FM Trainmaster - "The Most Useful Locomotive Ever Built"

Quick review of the MTH Premier Trainmaster models.
Touted by Fairbanks Morse as the most useful locomotive ever built!

[@Riogrande6400]

Wow that sounds amazing that is such an amazing locomotive. I wish more manufacturers make these locomotives in HO Scale. That's a drop step to make movement easier when the locomotives are connected.

[@anthonydibello5854]

The FM H 66-24 was a unique diesel-powered roadswitcher for the early 1950s Era. They worked best in cold climates and non mountainous terrains. Most of the TMs were set up for long hood forward operation. This proved difficult for the engineers because the motor produced excessive exhaust. They also ran hot and not good in long distant full throttle pulling. They did suffer from Lower cylinder heat wear issues and occasional crankshaft failures. They did quite well in Commuter Train service. My own personal memory of seeing these massive brutes used on the Central RR of New Jersey. They were extremely loud running in full throttle! Thanks Tony DiBello

[@genemanno1533]

So with all these issues why is T/M considered such a good engine?

[@railchief74]

Great review! My first FM was the 2321 Lackawanna FM from Lionels conventional classics line. It’s cool that Even the old Lionel postwar FMs were close to scale

[@JC-xf5jc]

Sean always a pleasure watching your video’s. Every time I see your layout I’m impressed. Bench work looks furniture grade…. beautiful, everything is pristine. Thank you Sean. Best part of your Videos…. NO CLICK BAIT! Always presented to honestly help and inform other modelers. 👍🏼👍🏼

[@GlennFresch]

One of the things the old TMCC and PS1 QSI engines got right was that the diesels would load when you started out with a train. In other worlds, the engine would throttle out and work hard till the train got up to speed and then notch back. This is what real trains do, and yet today with PS3 and Legacy we just get a basic notch/speed coordination. Hasn’t anyone heard a real diesel electric who designs our modern sound systems.

[@GlennFresch]

The reading, CNJ, and Lackawanna had these, For both passenger and freight. So, it had quite a strong showing with the anthracite roads.

[@JohnHuntt]

Thanks for the demonstration of the train master and telling some of the History. I enjoyed seeing it run through your layout. I enjoy the smoke coming out in full volumn. Thought it was a cat walk to walk betweeen the engines. JH.

[@WesternPacific485]

The engine was originally designed for US submarines. The opposed engines suffered from overheating in a locomotives. Southern Pacific used them for the San Francisco to San Jose commuter trains in the 60’s and early 70’s,.

[@tomrogers5516]

Great background info and rail run of this unique diesel locomotive, Sean. I'm glad you included a comment on it's performance record. It seems a railroad manufacturing innovations always had an accompanying draw back that made the engine obsolete very quickly. To bad the right hand didn't know what the left hand was doing, so to speak. Really awesome looking engine.

[@hugueslalonde]

The plate a the end it’s for helping crew members going from one engine to another one ; dropping both and attache the chain link to the other side to create a chain and rail so crew don’t fell off .

[@scottstrainloft5965]

Gotta luv the Train Master!!! Great review and background, Sean. Thanks for sharing.

[@davidstevens9002]

Great engine. FM's are my favorite engine. I love the colors scheme. Thanks for sharing.

[@janemarkham4133]

Awesom video Sean, just keep it up----You just get better each time you show us something new!!😀😀😯😲👍👍

[@MattyCtrains]

Awesome engine! I picked up the CnJ version myself, It's definitely a terrific performer and the sounds are great!

[@tomrogers5516]

Just a short update, Sean, about FM Train Master engines in museum storage. In 2021(Aug, I believe), the TVA's Baby Train Master H-1666 was moved to the TVRM for restoration and permanent display. 'Delayed in Block' has a short video on the move. You find it interesting.

[@arthurbilenker2622]

It is an H16 44 a H(the fm designation for road diesel) 16, 1600hp 44 two 4 wheeled trucks.

[@rogerhuber3133]

The drop down step was on most US diesel units to enable crews to pass from one unit to the next in safety over the gap.

[@seanstraindepot]

Thanks!

[@betsy662]

The piece on the end is called a drop plate, and is used to get from one unit to the next

[@seanstraindepot]

Thanks!

[@henryszubielski8601]

Sean, The only complete unit is a CP unit in Canada. What the Reading museum has is a former Virginian unit that had been cut down for use use as a slug by N&W. Hope this helps. Always loved the Demonstrator Scheme!

[@seanstraindepot]

Ah, that's why they said the Canadian one was the only Intact one. Thanks!

