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The North Carolina Transportation Museum is having an event with the entire roster of Norfolk Southern heritage diesels on display.  Last night they hosted a welcome event and Mike Wolf was in attendance.  Several members of our club, Atlantic Coast S-Gaugers, got to talk to him personally.

 

The first new-tooling project he has planned for S will be to do the SD70 in all of the heritage paint schemes.  Estimated time to production is 18 months.  They will feature the MTH DCS control system.  When asked about pricing he mentioned he wanted to "keep it cheap".  What that means is anyone's guess... I always thought SHS products were a great value given the price, and if he's able to keep the price for this new product around what SHS had done that would be a win in my book. 

 

Reissue-wise, his first locomotive will be the F-7... no info as to which old roadnames or if new roadnames will be done, or what the date would be. One of our members asked about when the flextrack would be available.  While Mike didn't mention the flextrack specifically, he did indicate that starter sets would be available with the S-Trax track sometime early next year.  Not sure if he's keeping the S-Trax name or not.

 

All in all, some good news.  He made quite an investment buying out the SHS tooling and he seems to have a good plan as to where to go with it.

 

 

 

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Wow... stepping up to Lionel right away with the SD70!  Everything I have is TMCC/Legacy so I will stick with Lionel on that one, but the F7...

 

Just my opinion here...but if MTH gets a series of RTR sets with their track out there before Lionel/Flyer does, the new blood could go with and possibly develop brand loyalty to MTH.  

 

I have only been in S gauge (and trains in general) for 5 years, but I sure got into S at a good time!

 

Ben 

That's an interesting question.  From what I understand their current production 'O' gauge product can run 2-rail or 3-rail at the flip of a switch.  This saves them the trouble of having to build 2 separate SKUs and do a crapshoot as to how many of each the market actually wants.

 

Don's approach to including scale wheels with the SHS product accomplished the same thing.  I would think that continuing this would make more sense and even be cheaper than building separate SKUs, as us S-gaugers seem to be more than happy to do our conversions in the field.

 

One nice SHS tradition that I suspect won't continue is the Christmas cars.  These required a fair amount of attention to execute and I don't know if MTH will do these or focus on expanding the line.  It would be nice if they would produce the 2010 fishbelly Christmas car that Sanda Kan committed to produce before reneging.  

 

Nick C.

Originally Posted by nctrains:

That's an interesting question.  From what I understand their current production 'O' gauge product can run 2-rail or 3-rail at the flip of a switch.  This saves them the trouble of having to build 2 separate SKUs and do a crapshoot as to how many of each the market actually wants.

 

Don's approach to including scale wheels with the SHS product accomplished the same thing.  I would think that continuing this would make more sense and even be cheaper than building separate SKUs, as us S-gaugers seem to be more than happy to do our conversions in the field.

 

One nice SHS tradition that I suspect won't continue is the Christmas cars.  These required a fair amount of attention to execute and I don't know if MTH will do these or focus on expanding the line.  It would be nice if they would produce the 2010 fishbelly Christmas car that Sanda Kan committed to produce before reneging.  

 

Nick C.

As Don Thompson pointed out on Yahoo, MTH shows the fishbelly hopper in their press release.

 

Also, MTH is known for doing all sorts of "festive" cars in O and HO.

 

In O, MTH offers a choice of scale or hirail wheels with 2 different SKU's on SOME products.  I think the switch just ties the insulated wheels together and the third rail pick-up needs to be removed.

 

I agree it would be preferable to just include scale wheels like SHS had done.

 

I'm sure we'll find out more as time rolls on.

 

Rusty


 

Originally Posted by Rusty Traque:
...

In O, MTH offers a choice of scale or hirail wheels with 2 different SKU's on SOME products.  I think the switch just ties the insulated wheels together and the third rail pick-up needs to be removed.

 

I agree it would be preferable to just include scale wheels like SHS had done.

 

I'm sure we'll find out more as time rolls on.

 

Rusty


 

That's exactly it. I've suggested to MTH and Atlas that they package the pilots and wheels for scale and hi-rail and eliminate multiple SKU's The likely added cost would be about $20-$30, but this would be somewhat offset by inventory/production savings. Steam is an entirely different issue because of how the axles are set into the locomotives. Changing them to removable wheelsets would involve tooling modifications.

Originally Posted by AGHRMatt:
Originally Posted by Rusty Traque:
...

In O, MTH offers a choice of scale or hirail wheels with 2 different SKU's on SOME products.  I think the switch just ties the insulated wheels together and the third rail pick-up needs to be removed.

 

I agree it would be preferable to just include scale wheels like SHS had done.

 

I'm sure we'll find out more as time rolls on.

 

Rusty


 

That's exactly it. I've suggested to MTH and Atlas that they package the pilots and wheels for scale and hi-rail and eliminate multiple SKU's The likely added cost would be about $20-$30, but this would be somewhat offset by inventory/production savings. Steam is an entirely different issue because of how the axles are set into the locomotives. Changing them to removable wheelsets would involve tooling modifications.

As long as there's a frame with a cover plate, like old Bowser or Mantua HO steam locomotive kits, changing wheels on steam isn't an issue. The SHS 2-8-0 and AM steam are built this way.

 

But...  The problem arises if the customer boogers up the side rods, valve gear or loses the rod screws.

 

Rusty

Originally Posted by Brady Burdge:

Good news for S

 

FWIW you can run TMCC locos from MTH DCS by connecting the TMCC Command Base to the DCS base.  I don't know how much TMCC funtionality there is when using the DCS remote but if memory serves you can run locos. 

You get the basic TMCC functions, but none of the Legacy features using the DCS hand held

I would prefer MTH maintain the offerings divided between scale and hirail, especially for steam.

 

Most customers cannot be bothered to swap wheels on steam.

 

The reason I feel this way is because the switches I use in the old Real  Trax will not accommodate scale wheels without a massive "Bump down" and pressure on the opposite guard plate rail at the frog.

 

Course I can always replace switches for those that can do scale...

 

Maybe one day.

 

3/2 engines have a few settings on them that will need to be changed one way or the other and the middle pickups will need removing when two rail is established.

 

I will say that making the Pad for the kadee couplers is a step in the right direction.

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