ANDY EDLEMAN ON MTH S GAUGE

I would be all over the re-issue of the switchers and I wish they would produce sets as well. I think MTH has a BIG opportunity to grow S gauge sales.

I don't think you're going to see smoke, things are pretty tight in the SW's as it is.  It took SHS a while to figure out how to squeeze sound into the SW's.

 

Rusty

Mike Wolf also mention that the PS-3 Boards had been shrunk down to 'S Gauge' and now MTH could make smaller 'O Gauge' Engines... Elsewhere on the Forum it`s been mentioned that Andy said there will be an 'O' 44-Tonner in the next Catalog... Also there was mentioned the PS-3 Replacement Boards where developed to run Led and Incandescent Lights, not sure if that`s same Board or two different ones...

I also listened to the interview. I thought Derek did a nice job. It is good to hear that sales are strong. They certainly aren't setting any speed records with the current products and they aren't even sure if we will get a catalog this year, but at least they are talking positively about the future of S for MTH. Just getting that amazing flex track back into production will be a major step in the right direction.

Mike also mentioned at the TCA presentation the F3's are now due at the end of the year.

Rusty

End of the year? Ouch. Did he say anything else about elctrocouplers? I havent watched the video yet.

Nope.  Nothing about the couplers. 

 

The only good thing about the delay is my pre-order piggy bank will have the cash and then some to pay for them.

 

Rusty

I did an iterview with Andy for later publication in the S Gaugian at York.  During that interview I asked about the next locomotive from MTH for S.  He said it would be the remake of S Helpers Consolidation Steam Engine.  No mention of a switcher.

One thing Mike mentioned was how good the GEVO`s with flashing chase lights sell and that the next one will be in G-Scale, would be nice to see in 'S' Gauge, maybe that would be something American Flyer can do with their new ES44AC`s..

Thanks for sharing Bill. That comes as no real surprise.

What happen to the SD70ACe project? 

 

I thought MTH was going to produce the SD70ACe in S Scale and present the Union Pacific Heritage SD70ACe's and the Norfolk Southern Heritage SD70ACe's.

 

Regards,

Swafford

I don't think MTH is going to do any new tooling until most of the old SHS tooling is utilized.

 

Besides, IMHO, the Heritage trains have left the depot.

 

Rusty

That is very true. Plus mostly everyone who does S-Gauge hi-rail and scale has the Lionel heritage SD70ACe's so why would they want an MTH verison of the heritage SD70ACe's? Now the thing that gets me is why didn't Lionel bring out the Katy and Western Pacific heritage and the George Bush SD70Ace's? But any way that's my opinion. The other thing is that MTH will do the SD70M-2 and Lionel may or may not do it. Me being a big Norfolk Southern fan would be gald to get two or three NS SD70M-2's. Maybe even a CN SD70M-2. We will just see what happens.

I suspect because the NS Heritage units were the latest sparkly and they sucked up all the oxygen.

 

The UP units are already yesterday's news and within a year or so, so will the NS units.  Heritage units will become "hot properties" once again once they start disappearing under standard corporate paint.

 

Rusty

Rusty I totality agree with what you said about the NS heritage units. But I also disagree becuase of UP's heritage units being so sucessful being painted in their heritage paint scheme's. I suspect when BNSF does heritage units there will a big responce just with NS heritage units. 

 

Mark its kind of baffling don't you think. Now here is the other thing. Lionel did all the NS heritage units right. So why didn't they finish the UP heritage unit project? I guess we will never know. But Rusty did make a great point.

My guess is they pick the railroads by coustomer demand from past sales.  Probably the KATY brand doesn't compete with the UP, BNSF, and NS because those roads and lines they bought cover most all the country.

 

One suspects (I do) that the S gauge market is saturated with L-AF SD70ACe's and ES44AC's. There is no pressing need at the moment. Use scarse resources for different offerings.

 

I believe that Lionel will eventually produce the rest of the UP Heritage series for the AF line, but again, the S market is saturated with modern diesel product at this time. I have a Katy in Legacy O gauge and I believe that it was a popular offering. They did it twice. I'm maxxed out at three (SD70 DL&W, and ES44 in PRR and NPR), in S so I am not likely to purchase any more. 

 

Bob

Particularly since 3/4 of the UP Heritage loco's are still cataloged and there's still a bunch of NS units available, I would agree about the saturation.  The S market isn't as big as the O market. 

 

That's probably why the new ES44's are listed as "limited quantity,"(also meaning, using up the parts inventory I'd wager...)  I suspect in the future, we'll see more modest releases with any newly tooled locomotive.  I would like to see Lionel "up the game" with the scale cars, though.  They do a lot of nice stuff in O, and there's cars in their quiver that other companies haven't done yet.

 

I didn't get any of the NS Heritage loco's, but I do have a "civilian" ES44 on order.

 

Rusty

I purchased none of the NS locos.  I WILL however get the WP and Katy units if they are done. 

Ben

I am planning to buy a BNSF SD70ACe once the trucks are fixed so that it can cross an American Models switch. When is that? The hobby shop doesn't know, and Lionel is not saying.

 

It will be joined by a BNSF ES44AC once the headlight goes in the right place. When is that? The hobby shop doesn't know, and Lionel is not saying.

