MTH Memories

Donald,

   I remember the good old days as well, I used to buy 2 of every car that i wanted. One to run and one to stash away thinking they would appreciate in value...

Thanks for sharing,

Jeff

Indeed, this pending loss of MTH is actually a melancholy event. We Old Guys (I'm 72) watched Mike W. and his company "grow up" and bought much of his product. His catalogues were things to look forward to, though my buying skewed to Lionel and Friends over the years because of my command operating system preferences. I still bought MTH, especially PS1's to upgrade.

Now, MTH is going away. We've "outlived" it*, as well as the peak of 3RO. K-Line, Weaver, MTH - 3 strikes and you're...if not exactly "out", at least in a new, smaller ball game.

 *along with paper cataloguers and magazines. I never got a Lionel or MTH (!) paper catalogue this year, so I never sat with my morning coffee and shopped for a nice Lionel pre-order (I did order a GM&O RS-1 from MTH's last catalogue), so no business from me...and the thinning print magazine editions...one of them - not this one, yet - is getting perilously close to a cancellation as it begins to look like a pamphlet. The only "device" I use to view my mags and catalogues is my lap or my kitchen table. So, my interest lags, slowly but steadily. I can't sit in front of this computer for very long at a time. Tedious.  

I'll rehash my favorite MTH story...long ago I went to Catoctin Mountain Trains in Thurmont, Md on a H O T saturday, just to browse. By the time i got to the front of the store, there was, I believe Andy Edelman starting to demonstrate a totally clear version of the car wash. It must have been a prototype?

I was in awe about who in the heck would think to produce this? It was so unique! 

I also realized that O scale was REALLY evolving into an crazy kool hobby. Paul Johnson really lauded on how the then named Mikes Train House was an up and comer. He also advised to look into the (unknown to me) K Line trains.

My 1st MTH Railking locomotive, which had no Protosounds because I believe it was an early MTH that preceded Protosounds: a NY Central Mohawk steamer. I'm not sure, but I also think it was also called an L-3.

I've had it approx. 25 to 30 years, and it's been a great engine, but now it's not running and has been sent to an MTH expert to either fix it or upgrade it, depending on the cost.

When I get it back, I'll post a photo of it. Arnold

Wow, quite a trip down memory lane!  25 years ago there were lots of train stores in the Phoenix Metro area.  During that time I met Mike twice at my closest LHS and was very impressed by his drive and enthusiasm for the hobby.  Now all but one of those LHS are gone and MTH has less than 1 year left.   My first MTH engine was a Big Blow turbine that had been upgraded to PS2 and I love it now as much as I loved it then.  Since then I have accumulated lots of MTH engines, big and small and really enjoy them. 

I will miss MTH.

Rolland

When I re-entered the hobby 24 years ago, as I recall, MTH was producing more scale-sized locomotives than Lionel, so I began to purchase only MTH Premier and have done so ever since. Mike and MTH have produced a large variety of scale-sized locomotive models - I would venture to say more than Lionel. That has made MTH O gauge much more interesting for me. Lately, I have bought a few Lionel and Sunset/3rd Rail engines, and they have been OK, but I prefer MTH design, price point, quality and fewer costly and troublesome features compared to Lionel. I'm unhappy that MTH is closing and I don't think it will be a good thing for the hobby. They were my manufacturer of choice. I still run numerous PS1 and PS2 engines in conventional mode, as well as PS3. Perfectly satisfactory for someone like me who grew up with Lionel trains in the 1940s and '50s.

MELGAR

Hey guys. Over the years, I abandoned almost all of my MTH engines and sold off all of my DAP sets, freight and passenger cars. I focused on Lionel and Atlas. I still have a very few MTH freight cars but made sure I kept my 3 big UP Turbines (oil, propane, coal) even if they are shelf queens and no longer run due to old Proto systems. But they command the "top shelf".

Thinking back, I only now realize the BIG impact that Mike and his vision had on our hobby in a very positive way. For us guys who appreciate 3 rail scale, he pushed all the other big manufacturers into building more scale size and adding more details to our engines and rolling stock.

Donald 

@redjimmy1955 posted:

I'll rehash my favorite MTH story...long ago I went to Catoctin Mountain Trains in Thurmont, Md on a H O T saturday, just to browse. By the time i got to the front of the store, there was, I believe Andy Edelman starting to demonstrate a totally clear version of the car wash. It must have been a prototype?

I was in awe about who in the heck would think to produce this? It was so unique! 

I also realized that O scale was REALLY evolving into an crazy kool hobby. Paul Johnson really lauded on how the then named Mikes Train House was an up and comer. He also advised to look into the (unknown to me) K Line trains.

 

 

 

I also bought my first MTH trains from Paul and he gave me the same story about MTH being an up and comer and that was in 1990 not long after he opened the store. Still have that “J” and Hudson today.  I get sick thinking about how much of my money Paul got from me buying MTH Trains. I still miss that store and Paul a super great guy and he knew his 🚂. 

I see I'm coming very late to the party. Was into "N" scale back in 1968-70, but sold off everything and bought no trains for 48 (!) years.

Got my older brother's Lionel Trains from him and starting buying trains, used and new, only about 2 years ago. Now have a whole bunch of Weaver, Lionel, MTH, many streamlined steam. Just bought 3 more MTH engines in the last 2 months. Still in their boxes, because I just display them, don't run them, and have to make more shelf space somewhere in my living room—not married, no kids, no wife to bug me!

For me, MTH Railking has meant excellent quality at affordable prices. 

No shelf queens for me, not that there is anything wrong with that. I simply love to run everything I have as much as possible, and do so. I am more of an operator than a collector.

