Some news is better than no news.  I wonder when the catalog will be out.  I would think that MTH would want to have it out by York, or at least view able to the attendees at York.  I am looking forward to the rolling stock.  I hope MTH will do some nice pre-built structures.  

 

Ben

That looks identical to the flyer that was left on MTH's table at the NASG National convention back in early August. 

I bet they won't do the chrome & silver panels on the AT&SF F Unit like SHS did.

BTW

Dear MTH;

We don't need Harley Davidson, John Deere, M&M locomotives........or cars for that matter.

Amen to that!

According to Don Thompson, SHS's builder had a lot of trouble with the plating on the F7's, they said they wouldn't do it again. (Well, they were right in more ways than one!)

 

 

 

I've alway thought the plating was a little too shiny anyways.  You shouldn't be able to see reflections in it...

 

 

Rusty

The one thing that really bothers me is the mention in the ad about "powerful, flywheel-equipped MOTORS" (as in plural, not singular). If MTH is going to do what Lionel/American Flyer has done and come out with dual motors (along with floating pilots) for their diesels, then count me out! I hate dual motors with a passion as it has ruined 2-rail O scale and now it looks like it going to ruin S scale as well.

 

I would love to be wrong in all of this, but I have a gut feeling that the "China Drive Syndrome" is about to hit S scale as well.  

 

Robyn (CarolinaRail)

When they have product on Hobby shop shelves let me know!!

 

Gunny

I hope they keep the cost reasonable. I refuse to pay 80.00 for a Flyernel box car!!

A redesign might happen to accommodate the smoke unit.  SHS units are pretty tight inside for room, even the F's.  I expect twin vertical drives in the SD70ACe's regardless of who makes them.  Lionel already has said their drive for the U33C wasn't up to their liking and will use the vertical twin motor.  As for who is going to make the better SD70ACe, look at who made the more accurate one in O.  IIRC that went to Lionel.  One thing in MTH's favor, their SD70ACe pilot was easy to mount to the body or came that way on their 2 rail units.   Also they've done them in HO which looked good but I haven't seen the guts of one to know how they approached motor, sound, DCS/DCC combination.  Personally I would like to see the HO guts in the S unit, might be a bit under powered though.  I can't see needing a unit that will pull the siding off a barn anyway. 

 

Greg

MTH HO diesels are horizontal motor and no smoke.

 

Rusty

Rusty, that sounds good, and personally I don't need or want smoke in my models.  Now smoke in a U33C might be ok, those old girls were notorious for that on the prototype.  Seriously though, no smoke unit would be just fine.  I guess the Flyer people who will buy the majority of the models will end up dictating what we get in scale.  All good though, I'm not apposed to removing and selling the smoke units.

 

Greg 

 

To be fair, the flyer mentions smoke on select locomotives.

 

Personally, I also have no use for smoke with either my Scale or Flyer compatible stuff, I always turn the smoke units off.  If I ever get around to DCCing my AM scale steam locomotives, I'm going to gut the entire smoke mechanisms, piston and all.

 

As for my command control stuff in O and S, I have little use for all the cr...  er... extra software features that Lionel & MTH put in.  All I ask is from a model locomotive is that I can select it, operates smoothly forward, backward and if it has sound; chuff or rumble, toot and ding when I press the right buttons.

 

Rusty

 

 

I agree, Rusty. I would be more than happy to trade in every gizmo and feature on today's models just for something that runs like a Swiss watch either in analog or in DCC/DCS.

 

Robyn (CarolinaRail) 

IMO, I think you will see the SHS stuff be delivered without smoke, but I would venture to say that newly tooled pieces will have smoke.  IIRC, all the HO diesels have smoke. Personally, I like smoke in a steamer, but really never used it the 20+ O scale diesels that I had, nor do I use it in the Flyonel U boat I have.

