Athearn Genesis - HO Scale - EMD F3A Diesel Locomotive - Individual - with DCC & Tsunami2 Sound - Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad (MKT) #70A - Green/Black with Yellow Lettering & Stripes (Era: Late 1970s+) (SKU 141-1718)
Available On: October 1, 2025
PROTOTYPE AND BACKGROUND INFO:
EMD F-units were a line of diesel-electric locomotives produced between November 1939 and November 1960 by General Motors Electro-Motive Division and General Motors-Diesel Division. Final assembly for all F-units was at the GM-EMD plant at La Grange, Illinois and the GMDD plant in London, Ontario, Canada. They were sold to railroads throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Structurally, the locomotive was a carbody unit, with the body as the main load-bearing structure, designed like a bridge truss and covered with cosmetic panels. The so-called bulldog nose was a distinguishing feature of the locomotive’s appearance, and made a lasting impression in the mind of the traveling public.
The F-units were the most successful “first generation” road (main line) diesel locomotives in North America, and were largely responsible for superseding steam locomotives in road freight service. Before this, diesel units were mostly only built as switcher locomotives, and only used in rail yards.
F-units were sometimes known as “covered wagons”, due to the similarity in appearance of the roof of an F-unit to the canvas roof of a Conestoga wagon, an animal-drawn wagon used in the westward expansion of the United States during the late 18th and 19th centuries. When a train’s locomotive consist included only F-units, the train would then be called a “wagon train”. These two usages are still popular with the railfan community.
F-Unit SERIES LOCOMOTIVE FEATURES:
SOUND-EQUIPPED MODELS ALSO FEATURE
PRIMED FOR GRIME MODELS FEATURE
Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad
By the mid 1970’s, MKT (also know as the “Katy” by railfans), started to transition to a new green and yellow paint scheme with lots of front end striping. They dropped the then-familiar “Katy “ logo to a simplified large “MKT” along the sides of their equipment. Sometimes being compared to John Deere tractors, these brightly painted locomotives were very eye-catching compared to other railroads.
MKT FEATURES:
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