We see a lot of coverage and discussion on the new Lionel Warbonnets with various comments about the 'stainless' effect or lack thereof.
MTH introduced a set awhile back with little or no fanfare on here. Do any of you guys have them and could post some comments and photos? I think I saw some E8s last year that were beautiful and also a set of passenger cars that matched. Are these the older tethered units or independent engines please?
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I have an AB set I purchased a bit over a year ago. I do not run it often and have considered letting it go despite always liking the "chrome" Santa Fe F3...I actually purchased it only because I loved the chrome Santa Fe Railking set from circa 2005. Very, very nice set. It is PS3. The B Unit is a dummy, the A unit is powered. I wanted an AA set but could not find a dummy A unit. The Powered A unit diaphragm is actually a fold down "door" that reveals all of the controls for double-heading. No tethers to be found anywhere.
Hi Sam, I have the MTH Stainless E8 ABA and matching cars from 2016. 2 Powered A units and a Dummy B unit. There are no Tethers, you set the rear A unit to a reverse direction, and then I add them as a consist in my DCS remote. They are all independent units.
My E8 ABA Video and Pictures from a post last year
I should have an official review/run video on my YouTube page in the next few months.
BNSF-Matt posted:Hi Sam, I have the MTH Stainless E8 ABA and matching cars from 2016. 2 Powered A units and a Dummy B unit. There are no Tethers, you set the rear A unit to a reverse direction, and then I add them as a consist in my DCS remote. They are all independent units.
My E8 ABA Video and Pictures from a post last year
I should have an official review/run video on my YouTube page in the next few months.
Very very nice!
From your images Matt that MTH engine looks like a nice rendition of polished stainless, a pretty good reflected image.
https://ogrforum.com/...34#73509797237484634
Yes indeed, and as I stated in the previous thread where I posted the images. It's very hard to duplicate that in photos and videos. Seeing this in person makes a big difference. MTH did a great job with creating a stainless reflective metal surface.
Beautiful - Thanks Matt!
Did MTH produce some F units like these as well?
IIRC they did Sam.
Sam, I actually have 2010 ABA Santa Fe F-3 set which has the Metallic "Plated Stainless Side Panels" They are not as reflective as my E8's but look really good.
Give me a few hours, and I will see if I can post some side by side photos for you today.
The set from 2010 is really nice and has that nice metallic shine, but not as much as the recent E8's do (My B unit probably needs a good cleaning) 
First photo here is the F-3 B Unit from the 2010 ABA set (20-20046-1).
F-3 A Unit from 2010 (both A's are the same)
E8 A Unit from 2016 (20-20622-1) obviously a longer body on the E8 so a lot more metallic shine.
Sam, are you referring maybe to the Rail King Chrome Santa Fe set?
Eric's trains did a review of the 2010 Premier set also.
Pete
No, Mike - not the chrome RK set as they were 'chromed' all over if I remember correctly. I had not seen this Premiere ABA above. What a nice set and 8 years ahead of Lionel. Athearn did these too with their beautiful stainless finished HO models some years ago. Why did it take Lionel so long....
Was there any fan fare here on the Forum when these came out? I don't recall seeing anyone's post with them or pics appearing in Weekend Photo Fun either. Guess MTH was ahead of their time with these. Too bad that their catalog illustrations are so poor. The tiny images they post do nothing for a set like this or the spectacular E8's above.
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