From the features list of the HO SD70ACe:

Like I said......none of the MTH HO Diesels have smoke!   Seriously, I stand corrected on that one.  I would say from the friends that have the SD70ACE's, that they seem to be really nice.  In particular, I've always thought they ran well.  I also noticed that MTH's facebook site says that 2013 vol. 1 Railking/Premier catalog will be up on their website on Thurs. the 18th.  I wonder if some type of S catalog may be comming soon as well?

The jungle drums have been indicating an S catalog will be released, exactly when I haven't heard.

Rusty

FWIW: I would like to apologize if I had started any controversy as far as the 2 motor issue. While I understand that it's too soon to know exactly what MTH's plans are, it was irresponsible on my part to assume ahead of time that every new locomotive release will be like their O gauge line.

 

Anyway, back to trains.

 

Robyn (CarolinaRail)

Don't worry about it Robyn.  This kind of things goes on here all the time, especially on the 3-rail side.

 

The one thing is certain: It's better that MTH picked up SHS rather than having it disappear altogether.

 

Rusty

Guarrantee you, if they do the"china drive", I'll be saving lots of money.   At one time I had 29 2 rail O
Scale Atlas Gold locos, most of which ran like crap
on slow speed. 
OTOH, I have a pair of SHS SWs, among others, their performance is awesome!

I noticed the flyer mentions motors in the plural as well.  I have to say this: I hope for any newly tooled S scale stuff, MTH scales up what they are doing in HO rather than scale down what they have done in O.   That being said, I was always satisfied with my MTH O scale stuff, but, IMO, their HO products are even better.   For diesels, I think one of the reasons why is their HO models do incoporate a horizontal motor.

Seeing the brochure is a generalized announcement and not a specific product description, the use of a plural is appropriate, because it's addressing the entire product line. 

 

Unless MTH is only going to sell the user one motor and he has to move it from locomotive to locomotive...

 

Still, it's all vaporware until at least some physical SD70 samples surface.  They obviously have at least one SHS tooled F3 painted up.  (If both the A and B units are powered, hey presto, two motors!)  Anybody notice the window gaskets are outlined in black?  That's something SHS never did.

 

Rusty

I think the rumor, innuendo, and wild speculation is just that.

 

You can't tell anything from the initial ad copy. MTH brochures have historically been known for their... lack of proofreading, shall we say.

 

All this fuss about one letter (the "s") is premature, and all it's doing is stirring up all the chicken littles in the audience. The sky is not falling.

 

Mikey has done a good job in O gauge,  for the American and European market, in HO gauge, and he'll do a good job for the S gauge market.

 

As one poster mentioned, anything he makes is better than seeing SHS disappear, which would have happened if Mikey didn't step up to the bar.

 

 

I'm thinking that with the acquisition of S Helper service, MTH has access to smaller motor/drive components. This could [theorhetically] translate into some smaller O scale diesel engines like 44-tonners, Plymouths, etc.

I'm into O, but i do agree.  I like my stuff without the cr....er, manure!

Hello everyone,

I attended the World's Greatest Hobby on Tour train show in St. Louis, Mo today and headed straight for the MTH booth to see what they could tell me about their plans for their version of the SHS product line they now own.

In short I was told this:

1. Online catalog for S gauge trains should be out by the end of January with hard copies to follow soon thereafter.

2. 2013 will see the production of:

   A. One engine...the F3...in several road names by the end of the year.

       The F3 is the only shell that will accept a current PS3 board in size. New                                              

       smaller boards are being designed to fit in the SW's and F7's.

   B. Eight freight cars (3 numbers each) will be produced by mid-year...no other info.

   C. The track line will be offered early this year...no info on what types of track but    

        I would think all might be available as the molds are in MTH's possession.

   D. There are plans for other products as SHS had several fairly well advanced in      

       the pre-production stages...i.e. E-7's and Bay window cabooses. I'm sure

       market response will drive further production.

There was no info as to price comparison to the old SHS line or comps to the Lionel

line.

Oh well, at least this is some news. I hope more is released sooner than later.

