Last Hurrah for MTH?

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

With the likelihood of MTH, which I've never before admired more than now (fear of loss?), soon going out of business, is now the time to get as much MTH as one can?

I confess that this is the way I feel, and I have recently acted on those feelings big time (at least for me).

How about you?

Arnold

Interesting you say get as much.  I will cull my MTH locomotives and increase my Lionel steam.  I am keeping my 18” passenger cars.  They should endure electronics and parts wise.  Just my thoughts.  I also dislike the drawbar arrangement on MTH steam.

I plan to buy one or two more MTH engines (my preferred brand) that I might not have bought right now if they were remaining in business. But I did buy a new Z-4000 for my secondary layout that I would have postponed if not for the closure. What I have done is to stock up on spare parts,

MELGAR

@Bryant Dunivan 111417 posted:

Interesting you say get as much.  I will cull my MTH locomotives and increase my Lionel steam.  I am keeping my 18” passenger cars.  They should endure electronics and parts wise.  Just my thoughts.  I also dislike the drawbar arrangement on MTH steam.

Bryant, I just got my 1st Proto 3 Steamer with that new drawbar arrangement. No problem so far, but it does seem fragile and somewhat flimsy. However, I'm impressed by the detail. sounds, smoke and relative affordability of the Railking Imperial steamers.

Arnold, I think there will always be a large secondary market for MTH. Most of my steam was new/old scale K-line. Most of my MTH I bought new. There is a ton of it out there for sale. There will most likely be a jump in prices when they finally close their doors but it will settle down after awhile. Don

I was sold on MTH from the very beginning.

One of my favorite MTH Locomotives pre-dates Protosonds; it's a NY Central Mohawk L-3, one very smooth running steamer. The smoke is just OK (it pre-dates fan driven smoke), but it's big, looks great, runs well on 031 curves, and is durable, reliable, affordable and has stood the test of time. It was, and is, my poor man's 773:

I was a longstanding and regular purchaser of Proto 1 for two decades, so most of my MTH is Proto 1. IMO, all are high quality and were a good deal compared to the competition.

I have a couple of Proto 2, which are very nice,  and a few Proto 3 that are wonderful IMO.

Usually less is more when it comes to the size of locomotives because of the 031 curves on my long and narrow layout with reverse loops.

Most of my MTH is Railking, a few are Premier, and I have 1 Railking Imperial that is fabulous for my layout.

And, I've just discovered, and am now learning, DCS.

I sure hope MTH stays in business in some way, shape and form. Arnold

Who knows?  Meanwhile, whatever floats your boat .  Worrying about the future means that if things turn out badly, you've suffered twice.  If things turn out well, you've made yourself miserable for nothing.  It's a no win.  If you are heavily involved in MTH, whether conventional or command, there's no problem with buying more stuff if you are not worried about parts or service, which are a question mark.  If you are worried about parts and service availability, buy stuff that's a bargain or made by some other company, or both. 

Luckily enough for me (in MY view based on MY opinion), I divested myself of all my 15 or so MTH locs 5-6 years ago.  I kept one only - but sold it 6 months ago.

I also had two Z-4000s for 12 years which I sold five years ago.  Have to be honest:  I greatly prefer the ZW-L now commanding the layout.

So, my "last MTH hurrah" has come and gone.  And, I'm very happy with my present situation with A LOT of Lionel and Atlas.

For the past ten years, I’ve been getting MTH locos almost exclusively.  Last year after hearing about Mike’s retirement, I got more MTH locos than any previous year.  I currently have 2 on preorder.

What steamer did you get Arnold?  If it has a trailing truck and it’s possible for the drawbar to touch it, you should insulate the exposed contacts on the drawbar.  There is a plastic insulator there, but it can rotate out of position.

All comments very interesting. Now I see there are 2 schools of thought:

One is to load up on MTH now, for those very happy with their products because tomorrow there may be a lot less;

The other is to unload MTH because tomorrow there may be much fewer MTH parts.

Bob, as I mentioned recently on another thread, I recently bought the Proto 3 Imperial B&O (President Washington) 4-6-2 Pacific Steamer:

And, I recently purchased a Proto 3 Imperial Long Island B-6 Steam Switcher, which should be on its way.

The Railking Imperial line of Proto 3 steamers is ideal for me and my layout because of the fine detail, excellent sounds and smoke, DCS features, and ability to negotiate 031 curves.

