Hello, I'm new to the forums and I have began the model train hobby in G-scale. I want to know about the USA Trains F3 A unit. I've heard about it running on 5 foot curves, but will it work on my Bachmann Big Haulers track? I am considering of purchasing one or an Alco PA-1 soon. Also, what radius can the Alco PA-1 run on? Will I need 4 foot, 5 foot, or 6 foot curves? Thanks for your help.
Hi and welcome to the board and glad to hear more people collecting USA Trains. You will be happy with the F3. I had mine since 2000 and it has run every weekend for 5 years and then every weekend for 6 months at a time for the next 5 years, my F3 has a to of dependable hours on it. Now on to your questions. Bachmann track is 4 foot radius and you should replace it with either USA Trains brass track or Aristocraft brass track with at least 5 ft diameter curves. Right now you can catch better deals with USA Trains track. USA Trains or Aristicraft is not compatible with Bachmann track, besides Bachmann track is not that great, I know I used to own it 11 years ago. The USA Trains PA however needs a very big swing, You need a Minumum of 8ft diameter curves to prevent any motor block damage. Even at that it's tight when running knuckle coulers. I had to make modifications to my knuckle couplers to make the swing without pulling rolling stock off of the track. There may be more room if you run hook and loop couplers. I don't recomend running the F3 on 4ft diameter curves. Note: Little known fact. The Alco PA was a 6 axle locomotive, but did you know that the center axle in each truck was a dummy axle???? They were only driven by 4 of the 6 axles, the center axle was only used to support weight. The USA Trains version is a true 12 wheel drive however, too bad USA Trains didn't originally build the Alco PA, it may have been a more dependable locomotive
I didn't know that, thanks. Without your help I would have made the worst mistake to run it on 4ft curves. Does the MTH Dummy F3 B unit have sound and smoke? I'm wondering because it is about $200-250 and I would like to know because I need to make up my mind within a few days. If I get the Alco PA, it'll need to sit on my shelf until September before it can be run. Is the Dummy A unit by MTh any good and does it have sound and smoke? (I know it doesn't move) Is it worth Pre-Ordering? Thank you.
Actually I believe, but don't quote me on this that both MTH A units are powered and only the B unit is the dummy when they sell thier ABA sets. MTH however is a whole different animal eve though it's G scale. For one thing MTH is a 1:32 scale ratio which is smaller in comparision to Aristicraft or USA Trains 1:29 scale ratio. MTH G scale runs on both AC and DC power just like thier O scale locomotives, but you only get all of the sound features on AC power which could be a problem when trying to find a transformer unless you use a MTH system. If you like USA Trains rolling stock they would look funny in size comparison to the MTH locomotives. So you have to make up your mind what manufacturer has the most products you like. This is why USA Trains is so popular with Aristocraft being close. They are both 1:29 scale ratio which is a nice big G scale size and USA Trains offers alot of different types of rolling stock. I on the other hand think that MTH trains rolling stock is too toy like. Just like O scale, the MTH sound system is DCC controlled which the DCC system controller is sold seperately and only works with a MTH DCC controller.
You are welcome. Also you didn't mention it, but if you wanted to go battery power or DCC, Aristocraft is more plug and play friendlier than USA Trains is. Also USA Trains are power hogs just to warn you, especially if you want to run multiple locomotives coupled together. Your Bachmann transformer won't even think about moving those USA Trains. You will need a good transformer like the Bridegewerks transformers. That is the only downfall poeple complain about the USA Trains is that they are power hogs. They don't make a good battery power candidate due to this fact as you won't get alot of run time between charges. USA Trains also uses traction tires and slide shoes which some people think it detracts from relism, but they definately will out pull a Aristocraft locomotive which heavily realies on weights which reduces the amount of rolling stock the Aristocraft locomotive can pull. Anyway there are pros and cons to both > Good Luck
What I'm curious is, people tell me you can remove USA's power pickup shoes and solder the power leads into the trucks. I wonder if this A) Creates better pulling power and less drag and B) increases the power requirements.
