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Looking at an MTH Turbotrain  set on the Bay, it looks like the cars are not all that long, so why does it need O-72 track?  Is it because of the close coupling over the articulated wheels?  Or do the power car trucks not swing enough?  Please enlighten me if you can.

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Ohhh the TurboTrain.   Im almost too tired of this trains troubles to even reply to this. Discussions about this train are known to bring out a tirade of swear words that still lingers over Columbia Maryland.  But I feel obligated to give you my experiences. This train has 10 pin very frail wiring that runs through the train bending and crimped throughout the cars, and connecting at each car with tethers.  I own 3 of these beautiful nightmares.  I have only run them on 072.  Any tighter and they will not only derail but will definately affect the wiring. Yet the story of failures I have dealt with is best detailed in an old thread I posted that evolved with my years of repairs and irritation.  I have had MTH s best techs work on these more times that I care to describe.  I would like to rewire these cars somehow someday.  Anyone who has one of these who has not had trouble only ran it a lap or two.  I have a New Haven version that ONLY ran briefly on a straight track and the rear power car went dead in seconds. The rear car is a slave board to the front unit.  

Heres my old thread:

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...e-of-two-turbotrains

Last edited by VistaDomeScott

Well, it sounds to me that a simpler version of the Turbotrain might have been better from an operational point of view and would have appealed more to low-end types like me.  I would be happy just to have the rear power car headlight be directional.  The strobe, etc. I could live without.  I would have liked the cars to be a little further apart if that would have made the connections more reliable and the required radius not so demanding.

In regard to FalconService's suggestion, yes, passengers that move around, especially to the facilities, which should have flushing toilets!

The O-72 restriction is due to the close coupling and the wheelbase of the powered unit -- it would require too much swivel on anything less than O-72.

I have two of them and both have had one issue or another (cracked gears; wires too thin to add more than one car). Since they're out of warranty, I'm going to crack into them and fix them so they'll run properly in a prototypcal for Amtrak 5-unit consist). The sound and engine lighting are spot-on and it does look impressive running.

I'd recommend against getting one off eBay unless you're sure of its condition and I'd recommend running it in the as-shipped 3-unit consist. The VIA train ran a much longer consist (9-unit as I recall) which won't work with the MTH model as-configured due to the thin interface wires.

Matt, please share your reworking when you ger to it!

My Amtrak train I bought 2 extra cars.

The VIA I bought several extra cars, after calling MTH ahead of time to see it you could or should do this.  They said its no problem.  Of course we now know better.  

My New Haven set which I converted to Amtrak current logo (fantasy scheme) has just the extra car but I only tested it with a single coach and the rear power car failed upon first run on straight track and z4000 power.

 

VistaDomeScott posted:

Matt, please share your reworking when you ger to it!

My Amtrak train I bought 2 extra cars.

The VIA I bought several extra cars, after calling MTH ahead of time to see it you could or should do this.  They said its no problem.  Of course we now know better.  

My New Haven set which I converted to Amtrak current logo (fantasy scheme) has just the extra car but I only tested it with a single coach and the rear power car failed upon first run on straight track and z4000 power.

 

Like you, I bought two extra cars for the Amtrak units (DOT and second run). I had two thoughts on how to attack it. The first was separating the powered units and putting a separate Proto-3 kit into the trailing unit, then lighting everything using the existing wires. The second thought was replacing the wires. I'm leaning toward the first option as it takes the engine power out of the electrical buss. The catch is you have to lash-up the powered units.

I will definitely document what I do.

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