yes

cheerz Garth

I've got both Marklin and MTL F7s and apart from the usual Marklin noise as runners I don't think there's a lot to choose between the two. Where the Marklin falls down is that it's longer in the body than scale length but pretty much the same in cross section. This said it does shade the MTL F7 on detail which is generallly finer than the MTL. Hopefully one day MTL will re-tool their F7 to give us a good looking model, in scale.

Hello,
For the moment I'm looking for a good runnerB) . I have some marklin steam loco and I want to be in the 1950 era. Is this a good choice?

Thank you
Charles

Charles, You're probably talking about the Marklin Mikado 2-8-2 or the Pacific 4-6-2 wheel arangements. I own a couple of these. If you go to buy one, maybe ebay, try and make sure you get a 5-pole motor instead of a 3-pole (older) design. Most of the 5-pole motor run a bit better than the older 3-poles do. Also, if it is a 3-pole motor it may have been sitting around for a decade or more. Especially if the sell says, "3-pole motor, hardly ever run", somthing like that. Older Marklin locos had a problem where the oil hardened. While this is not insurmountable to fix you may not want to deal with this at this time. You will still end up with a 3-pole motor probably. So look for 5-poles. Lastly, even Marklin steamers are a bit scarce these days. Marklin has had new owners, near bankruptcy, and have not produced these locos in the same quantity as they did before their problems. So, like most rare things, you will have to pay more than I did 5 years ago. Cheers, Jim CCRR:)

I assume that you wanted diesels to run along side your steamers? In which case the F7s would be a good choice as they were available from the late 40s. Pulling both passenger and freight they are iconic of the American railroad scene.

P.S. The 2 Marklin F7s I have run pretty good if a little nosily. They also run well coupled together without having to be connected electrically, this provides a lot more pulling power.

Hello,
Do micro-train still built F7a? I look at the micro-train line and only saw the F7B unit.
thank you
Charles

Charles, More bad news. After many production runs the molds to make the F7 A units wore out. You will have to track down you F7 on ebay or run a classified asking to purchase one. MTL has no plans at this time, that we know of, to redo the mold. Cheers, Jim CCRR:(

Just in case anyone's still interested in this topic, I've assembled a comparison image. In the center is a real F7. Top is Märklin; bottom is Micro-trains. Basically about the only thing Märklin got right is that it has four axles...



(with thanks to John Cubbin for the M-T image)

David, I'm interested as everyone should be. Thanks for these photos. They should be inspiration to some, and reference guide to others. Cheers, Jim CCRR:)

David K. Smith wrote:

Basically about the only thing Märklin got right is that it has four axles...

Amen! Preach it brother.

Also, the MTL F7 has a lot more pulling power, probably thanks to that cast metal chassis. If you have to choose between the two, keep in mind that the MTL offering will give you much more bang for half as much buck. If you can find one, that is. I mean, I love all of my little locos, but an unmodified Marklin F7 pulls about as much weight as a hamster compared to my Jeep.

As far as realism goes... the Marklin unit doesn't look overly toylike, as long as the pilot is installed. It shouldn't have been called an F7, but it gets the point of "streamlined diesel locomotive" across well enough. I can't honestly say I understand why a made-up locomotive should be any more difficult to believe than a made-up railroad... but my other hobby is writing fiction, so that might just be me.

silentargus wrote:

I can't honestly say I understand why a made-up locomotive should be any more difficult to believe than a made-up railroad... but my other hobby is writing fiction, so that might just be me.

Your point about fiction and making up railroads is an excellent one. But it brings to mind this situation: even fiction (except for some science fiction and fantasy) will be grounded in some aspects of the real world—a Los Angles or New York setting, for instance; or, even if it's a non-existent little coastal town, there are still going to be other connections to reality, such as a historical setting for period fiction. The thing is, when something in a work of fiction does not ring true, such as mangled historical details or locales that aren't right, the story quickly loses credibility. The best fiction is usually based on some factual aspect of the real world, and the more accurate the details, the more credible the story will be.

This is the parallel I draw with model railroading: even a made-up railroad needs to be populated by reality-based rolling stock, buildings and so forth, or it loses credibility. (Unless the builder was intending it to be pure fantasy—in which case the literary equivalent of their creation is fantasy, not fiction.) And here's where the Märklin F7 just falls apart. If they had done a little more homework, they may have been able to pull off an FP7 (which is longer). Or perhaps they should have gone for an E8. But they bastardized an F7 to fit their own chassis design, and the result is like really bad fiction.

I know it doesn't bother a lot of folks, which is fine, and it's probably a good thing since it helps support the hobby. I'm just sorry to see a wasted opportunity on Märklin's part, especially considering the good effort they put into many of their other products.

All good points- I suppose it all just goes into how much detail it takes to create suspension of disbelief for any given person. For someone who knows what should be there, accuracy is expected wherever possible. Someone else might simply be looking for the impression of accuracy, and for them close enough is more than acceptable. It's not necessarily bad fiction- just a difference in taste. There's no question which is the more accurate product, but there's nothing inherently wrong about fantasy either.

Just to be clear, I do agree that they really could have done better in just about every way. It's only a model of one of the most ubiquitous diesels ever made, after all. Even when Marklin first started coming out with their American line, I bet there were plenty of reference materials to work off of. Again, it shouldn't have been called an F7- but it wouldn't necessarily stick out like a sore thumb in the right setting. Not to me, anyway. I am a bit of a collector, though; I've made train-related purchases in the past that had far less connection to reality than anything that's ever come out in Z. When I finally get around to building that layout, I do plan to make it as realistic as I can, but I'll still run all my little oddballs on it from time to time.

silentargus wrote:

It's not necessarily bad fiction- just a difference in taste...

Actually, you've already explained what makes it bad fiction:

silentargus wrote:

It shouldn't have been called an F7...

Märklin is doing a disservice to the people who don't know what an F7 really looks like. IMO, it really is closer to a toy than a model, unlike the Micro-Trains GP9, GP35, etc. I may bitch and moan about them being too "fat," but they're infinitely closer to the real deal than most of Märklin's American stuff, and I'd be the last to accuse Micro-Trains of making toys. It's along the same lines as the manufacturers who have people convinced this toy is a real bridge:



Again, all IMO.

I also count very highly the "impression" conveyed by a model. Basically it is most important to me whether the train cuts a realistic figure while running. It is odd, though, how that sort of depends on the psychology of what one is looking for / looking at. For example, I don't "see" couplers but do "see" wheels very much. So I love the dark wheels.

I would love to have a good F7A/B set. BLW has a set of EMD FT's in the SF colors. I may have to get a set before they are gone. The F7's are my fav, but I think I missed the boat one this one.

If you look on feebay you might find some SF F7's granted you might have to bid with the rest of the populous. In fact there is a Blue Warbonnet on that site, F7A&B with a couple of cars. For the price, it seems pretty reasonable.

I waited until the very last minute. A really super guy got me the last 3 in his local hobby shop, and I just bought the next to last one left in a shop in Germany. They are every color (including olive green), and will all get a nice alcohol bath. I kind of feel guilty about erasing the nice paint job (especially the Pennsy), but, unless someone I know pops up with an undecorated shell in next couple weeks, they are all going to be repainted.
This time the timing of the little voice coincided with money in my pocket, so I lucked out. Good Luck with your hunt.

Just do it! I stripped of the color of a Pennsx A/B unit just 2 days ago. They´re gonna become BN.
Mattias