Today I reached the 10,000 miles mark (368 hours) on my MTH 30-4182-1E #4449 Southern Pacific 4-8-4 GS-4 2.0 steam engine. This engine was in MTH’s 2008 Ready-to-Run catalog as part of the 30-4182-1 set that included three passenger cars, track, Z-1000 transformer, DVD and operator’s manual. I purchased the set on 12/4/2009. To me, what makes this worth mentioning is the reliability that this starter set engine displayed over the years I had it. Other than routine maintenance, service items included new traction tires in 2012 and a new smoke unit wick and fan motor in 2019. Hopefully this is an indicator of the reliability I can expect with the rest of the 48 0-gauge engines with modern electronics that I run on a regular basis. I have yet to have any major issues with any of them.
Ron
