Micro-Trains Line Reissues The F7

Micro-Trains Line is reissuing their popular F7 diesel locomotive, both the A and B units. We got in touch this morning with Ben Thielemann, Marketing Director at Micro-Trains, to ask a couple of quick questions on the reissued F7s.

On some of the Z scale user forums, we’ve heard that the MTL F7 locomotive is coming back into production. Is this true and what’s your scheduled release date?
Yes, it’s true. Our first F7 will release in just over a week with the March releases.

Will these F7s use the original F7 mechanisms or will these be on a new chassis?
It will use the original mechanisms.

Why has MTL decided to bring the F7 back?
Well we continually get requests for our F7s; for new schemes and reprints of old schemes. From the time we started transitioning between vendors for our GP and SD40-2 chassis molds we knew we would encounter a period where we wouldn’t be able to release any GP’s or SD40-2’s. So we decided to see what we could do to revive our F7 mold. Fortunately we were able to get it operational.

Will you also be releasing B units? If so, will they address the issue of rolling resistance? Will these need shims for free rolling B unit performance?
We will be releasing B units along with the A units, but the resistance issue is still there.

Will these new chassis be DCC ready?
No.

Are you using the existing body molds from the previous A and B units?
Yes. The A unit mold was in bad shape, but with some work we were able to get it running again without having to make a new mold. The shells it puts out are still in rough shape and require a lot of secondary touch-up work, but the end result is the same quality A unit we had before. The B unit mold is newer tooling so there were no problems with that mold.

Any idea on the initial roadnames to be released?
Yes, but you’ll have to hang tight until the first of each month to find out. Sorry.

You can contact Ben Thielemann directly: Ben Thielemann

Category: Blog