F Unit Carbody Available Free in Seward, AK.

Bobharbison · **Joined:** Fri Dec 03, 2004 9:42 pm **Posts:** 3010

Saw this on FB. It's in Seward, AK. I am not the seller and I know nothing about it. (Well, except the fact that it's not really from "early 1900")

Appears that the carbody is somewhat intact, though the side panels are all gone.

http://anchorage.craigslist.org/zip/4944740147.html

scottychaos · **Posted:** Mon Mar 23, 2015 9:10 pm

Google says it's Alaska Railroad EMD FP7 No. 1514.

Scot

Richard Glueck · **Posted:** Mon Mar 23, 2015 9:12 pm

Does it look burned out to others?

scottychaos · **Posted:** Mon Mar 23, 2015 9:13 pm

http://www.alaskarails.org/pix/former-loco/SS-1514.html

http://www.alaskarails.org/sf/lodging/kim/index.html

Scot

Tails · **Joined:** Fri Mar 29, 2013 11:14 pm **Posts:** 139

Someone tell Ed Ellis....

Jokes aside, I think its just badly rusted....I doubt there is anything left that could burn.

filmteknik · **Posted:** Tue Mar 24, 2015 12:13 am

Could be restored if you junked a GP7 and transferred the guts and the trucks. Probably easier ways to get an F though.

Bobharbison · **Joined:** Fri Dec 03, 2004 9:42 pm **Posts:** 3010

One of the links Scotty posted mentioned an electrical fire. That said, the carbody doesn't show any obvious warping or damage, so maybe it was minor. Then again, the photos aren't that good. No worries about damage to the internal components, as there are none.

Of course, there is one very large issue with this hulk. Location, location, location. It would seem to only make sense for a group in Alaska to try and save it. If you're in the lower 48, you'd need a really compelling reason to acquire an F unit shell to make the freight costs worthwhile.

cjvrr · **Posted:** Tue Mar 24, 2015 12:52 pm

Could make a neat hunting cabin....

Dick_Morris · **Posted:** Tue Mar 24, 2015 5:35 pm

Quote:

It would seem to only make sense for a group in Alaska to try and save it.

A project like that only falls within the mission of one group I can think of, the Museum of Alaska Transportation and Industry, and they already have a complete F-7 on display, ARR 1500.

Dick Morris
Anchorage, Alaska

Richard Glueck · **Posted:** Wed Mar 25, 2015 8:45 am

Leave it in the woods so future railfans can find it and then argue over whether or not it can be saved.

dinwitty · **Joined:** Wed Oct 22, 2008 8:18 pm **Posts:** 2226

I'll just put some HO scenery inside, and visitors can say "Where's the train" and I'll tell them..."step outside"....

Les Beckman · **Joined:** Tue Aug 02, 2005 1:25 pm **Posts:** 6482

Nothing has been said about whether the cab is intact or if it has been gutted. If intact, the cab itself could make a nice display at some museum.

Les

p51 · **Posted:** Wed Mar 25, 2015 1:25 pm

Les Beckman wrote:

Nothing has been said about whether the cab is intact or if it has been gutted. If intact, the cab itself could make a nice display at some museum.

I'd bet on gutted.
But the nose coulf be cut off, mounted to the side of a building, and a area for breakfast could be made out it with all that open room...

filmteknik · **Posted:** Wed Mar 25, 2015 1:53 pm

Or, if it's to be junked anyway, save the front end for potential use in a future wreck repair. I don't know if an E nose is precisely the same but even if it's slightly different this should be close enough. It took a lot of pieces pounded out, welded, and ground, to make a nose and I think there's a lot of hard to make pieces around the windows. Transport of just a nose and stashing it somewhere under a tarp doesn't seem that onerous for anyone operating E's or F's and could be a godsend at some point.

Les Beckman · **Joined:** Tue Aug 02, 2005 1:25 pm **Posts:** 6482

Or, does some museum have just a good B unit in their collection? Weld the "nose" from Alaska #1514 onto it and you have something that could be used on a museum train! The old Toledo, Peoria & Western actually did this with one of their old B units, and they did theirs from scratch!

Les