[@wayneantoniazzi2706]

Ah, so THAT'S what it is! Just so everyone knows the N&W never bought any Train Masters directly, the ones they had came from railroads absorbed into the N&W like the Virginian was. In fact at the outset of the N&W's dieselization in 1958 the only diesels they bought were GP7's.

[@agrady7216]

CP 8905

[@jackcraig4268]

Thank you for the thorough presentation. I was fortunate enough to go up into the cab of a Reading Trainmaster back in 1961, at the Jenkintown station of the great Reading Railroad. It was on the Bethlehem Branch, and the train would stop for about 10 minutes as the mail was loaded onto the train. A great train engineer named Lou Silcott would always invite me up. I was fortunate enough to get to ride to Bethlehem and Newtown (PA) in the front end of the RDC’s that replaced the TM’s the following year. That was great that you had the Bethlehem Steel building and gondola in your excellent layout.😢

[@thomasshannon3393]

Great video, thats a nice fm, much more detail than my 86 lionel.

[@petergulotta8183]

Really nice engine Sean, love the color scheme and a fantastic smoker!

[@nickatano9086]

And also those drpo down plates are pretty typical on most rpad locomotives. They allow for passage between one DPU and another. Sometimes Lionel adds them. Sometimes they dont.

[@wayneantoniazzi2706]

Man, tht engine puts out enough smoke to turn a Raid yard fogger green with envy! Great aquisition Sean, and if it's like all the O Gauge Train Masters that have come before it'll probably be strong enough to pull tree stumps out of the ground! I've got a Lionel Train Master from 1986, the Statue of Liberty commemorative, and it's a GREAT puller! Concerning the Fairbanks-Morse opposed piston engines, they were (and still are) great performers as stationary power plants and in marine appilcations but the railroad operating environment was just too rough for them. They developed oil leaks and were a maintainance headache (in addtion to being oddballs on the roster) so they didn't last too long on the railroads, especially when the 'roads began to rationalise with EMD products. One thing that MTH got right was the engine being set up to run short hood forward. According to Mike Bednar (retired Lehigh Valley man and contributor to TRP magazine) road crews ALWAYS tried to run Train Masters short hood forward. If they were run long hood forward exhaust fumes would drift into the cab and nauseate the crews! I don't know about a Train Master being at the Reading Technical and Historical Society museum, Nick from "Nix Crossing" did a video on the museum and if there was a Train Master there I'm sure he would have mentioned it. Possibly what they've got is what was called the "Baby Train Master?" That was a locomotive built by F-M that resembled the Train Master but was in the 1500 to 1600 horsepower range. There's a funny story about the name Train Master. When F-M was ready to put the demonstrators on the road somebody remembered Lionel had a line of transformers called "Trainmaster." Worried about trademark violation they contacted Lionel who told them "Go ahead and call it the Train Master, we don't care!" "Whew!" said the F-M people! Fun video about a beautiful model! You've got a good one!

[@seanstraindepot]

Great Info. Apparently, the Reading Museum just has a slug. I don't even know what a Slug is, lol. So only Canada has the surviving one.

[@wayneantoniazzi2706]

@@seanstraindepot A slug is a diesel locomotive that's had its cab, engine, and electrical equipment removed and is used in yard switching for extra power. The slug draws its electrical power for the traction motors from another diesel locomotive that it's coupled to. They're also ballasted to make up for the lost weight. As a rule they never leave the yards being unsuitable for road use.

[@caseyvillemodelrailroad3877]

Great vidio, like the engine.Thanks for the morning coffee...

[@georgebenson6036]

There is a baby trainmaster at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in Chattanooga TN.

[@williamkaczmarek3996]

We had a dual opposed piston FM Diesel onboard the sub I sailed on.

[@seanstraindepot]

oh, wow cool!

[@Riogrande6400]

Lots of older locomotives used the drop step to go between locomotives.

[@jameslanders4819]

I saw a set with two demonstrators at york meet. I should have grabbed them.

[@seanstraindepot]

HAHA, that always happens. Lots more out there.

[@Chessie1985]

Cool engine Sean!!!

[@markkilgore938]

The platform is for the crew to walk from one unit to another.

[@seanstraindepot]

Ok cool, I wasn't sure. Thanks!

[@josephmassell9922]

I like that train. ❤

[@mikeyanello3664]

Love it Sean. What is the retail price of the engine

[@seanstraindepot]

I got this at Just Trains for 480.00. Retail is 559.95

[@nickatano9086]

Called the Reading Technical and Historical Society and what they have is a FM Slug. They told me it was an old Wabash unit but who knows. Im sure its been bastardized over the years. Its in decent shape and still diaplays NS livety.

[@northpennvalleysteamrailroad]

Cool engine 😊

[@davidvalentinmunguiavelez9814]

¿Qué escala es?