A lot has been said on this forum about MTH batteries and I am sure all of us are pleased to see MTH transitioning to locomotives that are not dependant on batteries. That being said, I recently operated a couple of Rail King engines for the first time that have never been previously operated. The first was the Rail King Santa Fe Northern no. 2927, MTH No. 30-1465-1from the 2007, Volume 2 catalog. It was opened up as new in the box on December 21, 2011, and immediately responded to track power and has operated flawless ever since running the Chief around the track for over 400 miles on DCS. The second engine is even more amazing. It comes from an old CTT cover "Steamer Showdown", featuring the MTH Rail King Berkshire, Chesapeake and Ohio no. 2744, MTH No. 30-1128-0, from the1998 Volume 1 catalog. I have never previously operated the locomotive. It has been sitting around my layout but I have operated Lionmaster Challengers, Rail King Alleghenies, and the first Rail King Santa Fe Northern (no. 2926 MTH no. 30-1140-1) instead. Anyways, last night I had been working around the layout and powered it up when I realized I had temporarily placed the Berkshire on powered track without the tender hooked up. When I activated track power, it started making noise. I hooked the tender up and took the Santa Fe Northern off the track and ran the Berkshire for the first time since its manufacture. It is amazing to see the development of these locomotives. The Santa Fe Northern is much more detailed than the Berkshire with stand out marker lights and a back up tender light with better sounds. DCS would not even recognize the Berkshire so operation was in conventional mode. Still, smoke poured out the Berkshire's stack though not in the synchronized mode to the sound - just a steady stream. Lots of fun operating first generation Rail King!!
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