Athearn F7-B Dummy - Wheel Size Question

North West Shortline makes the 40" wheels. If you want power pick up, however, you will have to replace the trucks because they are all plastic. See if you can find a dead powered unit somewhere and either exchange bodies or the trucks. If you take the trucks, they should have the proper wheels and power pickups.

You could order the trucks with wheels from athearn or your local HS. part # front is 42010 rear is 42020, list is $8.25 each.
tb> > Greetings, > > I am assembling a B&O diesel trainset using drawbar connections. It will be > an A-B-A with the two A-units powered, and the B unit not powered. Since my > railroad is on deferred maintenance and an economy wave, I am using Athearn > Blue-Box F units, and they are of the Superpower type. The A units have a > very large weight casting. The B unit does not. I am weighting that with a > nice, low center of gravity to avoid stringlining. Unfortunately, I do not > like the plastic wheels on the B unit. I would like to replace them with > metal wheels. I am also thinking of using the B-unit as some sort of > power-pickup > car for other applications. It would be nice not to have to replace the > truck assemblies. Can someone tell me the correct size, and perhaps who > makes metal replacements? (Intermountain? Proto?). I would be very > appreciative of any advice you can offer. > > Thanks, > > -- > tbone > Visit The Janis Center Railroad Club, Columbus, Ohio

Actually you should replace all the wheels on both the A and B units with the NWSL ones Frank recommended.