Every locomotive I have that is Postwar is Lionel. 

Almost every locomotive I have that is modern is MTH Railking. 

My number 1 priority now regarding my layout is to protect the circuit boards in my modern engines. I have damaged a few of the circuit boards in my frequently run MTH locomotives because the track work on my tubular track layout with 031 curves and 022 switches is less than perfect, and I still have occasional derailments that can cause voltage spikes.

I shall now share some things I have recently done to protect my modern circuit boards, which I largely learned thanks to this Forum. I am sharing this information to help other MTH operator Forum members protect the circuit boards in their modern MTH and other engines.

I believe one way to protect those circuit boards is to use the great MTH Z-4000 transformer.

For 25 years I have powered my 2 main lines (which are independently powered) with a Z-4000, my 9 sidings and accessories (also independently powered) with a Postwar Lionel ZW and Atlas Connectors, and my 16 022 switches (also independently powered) with another ZW. 

One year ago, after visiting the layout of my Forum friend, Melgar, I noticed his impeccable and beautiful layout had different Atlas connectors than mine. He had the blue heavy duty O Scale Atlas connectors while I had the black and yellow HO Atlas connectors, some of which had melted because of derailments on sidings. So, I replaced my HO Atlas connectors, which were used for my 9 sidings, with fhe heavy duty O scale ones, and none of those heavy duty connectors have melted since. I think this was a big layout improvement that helps protect modern MTH circuit boards.

Another recent layout improvement to protect modern circuit boards is what I did 2 weeks ago: I purchased and installed TVS diodes thanks to the great advice I got on this Forum.

The next big recent layout improvement happened one week ago. I purchased another Z4000 to replace the ZW that powered my sidings.

Don't get me wrong, I love my ZWs, to the extent that I recently said on another Forum thread that the ZW is in my heart and soul, one reason being that I've had a ZW since Christmas morning 66 years ago when I was 2 years old! It is still a wonderful transformer for running Postwar  locomotives, but it does not compare to the great Z4000 for running modern locomotives with delicate circuit boards.

I have a lot more peace of mind thanks to the above recent layout improvements that I know will greatly help protect those circuit boards.

I am also very grateful to this Forum and my Forum friend, Melgar, for the great advice I have gotten that will help protect those circuit boards.

My cup runneth over . . .

Arnold

Robert-Porter

"not married, no kids, no wife to bug me!"

And if I was in those shoes I would not be able to walk in my house due to train layout and trains in every room! Yes even the Bathroom!

I feel like I totally missed out in some ways.  I'm just a hair over 40 and I mostly grew up with HO trains.  The cheaper Tyco and LifeLike stuff in the Sears catalog was all my parents could afford.

Then one day probably around the age of 12 I went to see Jim up at his shop in Homer City, PA.  WOW.  I wasn't much of a fan of the "weird extra rail" in the middle, but the size of the trains was so much more impressive.  That Christmas I got my first 3-rail set - the cheapest thing that Lionel made.  As I got older, model trains faded from my daily interests but I still kept all of my collection, HO and that Lionel set in the original boxes at my parents' house.

I moved out west for a few years and while out there I went on a trip on the Durango and Silverton RR line in Colorado.  That reignited my interest and I visited a hobby shop out there.  The nice gentleman that owned the place showed me an MTH DCS PS/2 locomotive for the first time.  The synchronized chuff, smoke, sound, remote control.  I was floored.  Something as a child I never thought possible even in my wildest dreams.

Then probably 15+ years after that first visit and when I had money of my own to spend after college, I went back to visit Jim.  His noisy layout full of rumbling diesels impressed and I ended up buying an MTH Premier CSX SD70Ace from him.  In the intervening years I had purchased odd ball items here and there along with some track and that loco ran around the tree each Christmas in my apartment for several years with some Williams New Haven passenger cars in tow (weird I know, but I got them cheap).

Now, years later after having been lucky enough to marry a beautiful lady who encourages my hobby, settling down, and having the space to do so, I'm starting my first 3-rail layout.  The collection has grown quite a bit, 90% MTH a mix of new and used/ebay/York along with two 4 year old nephews who ask me every time they see me "Uncle, when will the trains be done?"

I don't think I would have ever switched to O if it weren't for MTH, so thanks MW.  And while I'm a little wary of the future - as long as I can get the track to just get my layout built, I think I have enough locos and rolling stock to keep me and my nephews happy through the foreseeable future.

Another major improvement I made 6 to 9 months ago was to replace all MTH Proto 1 and 2 batteries with BCRs, which is something I learned from this On-Line forum.

MTH memories, bought a Proto 1 6-8-6, and upon opening the box found it with a Proto 2 sticker on the tender. Seems they had changed over to Proto 2 and were apparently using old box inventory. Heard a couple people experience the same thing.

Went to a few of the DCS user group dinners that Barry had and met some of the most friendly and helpful people there.

   In the 90's I stumbled across a hobby shop in Plymouth Indiana called Ed's Railyard. I was into H.O. at the time. He had some Lionel, but had a bunch of MTH. I had never seen MTH before. I browsed around and left.

   Well, I was drawn back in a couple of weeks later. This time Ed said I could run a train on the layout. That train was a PS1 Amtrak F40/amfleet set. Wow, I was hooked!

   My 1st engine I bought from Ed was a 'B and O' Doodlebug with horn. It still runs like new, plus has been through multiple kids. Next I ordered a Silver Sightseer/PCC. The purchases continued from there...

   Ed, MTH, and that simple doodlebug pulled me back into 'o' gauge. I don't want to think of the $ I spent after that. Thankfully my wife has been supportive of my train addiction...          I will miss MTH.