I've been recitant in commenting on the MTH closure. First of all,I wish Mike Wolf all the best with his retirement. I'm very close to retiring myself as we are the same age and I full understand about slowing down and enjoying those "Golden Years". Like many of us,MTH was the reason we returned to the hobby,for me,it was in 1999 after seeing MTH in action at a Cincinnati train shop while on business. I immediately jumped in big time buying nearly every big Premier steam engine till no more new tooling was produced. I still have most of those steam locomotives and most (Samhongsa made) still run like new. I also have most of the Premier MOPAC Diesels and Passenger Cars and will aways cherish those beautiful MTH items.
Hopefully,the tooling for all these trains will end up in good hands. I can see Kader (Bachmann)taking over all or part of the line. Like some have mentioned,Menards might be a good fit for continuing the Rugged Rails or Railking Line, I'm not ruling out Lionel buying everything, The MTH HO line would be a great fit (The Challenger and UP turbines were originally Lionel HO but that's another story that does not need repeating). I also could see Broadway Limited taking the HO and Premier lines - Let's not rule that possibility out. BLI is a HUGE mover and shaker in the industry,like MTH was.
Those are my thoughts. Thank you Mike and all the crew at MTH for helping make this hobby the "World's Greatest"
Ricky 
Here are some of my MTH Premier Steam locos. These shelves are no longer up as the train room is getting a makeover and all new shelving going up will be Snyder extruded aluminum.
