Anybody run MTH HO

I have some, but I lean toward Broadway Limited due to some issues I have had...

David,  I have the MTH Mohawk and it's an impressive little steamer - decent smoke and great sounds. Looks, runs,and sounds (albeit not as 'full') just like an O gauge locomotive.

 

I think Mike's are the only die cast steamers but am not certain. Pick one up - I think you'll like it!

I have two MTH HO steam locomotives, a UP Big Boy and a UP 9000 class 4-12-2.  Both look great, sound fantastic, and smoke just like their big O gauge brothers.

 

Stuart

 

 

I 2^nd that on the Mohawk, great all around locomotive.  This doesn’t apply if you have a DCS system but a word of warning not all MTH HO locomotives are 100% DCC friendly/compatible IDK the right word, epically some of the older ones.   This has been discussed at LENGTH on numerous HO forums through-out the internet, I recommend a quick Google search if that is an issue for you.

Incidentally, does anyone have any Marklin Z gauge accessories, and how do you like them?

 

 

 

Hoho. 

Thanks guys for the input.

A friend of mine does repair for a local hobby shop & warned me that they look good & run nice, BUT if you do have an issue, they're tough to get parts for & hard to work on because of the way they're built. Down the road a few years, these more advanced plastic locos might be tough to keep running. After watching him (a real pro with ho for over 25 years) struggle with these newer locos, I've stayed away from that stuff & stuck with brass. Just my 2 cents there.

I have worked on the HO engines and it's not that hard. Also the parts aren't hard to get either. We sell a lot of HO at our store.

The older diesels didn't have all the cv functions for DCC. Lots of people said one thing to MTH and they opened the rest of the cv's. I have update files to update them and they work great.

A few of the other guys who work at the store have quite a few MTH engines and they don't have problems with them. One thing I have seen is when someone is trying to program throttle curves and other stuff with DCC and they don't know what they're doing it mixes up the engine. I've reset a few and they're good to go.

Ralph

I'm not talking about any programming issues. I'm talking about nuts & bolts, heavy duty repair. What I've seen him working on (or trying to anyway) were driveline problems with gearing & shafting on steam engines especially. Difficulty with the drive rods & dissassembly/reassembly problems Due to their factory assembly practices. I'll ask him specifically & get back here later. 

I must have gotten lucky so far. I haven't ran into something like that. I probably had more diesels come through but never really bad drive train problems on steam engines. It would be interesting to know what he has ran into

Ralph

I just texted him but he's probably asleep in a hotel somewhere. I'll get back to you here. His son just answered me back & he had a little more info, but not repair related. In his experience, they're not the best pullers. He just told me they worked on the NYC ESE Hudson & a 4-12-2 so far but he doesn't remember why. 

I run a little MTH HO.......Cab Forward, Berk and a diesel from one of the ready to run sets.  All perform very well including just about all the options that their O Guage Brothers have.

 

I don't have to clean the track any more with them than my O Guage.

 

Dave