For those who are interested in getting more brand new MTH, some of our Forum Sponsors have some MTH product for sale, but my impression is that it's going fast. Our wonderful sponsors (all have been great for me to do business with) will appreciate your business and you are very likely to be a very satisfied customer purchasing from them. (If you buy from them, you are helping to stimulate our economy a little, LOL).

I love Landsteiners's attitude, which is not to worry about things like MTH's future.

To put a positive spin on this thread, which always pleases our fine moderators, I would love this thread to go in the direction of celebrating the MTH we already have, and are in the process of getting. That's what I shall focus on.

As I've said before, I love it all, particularly Postwar Lionel and modern MTH and Lionel, but at the moment, I feel great gratitude for MTH that I have and will soon get.

No question in my mind, that having a strong MTH for all these years made Lionel and the others better, and made many of us experience much joy and happiness. Arnold

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

No question in my mind, that having a strong MTH for all these years made Lionel and the others better, and made many of us experience much joy and happiness. Arnold

@Arnold D. Cribari I completely agree with this sentiment!  It's the thing that makes me MOST sad about MTH closing!  (BTW... until 2020 I was exclusively MTH PS2).

What Landsteiner said about worrying +1!

I just received an MTH Railking PRR GP9, a model that was on my bucket list for a long time. This engine joined a fair number of other MTH engines as, like Bob, I’ve purchased MTH engines exclusively for about the past decade. I had no qualms buying the PRR GP despite knowing it was in MTH’s last catalog nor would I have any worries about purchasing additional MTH engines, either used or - NOS.

Curt

“And, I recently purchased a Proto 3 Imperial Long Island B-6 Steam Switcher, which should be on its way.”

Arnold, you’re going to love that little switcher. I purchased the same PS3 Long Island in 2019 (NOS) from my local dealer and I find myself compelled to run it almost every session. It’s a real hoot. The mth imperial railking scale line was the best value for the money in ogauge, in my opinion. So sad to see it go.

@Bryant Dunivan 111417 posted:

Interesting you say get as much.  I will cull my MTH locomotives and increase my Lionel steam.  I am keeping my 18” passenger cars.  They should endure electronics and parts wise.  Just my thoughts.  I also dislike the drawbar arrangement on MTH steam.

Totally agree re your drawbar comment.

Pat

I have a large collection of both Lionel and MTH engines. In recent years, I had cut back on my purchases of MTH engines, as I found that they had a significantly higher percentage of problems than my Lionel engines. For example, the drawbar/disconnecting tether issue on their steam engines was a significant problem for me that was never resolved by MTH. I also have a number of MTH first generation diesel sets and never liked the cumbersome and ugly connectors that were used by MTH on their F3s and F7s. That said, after MTH announced they were closing, I purchased two MTH Maine Central Powered F3s and an MTH GG-1 from their recent catalogs. I also have several sets of MTH Premier passenger cars, which are terrific, and I may purchase a couple of more sets. Almost all of my freight cars are Lionel, Atlas, Weaver and K-Line. I purchased very few MTH freight cars over the years, other than several cabooses.

Pat

This brand new MTH RailKing Scale Washington Terminal RS1 ( just received late last week ) is probably my last new, from the factory, MTH hurrah!  IF money were not an object, there would be numerous brand new MTH hurrahs!! LOL!  

Over the years I've purchased many MTH locomotives ( some Premier and many RailKing)  brand new from the factory and some pre-owned MTH locos as well.  I've also purchased a fair amount of MTH Premier rolling stock over the years.   Although I own locos and rolling stock from Lionel, K-line, Weaver, and Williams,  MTH seems to dominate my roster.   I'll continue to purchase MTH products on the "pre-owned market" after MTH is no more.  IMHO MTH is/was the "best bang for the buck"!  I along with thousands of others am HUGLEY grateful for their overall contribution to our hobby and will greatly miss the MTH presence once the company is no more.  After May 31, 2021 the MTH silence will be deafening.  

As a two rail guy, I will miss the 2 rail offerings from MTH.

FYI, MTH announced a final run of RailKing RS-3 diesels to be released this summer. Check the MTH website for the roster. I have ordered the Northern Pacific version.

I must agree Pat', MTH is the best for the buck.  I'm very happy with ny MTH Roster overall. I only have one PS-1 engine that locks up in neutral.  The rest are fine, no problems at all. 

I think the best comment for the good of the hobby, was with MTH in business, it improved the product from everyone else.     It there is only one big manufacturer, they may not feel as obligated to improve quality, design and product offerings