A while ago, I bought a pair of Walthers Mainline F7s, an A/B set, painted and lettered for Penn Central. Are they any good? Do they break the stereotype of cheap price means poor quality, or do they prove it right?

The models came directly from Walther’s website, with an amazing sale price of $180 USD for both. Both units came in separate boxes, put together in a standard shipping box that was sized exactly for them. There was nothing separating the locomotive boxes from the shipping box, meaning that it was nearly impossible to fit any cushioning for rough transport or space in case of water damage. Luckily, neither scenario happened.

The models themselves were packaged well, but there was definitely room for improvement. The locomotives were packed in a styrofoam cradle, with a plastic sheet for lifting out the engines. A plastic cover prevented the models from falling out. The display boxes they came in are standard Walthers Mainline boxes.

Details on the units are pretty standard for Walthers Mainline. All detail parts are separately fitted. The locomotive is equipped with a correct Leslie A200, mirroring the horn sound effect. Not all handrails which are present on the prototype come equipped with the model, which can be left as is or added on with a separately sold detail kit. Even with this said, one thing stood out to me. One handrail on the front of the locomotive, next to the door, is loose; this has allowed the paint to get scraped down to the metal, which isn’t very noticeable when using or running it, but it is something to take note of.

Paint quality is top notch. Lines are neat and tidy, and there is no overspray. The Penn Central logo is crisp and clean, and numbers are to the same quality. To be fair, Penn Central probably had one of the easiest paint schemes to model, because it was simply white on a black backdrop. Nonetheless, it was done masterfully.

The light quality is very good. Even though there’s only a single light on this body variation, it’s brightness and clarity make up for it. Featuring a prototypical off-white hue, the source takes up the entirety of the headlight area, the bulb is rather large, allowing it to shine much better than other manufacturers’ takes on the same model. When compared with the Athearn Ready to Roll F7, it gets even better. On the Athearn model, a small single bluish-white LED is located directly in the center of the channel, as opposed to the Walthers model. Function 0 toggles the headlight.

The running quality is phenomenal on both units. They both use the same 5-pole skew-wound drives as in high-end Walthers Proto locomotives, allowing for smooth, quiet operation. The models are quite heavy, making them very good pullers. They have pulled good length trains up 2% grades, more than making up for the little bit they lack in detail. Both locomotives came stock with metal Kadee-compatible couplers.

Sound Quality is amazing. Equipped with ESU DCC and Sound, the audio from each one is impressively clear. Featuring a 21 pin decoder socket, Walthers allows users to remove the included decoder and install one of their own choice, if they so choose.

In the manual, Walthers warns against the included decoder’s use in DC operation, pretty much specifically with the MRC 1500 series transformers.

Upon engine startup (F8), the sound of an EMD 567 series engine can be heard. The engine revving is smooth and is synced well with the model’s movement. Function 7 toggles air brake pump. Function 4, 5, and 6 are blank. F3 plays a coupler slack sound. F2 and 1 play the Horn and Bell, respectively. All sound effects are of good quality, and by extent, are not repetitive or annoying to listen to in the slightest. The equipped ESU decoder offers several horn options, including the Leslie A200 molded on the roof of the model. It also has two bell options.

I brought the pair to my local Model Railroad club, where they ran and looked very nice in front of prototypical trains. So far, they’ve appeared in every 1970’s era operation session since they first came on the layout, with only one decoder replacement for the B unit. (Unbeknownst to me, the decoders had been recalled. That was on ESU and Walther’s part; they had a bad batch of decoders, and they were quite friendly and patient. Walthers replaced the decoder for free.) One thing I have noticed since I purchased them is that the shell seems to be slightly bent around the frame in the A unit near the trucks. It could quite possibly be that the shell hadn’t been put on entirely correctly since the last time I took it apart, so I will continue to examine it.

Overall, I love these locomotives. Even though not every specific detail is present, they are still very good quality. All the details have held up, and nothing is broken. I still enjoy running them on occasion when they aren’t stowed in some staging yard ready for the next operation session, and they still sound and look just as good as they did when I first unboxed them. I would totally recommend these units to anyone looking for EMD F units; Walthers just did another run of them in several new road names. If you’re interested and you have the chance to purchase these, definitely go for them. These specific models are getting very hard to find in the A/B pair for a reasonable price, because Walthers no longer offers the Penn Central road name for these models.

Note: The image shown for the B unit is not the same road number as the one I have. This was just another number it was offered in.

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