BANJOFLYER

Thanks Banjoflyer!  A bay window caboose would be awesome!  I'm particularly interested in their SD70 but you make no mention, maybe not in 2013?
I'm hoping they draw lots of new interest in the scale!

It is all happening so painfully slow... That is a real disappointment that there will only be one  engine in 2013. Fully what I expected though. At least there will be new freight. I know they want pre-orders, but I don't know how many people will pre-order freight cars. 

 

I have to call BS to some extent on the electronics not fitting. I understand that the switchers would be a problem. The motors in them are WAY oversized. Not much room without a redesign. But what about the 2-8-0? You mean they can make a PS3 2-8-2 in HO but not fit it into a tender that many modelers have installed TMCC and railsounds in?

 

I just wonder if they will do monthly announcements like HO or annual catalogs like Lionel? If it is the latter, then it could be the second half of 2014 until you see the second engine from MTH. 

?????

 

The SW's and NW's I can understand, but the F7's use the same chassis and have the same interior dimensions as the F3.

 

Rusty

Hello everyone, I agree that not having room in the F7's or 2-8-0 seems crazy but I specifically asked the rep about just producing the F3 and he said that's what he's told.

He further stated that modifications to some of the molds (not sure which models) would be required to make all the electronics fit.

I asked why not use the PS3 equipment from the HO side since it seems to me it would be smaller and fit in an S gauge model but he said "It doesn't work just that easy".

As I said before I'm glad to get any news as MTH usually plays it pretty close to the vest.

I guess we'll just wait and see  as we have been doing since the original takeover.

Banjoflyer

**** everyone, in case you missed it there is some further news on the MTH S gauge product line for 2013...this was published in the JAN/FEB 2013 S Gaugian and seems to sort-of substantiate what the MTH rep told me at the WGH show in St. Louis:

 

 

We'll have to wait and see what really is produced.

Banjoflyer

Hello everyone,

A posting on another thread stated that the new R-T-R O-Gauge MTH 2013 catalog was now online. I found this to be true and while perusing the catalog found the first notice of the MTH S gauge  Railroader's Club membership.

I called MTH and ordered my membership...(apparently I was #1). You can order it online but my computer advised against that as MTH's security certificate had expired??  Whatever...I ordered it over the phone for $55.00.

The attachment below shows you what you get. The person who took the order at MTH was kind of vague as to the S gauge catalog release date.

Anyway it appears that some progress is being made at MTH.

Check out the picture of the membership car in the attachment.

 

 

 

I signed up to the MTH S Club as well, and used the website as I will be closing out that debit card in a couple weeks as I have a new bank. Just a couple bucks in that account, so I'm not worried about their shaky security certificate.

Hello everyone,

I received an email from MTH today announcing the release of the 2013 MTH S Gauge catalog and said email states in part:

 

2013 S-Gauge Catalogs To Be Released

Week Of April 14, 2013

March 27, 2013 - M.T.H. Electric Trains will be releasing our 2013 S-Gauge catalog in conjunction with the York, Pennsylvania Train Collectors Association (TCA) meet beginning Thursday, April 18, 2013. This year's catalog release is timed with the York TCA show to help spark interest among TCA members to attend the show and help support the TCA.

M.T.H. Authorized Retailers will receive their in-store counter copies by Thursday, April 18th. Those fans who are unable to attend the York meet can visit their local retailer to learn of the catalog's contents or review an online version of the catalog which will be available for viewing and download, beginning Thursday, April 18, 2013.

CATALOG PICKUP

M.T.H. mailing list subscribers and M.T.H. Railroaders Club members (MTHRRC) attending the 2013 Spring TCA York, Pennsylvania train meet can avoid the wait for the U.S. Postal Service by picking up the 2013 catalog and a selection of other M.T.H. previously printed materials beginning Thursday at 12:00 noon.

Other show attendees who wish to pickup our latest catalog can also do so at the show by subscribing to our mailing list.