Did MTH ever produce a 15 inch Premier aluminum passenger car? What about the 20-6001 or 20-6006?
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MTH produced a number of 15" alum. passenger cars back in the late 90s, initially to accompany a run of F-3s they did at the time. The cars were similar to Williams cars and Lionel traditional, although in some respects, particularly the smooth side versions, a bit more basic than that. All had silhouette passenger figure strips. There were some ribbed-sided ones produced as well. None of these would be considered Premier items of today.
They may have made others, but I'm not aware of them. I don't think any other sizes were ever done, other than the 15" cars.
Beginning in 1996, MTH produced twelve five-car sets and twelve two-car sets (sleeper/diner) of 18" (70') aluminum passenger cars with silhouette windows. These were:
20-6500 and 20-6600 Atlantic Coast Line Painted (purple) Aluminum
20-6501 and 20-6601 Atlantic Coast Line Plated Aluminum
20-6502 and 20-6602 Chesapeake & Ohio Painted Aluminum
20-6503 and 20-6603 Southern Plated Aluminum
20-6504 and 20-6604 New York Central Plated Aluminum
20-6505 and 20-6605 Cal. Zephyr (CB&Q) Plated Aluminum
20-6506 and 20-6606 Union Pacific Painted Aluminum
20-6507 and 20-6607 Pennsylvania Painted Aluminum
20-6508 and 20-6608 Amtrak Painted Aluminum
20-6509 and 20-6609 New York Central Plated Aluminum
20-6510 and 20-6610 Union Pacific Painted Aluminum
20-6511 and 20-6611 Baltimore & Ohio Painted Aluminum
These twelve were the only 18" (or 70') aluminum passenger cars ever produced by MTH. I find these sets to be quite beautiful, and I have several of them. Sellers and buyers on the auction site are often misled because many of the five-car set boxes mistakenly identified them as 15" cars.
During this period, MTH also produced four-car and two-car add-on (sleeper/diner) sets of 15" aluminum cars. These 15" sets were numbered in the range between 20-6001 and 20-6023, I believe.
Edited to add: MTH made five-car 15" aluminum sets as well.
Thank you.
I have an MTH Delaware & Hudson aluminum 5 car set, smooth sided. Not many were produced, so I was told by the selling dealer. I usually run them with a Williams D&H PA A-B-A set, or a Williams D & H Shark A-B-B-A set, both with Tru Sounds. They are very impressive lash ups. All of it is at least 15 years old. I also have Williams D & H SD-45 and U-33 powered/dummy sets, which also look great with the MTH cars. I have never seen another set of the MTH cars.
Originally Posted by Gordon Z:
Beginning in 1996, MTH produced twelve five-car sets and twelve two-car sets (sleeper/diner) of 18" (70') aluminum passenger cars with silhouette windows......
Thanks for sharing this, Gordon. Learned something new again!
Bruce
The D & H set that I have is 15 inch.
