Standard Gauge Track Returning To M.T.H. Product Lineup In 2020 ,yea,,,how bout some switches,crossovers ,but good new anyway
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Yeah, that is good news. I'm pretty much exclusively a USA man at this point but the more the merrier.
It's going to be difficult for them to match the quality of USA Track and Ross Custom Switches for standard gauge. Their Standard Gauge track and switches are superior.
Furthermore, I don't plan to reward MTH with any future purchases after their decision to stop producing the DCS remote.
John
The website for USA Track LLC is down, but we have resumed shipping track.
StandardGaugeTrack@gmail.com
I would be very cautious about using MTH track. I purchased quite a bit or wide radius curves and straights to install on a new layout about five to seven years ago. When I went to use it several months later, there were several shorts caused by thin insulators on the center rail. Having to isolate shorts and fix them on brand new track was very frustrating. I switched over to USA track this past year and it was perfect.
I hope that MTH fixes whatever issue was causing this problem, but I would be very reluctant to test this.
Tim
The earlier MTH production in the early 2000's and before was very good quality and I have never had any issues with 042, 072 or 084 curves and any straights. The track included in the early standard gauge sets was also very good and I still have some 042 in use today on one loop.
Tinplate Art posted:The earlier MTH production in the early 2000's and before was very good quality and I have never had any issues with 042, 072 or 084 curves and any straights. The track included in the early standard gauge sets was also very good and I still have some 042 in use today on one loop.
I should clarify my earlier post. I had plenty of older MTH track (tubular) from the old Tinplate Traditions years that was fine. It was the track from say 2013 to 2015 period with which I had problems. I wish there were some visual clue, like the color of the insulator material, that would allow me to tell the difference. Some of my stock has black insulators, some grey, and even a few that look like clear plastic of some kind.
The gray insulators are from the earlier lot and fair well. The black insulators are thin and can be cut by the tie fishplate when crimped. The plastic insulator was MTH's fix for the black insulators that failed under warranty (I've done lots of them).
I think another clue to the early, more reliable MTH tubular track was the blued ties.
Originally MTH purchased the standard gauge track they marketed from EBR Products. It was made in New Jersey using the same tooling built by Antique Trains in 1971. In 2008 MTH dropped their contract with EBR, and started selling track made in China. The Chinese made track is garbage, and has caused endless problems, both electrical and mechanical.
The good track (made in the USA) has ties stamped “MTH” or “USA”. The junk is marked “Lionel Corp”. The good stuff has MTH catalog numbers with the prefix 10-, and the junk 11-.
Chris Bogus and I bought all of the tooling to make Standard Gauge track from EBR in 2009 when they went out of business. We continue to sell quality standard gauge track made entirely in the USA. (Our insulators are nearly indestructible, and are available separately to repair MTH track.)
Our website is temporarily down, but we can be reached at standardgaugetrack@gmail.com
Kirk
KIRK: Thank you for that accurate history. I remember buying my first new standard gauge track from Antique Trains in New Jersey in 1989 when I started with Lionel Classics.
Jon G posted:The gray insulators are from the earlier lot and fair well. The black insulators are thin and can be cut by the tie fishplate when crimped. The plastic insulator was MTH's fix for the black insulators that failed under warranty (I've done lots of them).
Hi John. Could you please email me about some tender shells?
Thanks
SGMA1 posted:
The good track (made in the USA) has ties stamped “MTH” or “USA”. The junk is marked “Lionel Corp”. The good stuff has MTH catalog numbers with the prefix 10-, and the junk 11-.
It's almost as though they had expected it to be inferior and therefore put the Lionel name on them. Probably not but wouldn't put it past them.
Brendan
KIRK: I also have a circle of early MTH branded 042 curves with light BLUE insulators. Was ist los?
I don’t think the color of the insulators is a good guide. When we bought the tooling and parts from EBR Products we got several shades of insulators. The last 200,000 we have had made are light gray. All are a high strength dielectric fiber originally designed for high (100KV+) applications. They will last forever! (They, like all of our parts, are made in the USA!)
We actually have thousands of ties stamped “MTH” leftover from the EBR production run. Chris and I use them for various projects and tests, but obviously not for the production of track we sell.
As far as I know, all of the “Lionel Corporation” tinplate was made in China, so I don’t think MTH was deliberately trying to smear Lionel by marking their standard gauge track with the Lionel name. However, I do think all of these products are inferior to the ones made in South Korea and the USA. When dealing with the Chinese, you get what you demand, not necessarily what you pay for. It’s a different business ethic.
Unfortunately, this "ethic" is probably responsible for the present world dilemma. :-(
