Thoughts on the new MTH Catalog

I guess it's all in the beholder. Some will like others won't. I didn't find anything that said buy me.

My thought is what will happen when MTH cycles all their locomotives through the Ps3 electronics? There are no new models and or molds that have been done for the north american market. Any Ps4? would have to be a REAL game changer for me to dump my Ps2/Ps3 collection.

I see a few locomotives I want to buy.  NS in blue and cream color is very cool and a real one exists.  Also, a cool CSX with Chessie logo catches my eye.  I am on a cat theme!

Prrhorseshoecurve -

I imagine that, if the O-gauge market is still deemed vibrant enough, there will eventually be new tooling produced for "us". (Same thoughts on Lionel TMCC-to-Legacy.) After all, all this tooling was new once, and more can be as easily (in some cases, more easily) made than those 20-year-old dies and the like.

It will take this for me to become once again a "new" buyer, as a pattern of behavior (there can be exceptions). I find PS-1 items - great models - at low prices and put ERR boards in them. Sometimes I skip the sound and go with command/cruise only.

I do understand MTH/Lionel milking the electronics cow as long as they can for that part of their fan base, and that portion is relatively easy to please cheaply, but for the rest of us, until those new things (mostly steamers in my case) start showing up as new hardware (for example, L&N 2-8-4 - a well-know loco, never done in 3RO except as a paint job on the wrong loco), I'll not order much, if anything, from anybody's catalogue.

Thank God, the Norfolk Southern has creativity in paint schemes, otherwise all model companies would be in trouble. And this catalog is a little thin for us NYCRR scale fans and there are no new freight car sets in premier either but the Passenger car fan has lots of options(Not in NYCRR). My wallet goes to the Lion for now.

Nothing caught my eye....Save money that way!!!! Wonder when they will re-do the Premier Pennsy 4-8-2 Mountain Steamer???? It's been since 2002 when they did it.

I thought there wasn't much interesting in the catalog until I took a 2nd look and noticed the Bi-Level Amtrak passenger cars.  These cars look real similar to the Utah Wasatch Front Runner that we have running out here.   Might order a 4 pk.

Jim

It reminds me of Benedryl.  Makes me sleepy!

Not much of anything. I don't do modern stuff and the nostalgia pieces are pretty warmed over at this point. A couple of pieces of rolling stock, maybe.

I thought it was a good catalog overall. Fortunately for me there were no expensive items that I must have, so I finally get a slight break from the top end (which I really needed to let my train budget recover somewhat). There was some rolling stock and a couple of cabooses that I will be getting though and I will be taking a more detailed look at the catalog when I get my print copy.

I wonder why all the British passenger coaches come with fine scale wheels. No tinplate wheels?

prrhorseshoecurve posted:

My thought is what will happen when MTH cycles all their locomotives through the Ps3 electronics? There are no new models and or molds that have been done for the north american market. Any Ps4? would have to be a REAL game changer for me to dump my Ps2/Ps3 collection.

Ditto. Personally I thought the re-issuing of locomotives because it was PS3 had no value. unless you operated using DCC. I would definitely not trade in a PS2 for a PS3. What is the benefit?

Patiently waiting on the Ralph Nader report for this one. 

I was disappointed that an ACS-64 was not in this catalog, but honestly that's a good thing.  The last couple years I've had no train budget.  I had a little extra this year and purchased DCS, a WIU, and a couple of PS3 locomotives.  Trying to justify "just one more" would have been difficult.  Maybe 2017 vol. 1 or 2.

Just the NS D&H color scheme on the Dash 9 rebuilds, a few cars. and that is all she wrote.

Maybe the Christmas diesel and cabesse.  

I went through the Big Two's catalogs twice while at York, and will again.  Nothing new or different, much less exciting, in anything I'd write a check for.  In HO, if modern diesels are yawners, you can go on the internet and buy steam from the past; in O  (3 rail) .....they didn't make it then, either.

We have to the end of May, 2016 to place a "Built to Order" or sit back and hope that MTH dealers order extras. They always do............ 

Someone at MTH has decided to paint the RailKing Ore Cars in the colors and graphics of all the railroads of the USA.

Does anyone need or want Ore Cars in a paint scheme for the Duluth, Winnipeg & Pacific?

The paint scheme could resemble the one applied to the DWP SD40 diesel locos or the DW&P 50' box cars.

Andrew

I'm still waiting for my GS-4 Day Light and 44 Ton switcher from two catalogs ago.

About ten years ago I played the got to have game with about ten items on order and they all came in at once. It took me six months to pay off my credit cards.

It looks like a Modern Gondola from Thrall Car, Trinity RailCar, or National Steel Car will have to made very soon in O Scale.

The TTX graphics are not a good fit for the old style gondola.

Andrew

Went to my L.H.S. today and pick up a hard copy of the Catalog. 2016 Volume 2. Bert was on duty from my old L.H.S. Also met Frank in the HO & N scale department. He had the D T & I 1776, in HO Scale.  We also talked about the Durand Michigan, Railroad Days, May 12th - 15th. http://www.durandrailroaddays.com/

Gary

ATSF C44-9W's and that's about it. I need more locomotives like I need a hole in the head, but Pignatelli's a bad influence -- it's his fault!

Unfortunatately right now I'm working part-time and am a full-time student. So not alot I can afford. Will probably get the 4 covered gondolas, the NS Boxcar, and the CSX/B&O 185 year anniversary caboose. The engines I really liked are the Greenbriars, and the UP, BNSF, NS, and CSX AC4400's. But they will all have to go to the "hope I can find it later" list for now. Overall for me it was a great catalog.

