10-22-2011, 09:20 AM
Yes, Athearn is doing FP7s, and they're pretty good -- better than the Intermountain, certainly better than the old Atlas. Their choices of road name so far have also been good, PRR in both red and green, Milwaukee Road both orange-maroon and UP yellow, SP black widow, and some others. My main reservation is that they're set up with McHenry plastic Kadee clones, and replacing them with Walthers metal short-shanks that they use on their own F units is a big hassle. You have to drill and tap a new mounting hole in the chassis.
FP7s are a really good passenger choice -- interestingly, PRR didn't use them as much on passenger, but they're a good freight cab unit choice. I have a DVD that shows FP7s running in sets with mixed red and green units on freight. The PRR ordered the FP7s just before so many secondary passenger trains were discontinued in the early 1950s, and they discovered they had enough E units to handle everything after the FPs arrived. On the other hand, roads like SP, Milwaukee, and L&N used them increasingly on passenger in the 1960s. The Athearn Milwaukee FP7s are probably a better choice for the Walthers Hiawatha than the E7s Walthers ran to go with it.
FP7s are a really good passenger choice -- interestingly, PRR didn't use them as much on passenger, but they're a good freight cab unit choice. I have a DVD that shows FP7s running in sets with mixed red and green units on freight. The PRR ordered the FP7s just before so many secondary passenger trains were discontinued in the early 1950s, and they discovered they had enough E units to handle everything after the FPs arrived. On the other hand, roads like SP, Milwaukee, and L&N used them increasingly on passenger in the 1960s. The Athearn Milwaukee FP7s are probably a better choice for the Walthers Hiawatha than the E7s Walthers ran to go with it.