What happenned to MTH's European market?

Interesting, because MTH European models have sold very well in Europe and even in the UK and US. Perhaps e-mail your suggestion to MTH?

Though I am in the UK, most of our trains are US outline. So I am probably not the best person to answer.

However my understanding is that the 3-rail tinplate British outline guys were not keen on the MTH Duchess as it did not fit in with there existing stock. And as for the 2-rail scale crowd they probably laughed.

There are a lot of new 2-rail ready to run British outline coming onto the market at very reasonable prices (for O gauge).

Personally I think MTH went about introducing the Duchess in the wrong way in the UK. They should have contacted existing DCS users and people familiar with the MTH brand in the UK for advice i.e. Members of the LCCUK 

This would have shown the loco to best effect at train shows etc. And helped with the translation of advertising for the British market.

Nick

I really like the MTH European offerings and have a Duchess, SNCF 231E, 141P and 150X (French version of the Baureihe 44) and some European rolling stock. But I rarely meet someone overhere that share my feelings. My (not very interesting) personal views:

For the UK market I think Nick in the previous post gives the correct evaluation. I would not be honest and say I like the MTH Duchess when in an English pub, for fear of being laughed at.

For the continental Europe market I, as an European, think MTH did wrong with the German/Bavarian Baureihe 18 or S3/6. It just was not tinplate or scale and did not satisfy the expectations of both type of collectors/operators; so within a few months it was sold in the second hand market at half price. The SNCF231E was a bit better, looking scale-like but still not good enough with exagerated locomotive tender distance and incorrect livery. The SNCF 141P really looks good and I like it very much, but it is very French and the French 0 gauge market is not big enough for this. The Baureihe 44  was just not taken in  Germany since the failure of the Baureihe 18 and the French version, which I also like very much, has the wrong scale (1:45 against 1:43,5) for the French market. I had an 241A on order but MTH cancelled this one (not to my surprise, but still to my regret).

I do not comment on the non steam-outline locomotives since they are beside my interest sphere. I have a friend who has a large number of them in different liveries, but he seems to be very lonely in this niche.

The 2018 MTH catalogue shows nothing new for Europe. I would not be surprised that when stock is sold MTH will regrettably retract from this market. You could blame the market but I learned from a marketeer that the customer is always right!

Regards

Fred

I'm an American.  I was thrilled MTH finally got into European trains; I think the European trains add a lot of interest.  I would be glad to get some of the MTH European trains - particularly the Crocodile or Duchess class or the KBayStsB - but they all needed bigger turning diameters than I have available.  I hope the European trains have been a success and I hope they expand in the market but I also hope they try something like a "European RailKing Imperial".  I would be interested in that.

Unfortunately, some of the MTH European steam locos suffered from poor packaging, resulting in their self destruction during shipping. I work for an MTH dealer in the USA, and we had many headaches with items damaged during shipment either to us from MTH or from us to Europe and South America due to poor package design. Maybe things are on hold with European prototypes until they get the packaging problems sorted out. Personally, I was also disappointed to see the Nohab diesels dropped after seeing them announced in the catalog a couple of years ago.

Bill in FtL

sncf231e posted:

For the UK market I think Nick in the previous post gives the correct evaluation. I would not be honest and say I like the MTH Duchess when in an English pub, for fear of being laughed at.

Regards

Fred

Fred,
Could you explain why you feel that way? Or, maybe why the Brits feel that way?

Big Jim,

Nick mentioned: "And as for the 2-rail scale crowd they probably laughed." And on a British tinplate form the reaction was: "neither the bodywork of their LMS/BR Duchess came out well (funny firebox, funny dome, unpleasant valve motion) nor did their two types of LMS coach, with the thick sides almost reminiscent of Lima BR Mk 1s. ".

Why the British feel that way I do not know, since I like the loco and it looks good in my eyes with her coaches running in my garden:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSmzspc_X4s

Regards

Fred

Thank you Fred. I like mine too. I also think it looks better (and priced better) than any European made Duchess model that I have seen to date. If there is a better one out there, I would be interested in seeing it.

Just for the record I like Duchess as well. Although I don’t own one I have been able to run a fellow club members at a show. 

I have noticed there has been more acceptance of sounds & smoke etc. from the scale crowd over here recently. Probably because these features are being introduced on DCC equipped OO gauge products here. 

Nick

Some very good comments. I agree with Fred, the quality has gotten better as production has progressed. I have an MTH BR44 and really like it, plus a couple of E94s and some of the modern locos. The body work on these is very very nice.

However, there are some issues. The BR18, as Fred said, was neither scale model nor tinplate and started many people off on the wrong foot. I think one of the biggest issues is that you just can't exchange decoders as MTH has all of this built in. Most Europeans run Lenz or ESU or Zimo and want the ability to change out decoders.

Then there is the competition, either high end brass or Lenz, both of which are very very good. Bernd Lenz has done a great job of introducing, and marketing, high quality products and his company literally sits in the middle of his customer base in Giessen, Germany. If you have the chance, and I have had the chance to visit his company during the Giessen 0 scale days, it is well worth it. Great products, great service, and Bernd Lenz is a great showman.

Again, high end brass will always be what it is, and between brass items and Lenz products, this is a tough market.

Miketg