Picked up my MTH Premier Climax Freight Set!

Very Nice! I ordered mine from Trainland. Picking up the set next weekend. How well does it smoke?

Nice set. The moving parts on the Shays sure make them fun to watch. Like your layout.

 

Gilly

Picked up my set (Hillcrest Lumber) yesterday as well, from Dave Minarik's Mercer Junction shop.  We ran the engine for a while on Dave's large store layout.  I liked the Climax so much that I asked Dave to order another Hillcrest engine in a second road number and livery.

 

As is the case with all MTH steam locomotives, they are profuse smokers.

 

My guess is that these little buggers will sell through rather quickly.

Very nice looking. Nice video. Enjoy your new purchase.

The whistle is fantastic! Nice set.

Always been one of my favorites. I have the PS2 version.

It looks like the sounds are the same, Though it looks like the

smoke stack on this one might be bigger. I'll have to take a closer

look at mine.

That is nice. Great looking Shay, better than the Lionel I have, I think.   What are the logs made of - natural or resin or plastic?

LOL. I knew you would get it.

Enjoy.

I believe the stacks are (or may be) specific to the road name modeled.  My Hillcrest model has a balloon stack.

Gromet,

   Way cool lumber Shay, definitely a great addition to any layout.  Love it on FasTrack!

PCRR/Dave

By the way, folks, these are Climax locomotives, not Shays.  There were three types of geared locomotives most commonly used in the U.S.:  Shay, Heisler, and Climax, with the Shay being perhaps the most widely used.  All were very different in how regard to how they were constructed and how they operated.  Models of all three types have been made at one point or another by various O gauge manufacturers, including MTH, Lionel, and K-Line.  No single manufacturer has made all three types in 3-rail O gauge, but I believe Bachmann has offered all three in its On30 line.

These have been a long time coming following the problems MTH encountered with overseas factories producing their US steam products back around 2011 as I recall.  That's just about the time these were catalog'd.  I wouldn't be surprised to see these jewels sell quickly now that they're available again -- not to mention the fact that MTH has reduced the MSRP on them by $200 compared to the PS2 versions.  

 

David

That is true, but I and many others learned long ago not to rely on catalog depictions--nearly all of which are presented long before the actual models are even on the production schedule.  It's possible that more recent research or feedback, after the catalog was produced, indicated a straight stack being more appropriate for certain road names.  I can't really say for sure.  However, for someone who is interested, it should be easy enough to get an answer from MTH.

Very nice set and large one too.  Plenty of log cars and I like the bobber at the end.  Congratulations and thank you for posting.  Some members get excited about their new acquisition but don't post photo's or nice video like you did.  We share in your excitement.

 

Steve, Lady and Tex

I just Googled "Canadian Forest Products locomotives" and checked the images that came up.  All of the Climax photos showed a straight stack.  In this case, it appears that MTH may have made a change to make the model more specific to its designated road, which is certainly something that should please most modelers interested in having things as correct as possible.

Plastic logs, held together with giant plastic twist-ties.

 

Stuart

 

The logs are resin. They are not held together by a twist tie. That is only how they are in the box. The are held to the skeleton cars with chains and hooks.

I'm planning to replace the "logs" on mine with real/wood logs.  My dealer knows a source for some "logs" harvested from Ma Nature that look a whole lot more realistic.

 

I like the appearance of the logs on my Industrial Rails log cars a whole lot better, and they can likely be improved even a bit more with an application of Dulcote or a similar flattening agent.  That technique might also work on the MTH logs.

By the way:  Those interested in a Climax might well consider the complete sets, which cost only $100 more than the separate-sale locomotives.  You get five log cars and a bobber caboose in the set…certainly well worth the $100 difference and then some. 

Thanks for posting your video. I sure enjoyed watching your newest addition.

Gromet

Nice video and even nicer engine. I have the original version whistle smoke and freight sounds are really nice. It prompted me to custom make several log and flat cars to go with it.

 

I agree the resin logs are ok but real wood and weathered chains are a step up

Steve

I'm actually okay with resin wood.  The problem with real wood is that its hard to find fine- enough grained woods such that the tree-rings and bark look realistic in 1/48.  I scratch-built a logging train several years ago and used branches from the back yard and worked hard to find ones that looked real, but the best I could find look good, but, well  . . . like branches from the back yard!

 

I really like that loco.  I went on modeltrainstuff.com to order one but the features description says 0-42.  I would run mine exclusively on my 0-36 loop.  A shame: I love that loco.

I gave my Climax a brief run today on my O36 FasTrack, which is about to be replaced with GarGraves O42.  The locomotive can handle O36 by itself, but I'm not sure I would recommend doing it for an extensive period.  Any rolling stock behind it would likely be problematic on O36 (short coupler and restricted side-to-side swing).  I wasn't willing to risk trying it.

 

At Dave Minarik's shop yesterday, we were running on O72 (or maybe even larger).  Obviously, no problems there.

 

I found it kind of interesting that the engine box label specifies "O42 radius"--someone at the manufacturing end needs needs a refresher on the difference between radius and diameter. 

How well does it smoke? Would enjoy another video...please.

Nice video.  I have a PS2 Hillcrest climax from awhile back and I love it.  It is one of the neatest engines out there.

 

Thanks for sharing.

Gromet,

Thanks for posting the video.  That is a great Climax and a really nice looking set.  I have the Bachmann On30 Shay and Climax.  I have been toying with the idea of getting the MTH Climax with some of our tax return.  However, I have a special place for the N&W J 611, which I see MTH is releasing.  Maybe your video will push me to see Dave Minarik for the Climax instead.

Better hurry, Mark.  I believe he has only one set left.    

 

And wait until you see that Santa Fe Troop Train set he just got in.  Wow!  Definitely tempting, but I really do need to back off a bit on my purchasing.

Decisions, decisions!

Thank you for the tip, Allan!!

 

Hello all,  I was telling Allan that my friend Sam and I used sassafras logs to replace the plastic ones.  The bark looks pretty good.  It grows nice and straight and there is a ton of it around here.

 

I will try to snap a photo of the logs tomorrow.  I will also try to get Sam to post some pics of his scratch built log cars.  They look great!

 

Dave

 

Jim,

 

I will take a look at the stacks on Tuesday.

 

Dave

Just out of curiosity, how are the O scale climaxes powered?  A motor in each truck?

Only wondering because I have the Bachmann spectrum HO 3 truck climax and it has a single motor run into the gear box and it's actually powered by the drive shaft.  Just thought that was a neat feature.

The Climax model is powered with a single motor through the center drive shafts to the trucks.

 

Stuart