Imperial K4

According to the dimensions on wikipedia and my calculator it is about scale as far as length.

I have the locomotive. Very nice - not sure what you mean by Wikipedia but comparing it with a friends Premier full scale K4, it is a bit shorter and smaller overall but not by much. 

See the below link to photos from MTH's Facebook Page. No Facebook account is needed to see them. 

http://www.facebook.com/media/...108529158&type=3

I mean the dimensions of the actual k4 listed on wikipedia.

I love mine.  I'll try to snap some pics tonight.  It has been a workhorse, as it was the first "real" locomotive with DCS.  It came as part of a set with 4 Madison passenger cars and has no trouble pulling them - it could easily do 5-6 but I don't have the siding space at the moment.  Smokes like a demon;  as good as my Premier Mikado and better than my RK Allegheny (which is no slouch).  The only issue I have with it is that the front pilot bounces off switch entrances most of the time; no derailments, but it just seems a little light.  In terms of size, it looks perfectly normal sitting next to the Premier Mikado and if you check the dimensions of the Premier K4, they are pretty close.  Detail wise, I think it looks pretty great.  It's not a display piece like the Premiers, but I run the heck out of it so I don't care  

I recently had one on the layout and it ran great and had plenty of pulling power.  I have some Imperial locomotives and think they are a great buy.

That Madison set is the product I was thinking of purchasing!

Anyone else?

I have this engine and it runs and looks great. Excellent detail for a RK engine, e.g., real coal, tender chains, marker lights, firebox glow, and cab figures.

The only negative was the lack of a pickup roller on the tender, and I added one.

I am looking at purchasing one of the two imperial k4's and was curious as to what you all think is the more attractive if the two, the pre-war or post-war version. I have looked at them on the MTH site but sometimes these pictures do not depict the actual item so I hate to go by the pictures on the MTH site.

Thanks,

Dan

Chefnme,

     Every party has a pooper so I guess I will be the one negitive vote on the Imperial K4. There is one issue with the engine.......it is not scale. There are plenty of scale K4s on Ebay, the buy sell board as well as the internet which you can pick up for between $350 to $550. Kline, Lionel and MTH as well as some of the brass manufacturers are all there. I am guessing a new MTH Imperial K4 will run you around $450 or $500 so price should not be an issue with going scale. Most scale K4s will run on 031 curves so why buy a semi-scale engine? I can see if a guy wants to run a Big Boy on 031 curves going to a semi scale engine but why a Pacific?.

   Good luck with whatever you do and hopefully you will enjoy what you buy.

JohnB

John,

There are plenty of scale K4s on Ebay, the buy sell board as well as the internet which you can pick up for between $350 to $550

Not new with PS2 or PS3 there aren't.

A scale (Premier) MTH K4 with PS2 or PS3 is MSRP $900 while the RK Imperial models are MSRP $400,

The Imperial models are intended to be non-scale, very good looking and a lot less money than the Premier models. However, they have the same DCS electronics as do their bigger, Premier brothers.

Barry,

    Barry I would say you have a good point if we were talking about a large steam engine that would not run on 031 or 042 but most scale Pacifics will run on those curves. As far as having PS2/PS3 I am a TMCC/Legacy guy so that is not a big plus in my book but that is a matter of taste so lets not get into a discussion about that. When I say you can find a scale K4 on ebay or the sell/trade forum for $350 to $550 it may be a used engine but it is scale. I know a lot of Railking fans will say "it is almost scale" but that is like saying "I almost got a hole in one".

     You are right there is a big dollar difference between MTH Rail King and Priemer with both having the same electonics but for me I'll take scale any day even if used or pre-owned. JMHO

JohnB

I think the MTH Imperial, Scale and Rail King Lines with ps-2 or 3 are all nice looking, sounding and running engines.

Of course you cannot hold a Premier model up against the same Imperial model and not see some big differences between the two. The first real clue is the price mark of one over the other. Four or five hundred dollars tells me that there must be a little something extra on the Premier and all I'll have to do is look for it.

But what I like about the more traditional sizes is how much nicer they fit on the turns of my layout. I think that is what one needs to consider more then anything else,and that is how good dose it look to me.

If I had a twenty foot by fifty foot platform I would probably be more into the Premier line, but with my 9 X 23 I tend to lean towards the traditional size trains.

I have products from all of the manufactures and they all have their good points. But, I think that the MTH engines and sets with DCS are still the best buy on the market.