That is odd about soldering in power leads since how all of the USA Trains that have slide shoes also pick up power from the axles too, so why would you need to solder in leads I wonder? The axles on the USA Trains locomotives slide into the truck frame, but in the truck frame there is brass contacts that the non rubber tire axle ends touch. But I guess without the pick up shoes you would need to wire in the other axle to pick up power also so you would get your 8 point pick up power back. The switchers don't use rubber tires, but do use pick up shoes giving them a 12 point pick up system Now I have heard of people removing the axle from the motor block which has the drive tires and then ordering another solid wheel drive axle and re-install that. Then they take off the slide shoes. All of this is done because most people I talked to say since they run outside the drive tires and the slide shoes don't hold up due to dirt and gravel. This would actually decrease pulling power since how USA Trains locomotives rely heavily on those rubber tires for pulling power. Aristocraft gets away without rubber tires by adding weight to thier locmotives, most weighing in around 10 to 15 lbs. This is where the USA locomotive always had the advantage to pulling long trains, because they were lighter while the Aristocraft locomotives were already weighed down before even lashing up any freight cars. Of course the Dash 9 is a little more powerful than any other Aristocraft locomotives. I betcha however that the USA SD-70MAC could give that Dash 9 a run for it's money. As far as power requirements, USA Trains locomotives are just complete power hogs and you better have one heck of a powerful transformer if you plan on running multiple USA Trains locomotive lash ups. They did fix the power hog problem with the SD-70MAC. I noticed that even though my SD-70MAC has 4 motors in it, it still runs on just about half the amperage that it takes to run my SD40-2 units which are only 2 motors a piece. I own 2 SD-70MAC locomotives which totals out at 8 motors, I own 3 SD40-2 locomotives which totals out at only 6 motors to give you a rough idea about how much power the older units use and I have meters on my transformers letting me know what train is using what kind of volts and amps.
HI. First post to this forum. You say your SD70Mac has 4 motors. Have USA Trains made two types of this. Mine SD70MAC has only one motor in each truck. I know that because I got an new SD70MAC with a stuck motor. Would not rurn around at all. Got a new one and replaced it. Living in Norway, it was not an option sending it back. The USA Trains give very god service, sending me a new motor, trusted my word. Ivar
The Norwegian, welcome to the Train Board and USA TRains do have nice service. I do however haver to make a correction. You are right, the SD-70MAC locomotives only have 2 motors. The prototype did have 4 small motors and I assumed they kept it that way. I had to look it up in the catalog, but at any rate, the newer motors in the SD-70MAC locomotives do use alot less electricity than my older USA trains locomotives. I only had one motor failure in the last 10 years on any of my 16 USA locomotives that I still own. It's nice to know there is a USA Trains fan over seas, usually LGB and Marklin has the European side of the world covered.
I talked to a few friends and they said you don't actually need to replace the power trucks, but getting operation to work smoothly is a long, tiring, electronics expert process. What they told me was to buy Aristocraft's FA/U25B/RS3 trucks, ball bearings and remove the side frames and swap the F3 frames on. This requires a bit of tinkering but nothing you can't do without a guide and a rotary tool. They also said that using the aristo trucks means the F3's will start up and shut down on the same momentum frequency as the FA's and are easier to make T.E. Revolution compatable.
oldmainlinejohnny, Welcome aboard Train Board and to the G scale section. That is great news about the USA Trains PA locomotives. I own 15 USA Trains locomotives and they have all bee good. The SD40-2 locomotives had minor problems which I resolved. Anyway I noticed stock is running low on PA units, Charles Ro is also starting to discount certain road names, so now is your chance to buy one. However in the real world the Alco PA was not the most reliable locomotive built. With it's tetrimental 4 stroke diesel engine which would not restart when hot wihtout knocking and the break downs were often when they got any age on them. Rio Grande was one railroad that bought a few and had major problems and finally got arid of them all in favor of EMD F-7 locomotives which was probably the best "F" unit EMD made.
Can't really blame ALCO for that. Well you soft of can. By the time the better engines came out for the PA/FA models, the EMD F and E series was proving more reliable. Even in later years when a former BN Engineer would refer to the Aging F-Units as "Those Damn Covered Wagons Are No Better Than A Steam Locomotive", they still proved to be more reliable than the FA/PA combined. I feel that if the second ALCO Prime Movers were to get out sooner than they did, the PA and FA wouldn't have fallen from grace so quickly. It would have bough time for a third Prime Mover to be developed.
