MTH Scale or Hi-rail???

Despite what some of my colleagues at the club might say, I haven't gone completely 2-rail -- just hard-core 3RS.

My experience has been "it depends" because while the scale-wheeled diesels will all negotiate 36" radius curves (O-72), there are some quirks associated with scale wheels that you don't get with hi-rail wheels.

Basically, scale-wheeled locomotives will find your track laying defects for you. This ranges from kinks to sharp spots to mis-aligned gaps to high/low spots. This isn't necessarily a bad thing as it allowed us to clean up some bad spots on the layout. This situation has side-effects in that slightly out-of-sync locomotives MU'd together will push-pull one another off the track in curves with bad spots. This varies from locomotive to locomotive (I have some pairs I run together which work just fine while pairing others doesn't work). This only applies of you're running scale wheels on three-rail "flat-top" track. I have some scale-wheeled tests on my YouTube channel (AGHRMatt)

Turnouts are another issue. Turnouts with very large frogs (#6/#8) and curve-replacement turnouts can be problematic as the wheels dip in the frogs and may derail. We have a #8 curved turnout in which we put a "frog point" for scale wheels to roll on within the point itself (works beautifully and we've been considering putting them in other turnouts.

You'll be using Kadee couplers a lot. MTH recommends Kadee 806/743 short-shank couplers. This really only applies to the six-axle diesels so far and is to clear the mounting tab for the three-rail coupler on the trucks, but you can shave about 1/8" off the rear of the box on 805's/807's/740's/745's and they work fine. A couple of exceptions are GP35's and GP30's which have a short distance between the rear truck and the rear pilot -- you have to use the short-shank couplers there.

If you have a large stable of 3-rail cars, a couple of "transition cars" which allow you to connect Kadee-equipped cars to "lobster claw" equipped cars.

Steam is tricky as you need to choose carefully. I have a scale-wheeled Blue Goose Hudson which runs fine on the layout, but it did catch an out-of-gauge section of track (which was going to catch up with us sooner or later anyway). It's rated at 42" minimum radius but will negotiate 36" radius (O-72) just fine (I checked with someone who had a scale-wheeled 3464 from an earlier run before I bought it.) I've also received reports that the scale-wheeled Big Boy can also pull of 36" radius, but larger wheelbase engines like Northerns can't do it. Light Mikados are small wheelbase; Heavy Mikado's are large. It's totally dependent on thorough research.

I started buying scale-wheeled equipment almost four years ago and I haven't looked back. There have been some quirks, some derailments, and some track work, but the look is better. You're not going to be pulling 30 3-rail cars with a single locomotive any more and dummy units are out of the picture, but it gives you some flexibility in that you can also switch them over to 2-rail mode and run with your 2-rail associates, which was one of the reasons I switched over. I've also been looking at potentially taking some Atlas 2-rail DC Trainman diesels, installing Proto-2, adding pickup rollers and a 2-rail/3-rail switch (it's easy enough to do) and enhancing my roster.

Sorry for the long-winded response. Hope this helps.

I would stay with the conventional three rail wheelsets. They are much easier to use then three rail scale would be, and don't cause as many derailments like Matt mentions.

Since you are going MTH, I would venture to guess that you will be using DCS or PS-2 & 3 engines.

Not everybody will agree with me about charging an MTH PS-2 engine, but I feel that using a wall type MTH transformer with a small cord to the engine or tender is best way to charge them, as I don't want a run away train. I live in south Florida and our power goes out a lot or surges too, so I stay away from track charging anything.

Lee Fritz

Here's a couple of other things that I have noticed while using my MTH trains.

The 4-8-4 steam locomotive that I have the Reading Lines T-1, does not like Gargraves switches, will work with Lionel & K-Line style tubular switches in 042.

Also the overhang on; the cab of the T-1(may hit another engine on a curve), and the tender's step brackets needs to looked at if you have tight clearances on your layout.

I am looking into buying a pair of Ross Custom switches for my layout but have to wait for next year as my train budget has a deficit right now.

I also have a Reading Lines SD-45 with PS-2, and an Amtrak engine with PS-2. Have a Reading Crusader cab # 117 with PS-1. I have the DCS TIU & an AIU, control from a few years ago. I like the ability to throw switches with my DCS remote.

My newest purchase was an MTH SD-70ACe with PS-3 in NS heritage colors for Reading Lines.

Lee Fritz