Edit: MTH 999 Dies: Pics of three "old timey" locos

That sounds great Lee, I'm glad you like it. I was looking at them in the catalog as well, but I went with the club offering because they where so unique. and they are from the LCCA

Good luck  with it.

hello Lee Willis.........

That MTH "999" engine looks light years better than that old lionel general wow. Is that MTH '999" like yours a 70" drivers or the 86" drivers ?

the woman who loves the S.F.#5021

Tiffany

It has the bigger drivers - as far as I know bigger than on any other model loco I have.  

Hello Lee Willis..........

I would guess its the 86" driver model.    I like those painted spokes drivers and wheel sets as that make the model really stand out.   Perhaps you can set the scale "999"  4-4-0 besides your scale S.F.#2900 class 4-8-4 and take photos of it and post it here to see how really big the S.F.#2900 is for fun ?

the woman who loves the S.F.#5021 

Tiffany

Lee,

What you have is the 70" driver version as seen here: http://www.mthtrains.com/content/20-3386-1 

The 86" driver version looks like this: http://www.mthtrains.com/content/20-3385-1

If so I am very pleased - I searched high and low for the smaller driver version -- I wanted a model of 999 as converted back to the more workaday design after its supposed 102 (maybe) and 112 (no way) mph top speed run, but the loco I ordered was listed as having the big drivers.  The mistake worked out well.   This is a nice loco.  With bigger wheels (as pictured on the site I bought it from) it looked bizarre.  This looks nice and runs slow - I imagine the motor gear is the same regardless of driver size, which means with the bigger wheels it would run about 20% faster - so I am very pleased to have this version.

Tiffany - Frankly I don't like the paint, particularly the painted spokes and the script name on the tender.  I'm not sure the real loco had shiny lacquered brass piping either (but I will do some research).  Now, I realize that all makes it look pretty, but I want a more realistic look and will probably repaint it (or neolube) for an industrial look with a trace of weathering, etc.  

Sorry . . . 

hello Lee Willis

That's okay, i understand 

the woman who loves the S.F.#5021

Tiffany

Many Thanks Lee for the photos!!!! I want a 999 but will more likely be out of reach unless a RK level loco is ever done. It looks great!! Thanks again!

Tiffany, here it is next to Northern 3759 - not quite as big, but close, (my 2926 - an early PS1 model that misbehaves frequently - is on a very high shelf, while 3759 was right there).  

BTW everyone, I have a new video camera and took a nice movie of 999 but it's recorded in some format that made even a short film over the 100 Mb limit.  I will try to edit or take a shorter one today after work.  999 is an incredibly smooth slow runner with good smoke and nice sound.  It will run noticeably slower in conventional, than most of my Legacy locos.  It's just stubborn to engage into conventional when I first fire it up each time, that (and the paint) is the only downside - sometimes it fires up and runs in conventional but won't turn on its sound.  I have to shut down and wait about half a minute and then try again.  

The paint is bizarre (prototype or not - I don't know - I dislike it) the roof of the cab is the flat-est flat black I have ever seen - like a blackboard -  but the boiler and cab sides are satin with just about a semi-gloss sheen to them.  The painted spokes look good in the photos, but the thing about painted spokes is that the paint has to be perfectly aligned (as on the painted spokes on the Legacy blue Comet) - if it is not right down the center of each spoke, but even a tiny bit off, it looks strange (at least to me).  I will definitely repaint this puppy eventually.  I had expected it to be mostly a shelf queen I bought to display along with the LFT loco and one of my Baldwin ten -wheelers to show the early (1860 to 1900) evolution of steam, but this puppy is such a good runner with good sound . . . I

Wopw!!! That is one sweet looking engine.

Nice engine Lee. Good luck with it. 

but I want a more realistic look and will probably repaint it (or neolube) for an industrial look with a trace of weathering, etc. 

 

Sorry. . .

No please don't do it! It was a passenger engine. Keep her clean!

Seriously, do whatever makes you happy. I'm just kidding.

Lee, you got short changed. Send it back.

The NYC did have engines in this same class with shorter drivers, but the MTH model doesn't capture the look very well at all. You should send it back and get the model of 999 the way she was MEANT to look--with 86" high-heeled slippers and a Russia Iron paint job--the pinnacle of steam locomotive technology in 1893--the true "golden era" or railroading.

The black thing you have there is but a shadow of the real thing.

I also prefer the blue version with the larger wheels but to each his own. It's a personal opinion. I didn't think I would like the blueish gray engine with the large wheels but it really grew on me. It is the only steam engine I have that isn't black.

And not that I am trying to be nit picky or anything like that but shouldn't the above picture say "Luke, I am your father"?

That is a nice looking loco.

Submitted for your entertainment, here is a pic of #999 and the Empire State Express at speed on the mainline somewhere in Upstate New York. Note how the railroad workers in the yard have all come out to watch it pass.

Thank you, but no, I'll keep it.  I really like it, and while it drives my wife crazy - I never return things I've bought.

As to the drivers, I thought I was buying the 86" inch driver version (the website listing representing it has having them) but actually wanted the version with the smaller drivers (I could not find one at a good price) - I don't really want loco 999 as much as a workaday, late 19th century 4-4-0 locomotive. 

I am going to repaint this as a workaday black locomotive, but . . . I am intrigued by the Russian Iron paint concept.  I'm thinking - if I neolubed the entire thing, would i get a patina close to the look of Russian iron? or something close?  Going to try on an old locomotive shell I have later this afternoon.  Otherwise, its flat black for this puppy and a new number and roadname (Union Pacific).

As is Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry:

But they can't send it back.

Rusty