MTH Railking Imperial steam locomotives

Hi Tiffany, dont have the Challenger, but I have several other Imperial engines. I have always thought they are great value for the price, good detail, great runners, etc.

Rod

There are more than 30 locomotives on my railroad, and all but one are Rail King, and several of these are Imperial. Rail King engines in my opinion are the best value in O-gauge trains. The extra details on the Tail King Imperial locomotives are a treat.

How close to scale are they? Are the physical dimensions accurate? I can live without some of the small details but in my opinion it needs to near scale or scale length/height.

They sure do look good.

We have a lot of the Imperial steam engines. My dad, uncle and I love them. My dad and uncle like the nickel and I like the dark rods. Not the black rods, real rods are coated with grease to help prevent corrosion. The grease is more brown than black. MTH seems to have changed to color lately and I'm really happy with that.  

Guitarmike posted:

How close to scale are they? Are the physical dimensions accurate? I can live without some of the small details but in my opinion it needs to near scale or scale length/height.

They sure do look good.

Imperial engines are not anywhere near 1:48 scale. That’s the whole point of MTH’s Imperial line, to make large locomotives in a traditional size enabling them to run on traditional layouts.

For the most part, Rail King trains are between 027 and scale in size. I find that the width and height of Rail King trains are scale, but the length is not. Shortening enables Rail King trains to negotiate 031 curves. Some diesels are actually retired scale pieces, but this is not common.

Rail King C&O Hudson

Jersey Central Blue Comet

New Haven EP5

Reading Crusader

Southern Crescent

SP AC9 Cab Forward

Bobby Ogage posted:

For the most part, Rail King trains are between 027 and scale in size. I find that the width and height of Rail King trains are scale, but the length is not. Shortening enables Rail King trains to negotiate 031 curves. Some diesels are actually retired scale pieces, but this is not common.

Rail King C&O Hudson

Jersey Central Blue Comet

New Haven EP5

Reading Crusader

Southern Crescent

SP AC9 Cab Forward

The question isn’t the whole RailKing line. The focus is on the RailKing Imperial line. None of the Imperial locomotives are close to scale.

My understanding is that the Railking-Imperials are not scale, but more detailed then Railking. The Railking- Scale line are made from older Premier tooling. So they are scale size but less detail than Premier. I also thought that the Railking-Scale are only Diesels.