Are the shells of the Bachmann F-7A, F-9A and FT-A diesel locomotives interchangeable? In other words, I have a Bachmann F-9A Union Pacific shell (which is for a non-DCC unit) and want to know will it fit on either a Bachmann DCC-equipped F-7 or FT-A chassis?
What about Athearn F-7A, F-9A and FTA shells? Can they fit on a Bachmann F-7A or FT-A chassis? Has anyone tried this?
Dear Brad,
Although mounting points might differ, the shells are about the same size, so they should be adaptable.
Have fun !
the Bach-man
Only difference between the 7 and 9 is the grille ahead of the front porthole.
Swapping brands? I kinda doubt it. Anything might work if you have a saw. I've seen 40' box cars where the floor wouldn't interchange.
Bob
Thank you very much for the information.
For those who want to know, I was able to successfully switch a UP Bachmann F-9A shell (from a DC unit) onto a D&RG Bachmann FTA chassis (which is a DCC unit). They were interchangeable. The F-9A has a slightly smaller hole for the front coupler (be careful of that), but the chassis (with a little finagling) snaps right in place and the four mounting screws fit the same holes exactly on both units. The FTA shell fits on the the F-9A chassis easily. It has a slightly larger hole for the front coupler.
After the switch, both units work fine. I now have a DCC-equipped Bachmann UP F-9 DCC engine. The Bachmann D&RG FTA engine is now a DC engine.
Because of the way that Bachmann units are screw-mounted, I can see that shells made by other manufacturers (such as Athearn, which just snap onto the Athearn chassis) won't work with a Bachmann chassis.
I hope that this information is helpful to someone else.