I can't handle this with my pre-holiday budget, but I want to get one early next year. Like other recent Bachmann diesels, they're reasonably priced, and some have the limited-feature Soundtraxx option. Bachmann paint in recent years is quite good.
The E7 is a good choice, it seems to me. They were built between 1945 and 1949, and, like the Southern example shown, often appeared in the elaborate early streamliner schemes. But by 1952-3, there was a wave of passenger train discontinuances, and a result was that the E7s moved pretty quickly from the top trains, where they were replaced by E8s and E9s, to secondary runs, where they often ran as single units. This is the sort of service I want to run on my layout.
A detail issue is that, like the early F3s, the E7s tended to overheat on some railroads, and they were modified with extra air intakes on the carbody side. But not every railroad did this, or they didn't do it at the same time, in the same way, or on all units. An early publicity photo of NYC E7s shows a set with original air intakes, but photos as of 1949 show the modified side panels. PRR units were also upgraded very quickly.
Looking at photos, though, I see that Burlington, Southern, and Union Pacific units either were never modified or were modified pretty late. The Bachmann models all have the original air intakes, but the photos on the Klein site show variations in Mars lights and numberboards. Apparently on the Soundtraxx versions, the Mars light works on units where the prototype had them.
Looking forward to getting one!
No comments:
Post a Comment