MTH Spine Car Sets

Hello:
I have a set of these and they are nice cars ... The set has two raised hitchs and the other three are down ... they are fixed this way ! The ones that are down have the containers on them.

NOte there are only TWO sets made in a five unit set box. The rest were 2 unit cars that you had to purchase three to make the prototypical 5 unit car.

Stewart: I just got a MTH Premier five car set from 1999, new in box and they are great. There are two 5 car sets on the the "BAY" right now. The hitches can be raised or lowered and you also have pockets mid car to use 2 20 ft containers. I have a height restriction on my layout so spine cars with containers or trailers work for me where double stacks won't. The five car sets came with two 20ft containers two 40ft trailers and two 40 ft containers. 53 ft Trailers will also fit if you can find them.

Stewart: read Bobcats post and checked Yes he is right two hitches are raised, fixed and the other three are fixed in the down position. K-Line spines have hitches that can be raised or lowered.

"how detailed are they?"

Not as detailed as today's Premier stuff. Here are some pictures:



Atlas Frontrunner on the left, MTH spine on the right

Thanks for all of the replies gentlemen!

I have 5 sets and they make a nice train.

Why did MTH stop making the 5 car sets? I have both 5 car sets and would buy more but I'm not buying the 2 car set that are not prototypical.

That is a good question
I have five sets .Had 3 and the got two used sets for $75 ea set could not pass them up.One set was missing a trailer. Not that big of a deal.

quote:

Why did MTH stop making the 5 car sets? I have both 5 car sets and would buy more but I'm not buying the 2 car set that are not prototypical.

Doug

More $$ & More production savings for MTH.

quote:

Originally posted by strt-fireman:
Why did MTH stop making the 5 car sets? I have both 5 car sets and would buy more but I'm not buying the 2 car set that are not prototypical.

Probably a lot more market for the 2-car sets, cheaper and you can get more variety in a train. On a small layout, the 2-car is more practical even though it isn't prototypical. Finally, the two 5-car sets MTH made were not very colorful and probably had lousy sales for that reason as well as the cost and size. I think if MTH were to do a better-looking 5-car set with some bright-colored containers rather than the dull, boring stuff on the older sets, they would sell. I unloaded my 5-car set at a train show and kept one or two of the 2-car sets, but I'm mainly a steam fan and am not that wound up about running prototypical modern trains - I just sometimes buy a modern item because I like it.

I too won't buy the two car sets and would like to see the five car sets offered again. MTH might consider offering these the same way they've since offered the Gunderson well car sets -- offer the A and B cars in a two car set for those that want only two cars, and offer a seperate set of cars C, D, and E for those of us who want a complete five car set.

RM

I've e-mailed MTH several times suggesting that they offer these sets again in either 2, 3 or 5 car sets. Only this time, have all of the cars come with trailers (not containers) and collapsible fifth wheels.

Remember the Lionel 2 car sets from the 90s? Those were gorgeous cars, yet they were not scale. K-Line is no longer around to offer their versions. So it seems as if MTH has an opportunity to introduce a popular, yet currently unavailable, item to a hungry market.

I believe RMT is going to re-release the K-Line spine cars - this time with the correct trucks, fixing the only major flaw in the K-Line model.

Hopefully somebody will pick up the 53' Trailers. Weaver seems to be stuck in 1940. At this point it wouldn't matter if RMT, Revell or Monogram made them.