Bill

Maxrailroad posted:

Hi everyone. The new MTH 2016 Volume 2 catalog has finally been released. I think they hit a home run with the new premier diesels. ...

Max, I would agree.  I've pretty much gone to MTH recently for new high-end diesels.  My last Lionel Legacy diesels were their ES44's done up in ABS, because I grabbed them "on sale".  But I didn't pre-order any of Lionel's SD60E's due to the unnecessarily inflated price tag.  Seems the new price for Lionel's Legacy diesels is now $650 MSRP ($550-ish street price).  Whereas MTH has held the price on their Premier diesels this year to $500 MSRP, which gets us down to around $435-ish street price (although MTH is requesting dealers advertise a $450 MAP).

The AC4400CW's will likely be very popular items...  I've only done a quick first-pass through the catalog, but the CSX and NS liveries are very tempting.

Earlier this year, I was debating whether to pre-order Sunset/3rd-Rail's EMD E8 diesels in the early "as delivered" Canadian Pacific livery or wait to see what MTH might deliver.  Looks like I made the right decision by going forward with the Sunset diesels, since MTH didn't catalog E8's this year.  And if they did, they most likely would have done the later CP paint scheme that has been issued several times already by both MTH and Lionel.  So I think it was worth the premium to pre-order Sunset/3rd-Rail E8's, with both units powered.

I'm not pre-ordering any big steam this year.  But it is nice to see MTH still giving enthusiasts an alternative to paying Lionel's stratospheric Legacy steam locomotive prices in 2016.  I still prefer Legacy Railsounds over PS3, but the performance gap is really narrowing... and I find myself not hesitating to purchase an MTH Premier steamer if the product happens to call my name these days.  

I mentioned this in another thread, but it's worth repeating here too.  When visiting MTH's booth at York, I noticed the coal nuggets in the steam tenders really stood out as being larger than I recall any importer using on prior production runs.  It's a minor thing, but I really NOTICED it.... and I liked it too. 

I was glad to see Scaletrax featured prominently in the catalog -- which is always nice to see.  More or less gives us a feeling of encouragement that Mike is still behind the product line.  Of course, MTH needs to execute on the delivery of #4 and #6 turnouts to make it real for the audience that is most likely gonna select Scaletrax in the first place.

All in all... a very nice catalog.  No big pre-order list for me, but a nice catalog nonetheless.

David

Lately I have been working onap a Coca-cola train... So nothing for me.

I have to say that I am disappointed in the price increase for small and mid-size scale steam engines ~ and that they don't have whistle steam effects. I'd really like to get a Premier Camelback - but even with the usual dealer pre-order discount its still coming in over $900.

Paul Kallus posted:

I have to say that I am disappointed in the price increase for small and mid-size scale steam engines ~ and that they don't have whistle steam effects. I'd really like to get a Premier Camelback - but even with the usual dealer pre-order discount its still coming in over $900.

Paul, good point.  I recently wanted one of the little baby 0-4-0 Premier switchers, and it was up around $600-ish out the door.  But I recall those little MTH Climax logging locos were also always up there in price too.  The only consolation we have is that the similar Lionel offering would likely be $150-$250 more.    For some folks, that's a rounding error.  But when you're buying several big-ticket items each year, it adds up fast.

As I told Andy E. at York, "Keep doing what you do.  It's important for us enthusiasts to always have a choice in the market!".

David

Not a thing.

Nothing "on my radar."

for me the one thing I wanted done for many years has been done the SD60 in the demo scheme I have all 3 in proto1 and have wanted mike to do them in proto2 or 3 for years I know its only railking but I hope they will do it in scale

I have been waiting for the Camelback.  I missed out on it last time. 

The are no modern gondolas being offered yet for North America.

If MTH can only make one Modern North American Gondola built between 1975 and 2015, which one should it be?

Should it be a 50'-55' gondola or a 65' gondola from Thrall Car or Trinity or Gunderson or some other company?

Andrew

Nice to see the UP 'Flag' baggage car back in the catalog.  Though I won't be ordering it (have previous MTH version and ordered new Lionel UP), many will want it.

Catalog image shows painted door on this version-wonder if the production model will be like the picture or it'll be like the prior model with yellow door?

Things work in mysterious ways-for years this car was hard to find.  

Waiting for the Boston and Maine 44 tonners that will surely be in the NEXT catalog. 

Happy to see yet another Pittsburgh PCC. I guess they are sellers

I would like some Chesapeake & Ohio open-top 70-ton hoppers, since they used to be common in Michigan.

Andrew

Pre-ordered the Christmas GE ES44AC Imperial Diesel and caboose.  Really sharp color scheme. I have the same engine in the eggnog/green color scheme that matches the Christmas boxcars from the past few years and love it. 

I wonder why the ILLINOIS CENTRAL gondolas for the RailKing line are never black with Orange and White graphics, but always Orange with Black and White graphics.

They once again did NOT offer to make a RailKing Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway gondola with cover or crates. 

Andrew

Nothing of any interest.

Jan

The RailKing EMD SD60 Demonstrators are interesting since the SOO LINE did get SD60s. Perhaps sometime I might get one.

The Montana Rail Link 2-bay covered hoppers were sold to AEX The Andersons and now a common sight on the CN's GTW line in Michigan, so I will get two of them.

Andrew.