 

That means I'll buy a Legacy 990 system to enable all the features once it's in stock. When is that? The hobby shop doesn't know, and Lionel is not saying.

Getting back to MTH...

 

Along with the 2-8-0, there's a couple of other things I'd like to see coming soon (a very relative term in S nowadays...) to an LHS near us:

 

Caboose: The SHS extended vision caboose was a fine model, buy not really appropriate for most of the F3's current roadnames and none of the 2-8-0's.  SHS had the research done for a bay window caboose, which could compliment the 2-8-0 better.  Or, perhaps an S version of MTH's O gauge UP CA-1 wood caboose, with a change of cuploa to make it a look a little more generic for non UP-SP uses.

 

Open hopper: SHS had what, 4-5 different types of open two-bay hoppers?  These would probably be the most popular in 6 car sets, moreso than the likes of the 2 bay PS2 covered hopper.  Plus, one of the last SHS made cars was a covered variation.

 

Flat car:  SHS's "3-in-1" car, good for standard flat, bulkhead flat or TOFC service.  Maybe even an Auto-Loader?  TOFC's in 6 car sets might also prove popular.

 

Track: Turnouts to match the 24" and 27" radius curves.  I know SHS was planning on a #5 turnout, but in the S-Trax environment, turnouts matching avalable radii would require little to no cutting and fitting of track to lay out a plan.

 

And lastly on this pipe dream, the E7.  The poor E7 suffered from the the 2-8-0 taking up more of SHS's resources than initially planned.  I recall Don Thompon saying that most of the research was done on the E7 and all the data was included in the sale.  the E7 might be a good candidate for a new locomotive breakout announcement.

 

Rusty

What roadnames will the E7 be offered in?

 

Just kidding, but is there a quick list of roads who owned them? 

The E7 was EMD's most popular E unit. 

 

It's easier to list the roads that didn't have them.  There were others, but Santa Fe, GT, CN, CP, NP, SSW come to mind off the top off my very flat head...

 

Rusty

I absolutely can not stand MTH in O scale. I really really want to see S scale stuff from them and I hope that it increases the popularity of S scale. 

I agree with your O scale assessment.  But it was the high water pants that drove me goofy!
$500 for a loco that you could see sat high above the trucks, including Atlas stuff. (SD35)
Not to mention "China drive".
Thankfully, my AF SD70ACe a sit about right.  And run flawlessly.
Doesn't surprise me at all that MTH went for the 2-8-0 next.  Superb loco!
God himself doesn't know when we'll see it.

 Wow! 27" radius curved turnouts.............hmmmm. I bet they'll be big bucks, hopefully not matching or exceeding Lionel in their MSRP pricing.

   I will be buying a couple of pairs.

  So will the headlight be lowered on the ES44AC's? If so, I will need to buy 2 CP units

Al

Al

If you look at it's o gauge counter part in the lionel catalog it is the same art, and also shows all the road names with lights in the same spot. I **think** that the o gauge models have the lights in prototypical locations and the catalog art just does not reflect it.  If this is the case, I would think that the s gauge model has a good chance of also being prototypical. (I hope).

Ben

I would sure hate to miss out on the CP ES44ACs because the catalog illustrates them as having the headlight in the incorrect place, and they are released correctly and it was just catalog art laziness.

All of the Ps-2 HOPPER CARS and SETS are coming and the 10" and 5" Straights and 20", 25" and 30" Curves, in the S-TRAX Line, according to the MTH Dealer Newsletter..

Now MTH` Facebook page has many pictures of the 40' WOODSIDED REEFERS and states that they`ll be shipping in June..

When I go to the MTH product finder and click on the 30" radius 6-pack and 10" straight 6-pack, I get the following message:

 

MTH HAS THIS ITEM IN STOCK

 

Since I pre-ordered these from their website, hopefully they are going to ship soon.

The MTH dealer newsletter for june 15th is showing that 5 of the Reproduction American Flyer Accessories are coming in..

Which 5 are they??

[1] #35-90001 SAW MILL = [2] #35-90002 WATER TOWER W/BUBBLE PIPE = [3] #35-90003 REVOLVING AIRCRAFT BEACON = [4] 35-90004 FLOODLIGHT TOWER = [5] 35-90006 LAMPLIGHTER ...... 

For those interested the Dealer Newsletter for August 31st is showing Two of the S Gauge Hi-Rail and Scale Wheel-Sets and Four of the Truck-Sets and also the Flyer-Compatible Couplers are shipping..

I see that the 20", 25" and 30" Radius Curved S-TRAX Half Sections, by MTH, have been cancelled..

I'm not in a position to check my old catalogs right now, but I don't recall SHS having half section curves in any radius.  Which would mean there is no pre-existing tooling to use.

 

5" straights, yes, but not curves.

 

Update:

Yep, just looked at the last SHS catalog (2009.)  Not a sign of half curve (15 degree) sections.  Only full curve (30 degree) sections in all radii.

 

Rusty

I checked a 2012 image of the SHS sectional track page from their old website.  No half curves there either.  There is, however, a page on tips for making custom lengths of SHS track that might be helpful if someone needs a shorter length of track.

 

Mike A.

This must have been, maybe, New Tooling by MTH.. They are listed under #35-1007, #35-1009 and #35-1011...