Skip to main content

There is an ad on ebay with the title “MTH PREMIER DENVER RIO GRANDE FT ABA DIESEL ENGINE SET 20-2272-1! SKI TRAIN F-3” Looking closer shows the box is not for the diesels being advertised and the units are not FT’s. (There are a few active auctions for the 20-2272-1 diesels – a point that I presented to the seller)

I’ve searched the MTH product locater for F3 and F7 units in both Railking and Premier and, with the exception of the recent Railking units 30-20732-1, I cannot find an image of a Premier set of Rio Grande F units that have a green hood. There was a set cataloged in 2002, 20-2349-1 that show a green hood in the catalog photo but images of the actual units I have found  show the top of the hood was painted white.

To me the price is ridiculous but I might make the seller an offer if I knew what these were. I have reached out to the seller asking questions but he/she is not prompt with their responses.  In my first round of questions they admitted that the diesels are in the wrong box but offered no other information about whether there is a box for these. I then sent another round of questions asking for more detailed images and the cab numbers on the units as well as the question of whether or not they could confirm that these are in fact MTH units.

The purpose of my question is to find out if anyone here does or has owned a Premier set of Rio Grande diesels with a paint scheme that matches what is shown in the photo. It’s not a bash ebay thread.

Andrew

Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

Andrew, 

The picture certainly does not match the MTH catalog page so I'm not sure what they have. There ad claims to have the original box, but you said no. You would think that they would change the ad!

Also a place that buys and sells trains would be better informed.

The price is a bit to the high side so if you are interested, toss them an offer. A lot of times people start high to see what happens.

 If i'm looking at the right ad. Those look like they might be Railking units possibly 30-2184-0.  The porportions do look a bit shortened , but its hard to tell from that 1 blurry photo.

$650 for Ps1 would be a HUGE disappointment. If said sellers name rhymes with "Dartz" , he buys and sells a TON of used O guage, and I believe hes a member here.

Maybe someone put those in the wrong box or he mixed up his boxes who knows?

Regardless.  IMO, I'd stay away from these.

Last edited by OGR CEO-PUBLISHER
@RickO posted:

 If i'm looking at the right ad. Those look like they might be Railking units possibly 30-2184-0.  The porportions do look a bit shortened , but its hard to tell from that 1 blurry photo.

$650 for Ps1 would be a HUGE disappointment. If said sellers name rhymes with "Dartz" , he buys and sells a TON of used O guage, and I believe hes a member here.

Maybe someone put those in the wrong box or he mixed up his boxes who knows?

Regardless.  IMO, I'd stay away from these.

RickO,

Thank you for looking at this - I believe you are right in your assessment that these are Railking engines. You ARE right in identifying the ebay seller.  Interesting as I am not able to find the 30-2184-0 searching the product locator using the term "rio" but based on past experience I've seen some anomalies with the tool. They do show up when I enter the complete product number though.

Andrew

 

 

Looks a lot like this MTH RailKing offering from 2000: https://www.mthtrains.com/30-2184-1 (MSRP $259.95)

with this B unit added: https://www.mthtrains.com/30-2184-3 (MSRP $49.95)

If so, not even close to the $649.99 the seller is asking

@Training Wheels you are absolutely correct.  I asked the seller questions yesterday on ebay.

Hello,
Have some questions please. Add says original box. However the picture of this box and the set of diesels do not match. Are these F3's or F7's? Are these from 2001 or 2002? Are they ProtoSound or ProtoSound 2? Are they Premier or are they RailKing?
Those diesels do not represent what MTH identifies as 20-2272-1. The F units for that number are dark green or black. Could they perhaps be 20-2349-1? Lastly, Can you provide me the numbers on the number boards for each diesel unit?
Thanks!

This was his reply...

They are F3s we just added more pictures.

Screen Shot 2020-09-13 at 8.58.41 AM

These are most definitely RK engines as @Training Wheels  has identified.

Ron   

Attachments

Images (1)
  • Screen Shot 2020-09-13 at 8.58.41 AM
@Ron045 posted:

@Training Wheels you are absolutely correct.  I asked the seller questions yesterday on ebay.

Hello,
Have some questions please. Add says original box. However the picture of this box and the set of diesels do not match. Are these F3's or F7's? Are these from 2001 or 2002? Are they ProtoSound or ProtoSound 2? Are they Premier or are they RailKing?
Those diesels do not represent what MTH identifies as 20-2272-1. The F units for that number are dark green or black. Could they perhaps be 20-2349-1? Lastly, Can you provide me the numbers on the number boards for each diesel unit?
Thanks!

This was his reply...

They are F3s we just added more pictures.

Screen Shot 2020-09-13 at 8.58.41 AM

These are most definitely RK engines as @Training Wheels  has identified.

Ron   

I am glad the seller finally produced a more detailed image of what is being advertised that definitely identifies these as one version of the RailKing units sold in the early 2000's. However, they still have not updated the headline to remove the words Premier and FT, the incorrect product number or the image of the units with the Premier box in the background.

I like to give people the benefit of the doubt but they have at least one other auction for Santa Fe units that looks and reads similar to this one - misleading headline with incorrect information and an image of what are obviously RailKing units posed in front of a Premier box.

Thanks to everyone who replied.

Andrew

 

To make this even more suspect, the seller's items have the number boards from these two Premier locos. According to MTH's product locator, those number boards (5521 & 5524) don't appear to have been issued on any RK engines.

https://mthtrains.com/20-20942-1

https://mthtrains.com/20-20943-4

Seems like it's not time well spent changing number boards when you place it up for auction and one of the few clear pictures is of the product number on the box that clearly doesn't match the diesels for sale.

To make this even more suspect, the seller's items have the number boards from these two Premier locos. According to MTH's product locator, those number boards (5521 & 5524) don't appear to have been issued on any RK engines.

https://mthtrains.com/20-20942-1

https://mthtrains.com/20-20943-4

I think I found them in a round about way.

30-2184-0  https://www.mthtrains.com/30-2184-0

These are not even protosound.  Just horn and bell.  You can't ID the road numbers on the MTH Website, but when you google 30-2184-0 there is a worthpoint web site show shows a picture of those two engines with numbers 5521 and 5524.

Back in the day, $159 for the pair brand new.

Screen Shot 2020-09-13 at 8.22.22 PMScreen Shot 2020-09-13 at 8.22.11 PM

 

Attachments

Images (2)
  • Screen Shot 2020-09-13 at 8.22.22 PM
  • Screen Shot 2020-09-13 at 8.22.11 PM

Add Reply

Post
This forum is sponsored by MTH Electric Trains

OGR Publishing, Inc., 1310 Eastside Centre Ct, Suite 6, Mountain Home, AR 72653
800-980-OGRR (6477)
www.ogaugerr.com

×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×
×