Why no FAs

[gelboy45]

Why is there no state of the art N scale FA (with 45o number boards for me please)?

There are opportunities for loads of road names too.......

Gerry

[spookshow]

Because Walthers bought out Life-Like and is allowing all of that FA tooling to gather dust...

-Mark

[bbussey]

Life-Like over-produced them apparently.  You should be able to find what you need on the secondary market.  I've picked up an additional five or so units this way, long after Walthers had acquired Life-Like.  Undecs may be harder to find, but finding FA1/FB1 and FA2/FB2 units in general shouldn't take much effort.

They are among my favorite engines.  I've never had a problem with any of the ones I have.

[fredmoehrle]

Made to many both times!

The first run have the open pilot, I think they were the last Life Like engine with truck mounted couplers.
Not to fear, MT has a pilot conversion.
My first run AA & NYC pull a little better then the second run, probably because of those huge LEAD castings over the trucks.
I do have a second run NYC FA2/FB2/FB1/FA1 lash up that hauls like crazy.

I think G&G trains (listed in MR, NSRR & NSM) have some pre-owned, unopened a/b sets on the shelve.

[bbussey]

I don't recall the open pilot on any of the Life-Like versions.  The original Atlas/Roco model had truck-mounted couplers, and the MTL conversion kit was designed for that.  Every LL unit I have is a split-frame mechanism with body-mounted couplers.

[Catt]

The first LL FA's I bought were open pilot plastic framed and would pull wall paper off the walls.My early GP18s were the same way.

[C855B]

...  Undecs may be harder to find ...

Here ya' go: http://www.ebay.com/itm/LIFE-LIKE-7431-FA-1-FB-1-PAIR-UNDECORATED-LOCOMOTIVES-BRAND-NEW-NO-RESERVE-/161117305304?pt=Model_RR_Trains&hash=item258356f9d8. Unopened, too.

Yes, the FA's were overproduced, and then some. My guess is Gerry's concern is likely from the Rapido couplers and lack of drop-in DCC, as everything else about the last run of these models is fully in line with current production.

[SkipGear]

I believe I have an FA2/FB2 undec set someplace in my stash if anybody is interested. I bought them to paint B&O before I checked to see that the B&O only had FA/B, not the FA2's.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Yes, the FA's were overproduced, and then some. My guess is Gerry's concern is likely from the Rapido couplers and lack of drop-in DCC, as everything else about the last run of these models is fully in line with current production.

When I was working at MBK back in the day (10 years ago), we bought a TON of them from Life-like and blew them out for between $30 and $50 a set. Literally, it was almost a ton of them. Imagine those big metal shelving units, now imagine six of them side to side with FA sets stacked two deep and all the way across.

Yup. We had a lot of em.

[DKS]

I don't recall the open pilot on any of the Life-Like versions.

I had scads of both open and closed pilot units from LL. Open pilot versions had plastic frames and blocks of lead; closed pilots had nice split frames--the same progression that the BL2 went through.

[johnh35]

The first LL FA's I bought were open pilot plastic framed and would pull wall paper off the walls.My early GP18s were the same way.

I know LL called the FA-1's, but weren't those first plastic framed runs actually FA-2's?

[Chris333]

FA2s where first with open pilots and plastic frames. Then came the FA1s with split frames and closed pilots. Pretty sure the FA2 was later redone with split frames and closed pilots as well.

[bbussey]

FA2s where first with open pilots and plastic frames. Then came the FA1s with split frames and closed pilots. Pretty sure the FA2 was later redone with split frames and closed pilots as well.

That's why I don't remember plastic-frame FA1s.  Yes, there were FA2s that had open pilots and plastic frames.  But the FA1s were always split-frame with body-mounts.  The redesigned FA2s had entirely new mechanisms and (I believe) utilized the original body tooling, with the A unit body modified to have a closed pilot.  I had a first-issue FB2 in SP&S that I was going to repaint as NH, but I abandoned that when the second-issued units were released and simply picked up an undec FA2/FB2 set.  I unloaded the FA2.

Of the FA1s, I have multiple sets in NH and one ABA set in L&NE.  I drawbar'd the units to close-couple them.  Happy with all of them.

[wazzou]

Unfortunately, what the OP desires is the angled number board version. 
I bought a couple of pairs of the angled number boards from the KATO parts department meant for the PA that I plan/planned to get to some day.

[LIRR]

I have an ABA set of The LL FA1s, that I repainted for L&N as well as an ABB set still in the original L&NE scheme. They're noisy as hell but heavy weights that'll pull whatever I couple up to them. I had ordered an 'A' shell to make another ABA set just as walthers took over LL and cancelled the order. Have had no luck if finding a shell...