MTH buys S-Helper Service, enters S gauge

[Bob Keller]

 

FOR RELEASE ON May 22, 2012

M.T.H. To Enter S Scale Market In 2013

Columbia, Maryland, May 22, 2012 --- M.T.H. Electric Trains has purchased the tooling

and production related assets of The Showcase Line® and the S-Trax System®

previously produced by S Helper Service, Inc. of Cliffwood, New Jersey. The sale

includes designs, tooling, marketing and trademark assets related to all of S Helper's S

Scale, 1/64 model railroading products. All in-stock inventory and the general business

assets of the company will remain with S Helper Service.

 

“We are pleased that the S model railroading products of The Showcase Line and the STrax

System will be continuing with a company whose standards of prototype accuracy,

prototype detail, state-of-the-art technology and high quality are commensurate with the

standards we had set for ourselves with the products we have delivered to S model

railroaders,” said Michael Ferraro, President of S Helper Service.

 

Don Thompson, Vice-President of S Helper Service explained further that, “As Michael

Ferraro and I approached retirement age, we sought alternatives for the continuation of

the line of S scale model trains, track and accessories that we had developed over the last

20 plus years. The transfer of the Showcase Line and S-Trax products to M.T.H. will

further boost the continuing growth of S model railroading within the model railroading

industry. M.T.H.’s resources and strengths, in particular their digital sound and train

control technology, will take S to a whole new level. The infusion of features like

synchronized puffing smoke, LED lighting, cd-quality sound, remote uncoupling and a

host of unique operating functions will make S more exciting than ever before and that

has been our hope for the products we created.”

 

Founded more than twenty-years ago, S Helper Service was formed to advance the S

scale segment of the model railroading industry by providing more new and diverse

products, establish entry-level starter sets for S and provide products made to the highest

standards in the model railroad industry. Since that time, The Showcase Line of

locomotives, rolling stock and accessories has expanded to include eight locomotives,

eighteen diverse freight cars and a variety of accessories. The S-Trax System now

includes thirteen sectional and flex track components along with track accessories. At the

time of the sale, both The Showcase Line and S-Trax System have additional products

under development.

 

All of the products from S Helper Service had become the standard to which all products

for S model railroading are compared. The detailed models and operational qualities of

the products are unsurpassed in the model railroading industry. The S-Trax System is the

leading track line for S scale.

 

M.T.H. Electric Trains, founded in 1980 by Mike Wolf, has become one of the very

largest and most diverse manufacturers of model trains in the United States. The

company originally began as a mail order toy train retailer before establishing itself as a

model railroad manufacturer of classic tin-plate reproductions from the first half of the

Twentieth Century. By 2006, M.T.H. had product lines in 3-rail O Gauge, 2-rail O Scale,

HO, One-Gauge and O and Standard Gauge tinplate reproductions.

 

Today, M.T.H.’s DCS Digital Command System and its line of onboard Proto-Sound®

digital sound and command control locomotive modules comprise a technology package

considered the most versatile in all of model railroading. Proto-Sound 3.0, the latest

onboard package found in all M.T.H. locomotives, will be incorporated into M.T.H. S

Scale products in the 2013 product line which will be unveiled later in 2012. Proto-

Sound 3.0 equipped locomotives operate under AC or DC track current, in conventional

or command modes in both 2 or 3-rail environments. Most importantly, Proto-Sound 3.0

equipped locomotives respond to DCS or DCC command control protocols ensuring that

M.T.H.'s expansion into the S Scale market will provide the S Gauge marketplace with

locomotives unmatched in their versatility, features and performance.

 

[Major]

This is great news to those of us in the S-Scale community as S-Helper has produced excellent products.  There has been concern that with the production turmoil in China that some companies would not survive.  I am glad to see MTH purchase their tooling.

[Seayakbill]

Seems like Lionel has the market share of S Gauge products, is there enough volume for 2 companies to succeed.

[Bob Keller]

Three, counting American Models.

[cbtrainnut]

THis is Awesome. MTH please don't cheapen the S-Helper line of track. it is the best on the market!  Look out lionel! 

[overall]

Our hobby used to be sort of a cottage industry, but now everybody is buying up everbody else. Lionel got K-line, Bachmann got Williams Trains and now this. I guess that's the way it goes.

George

[Seayakbill]

Don't think Lionel got K-Line. Lionel leased K-Line tooling from Sandi Kan for a few years. When Kader Industries ( parent company of Bachmann ) acquired Sandi Kan a couple years ago they received the K-Line tooling also. Now Williams by Bachmann is using some of the K-Line Tooling but is also leasing out some of the K-Line Tooling. RMT has started using a lot of that tooling, their latest catalog looks like a mini K-Line catalog.

[RRaddict]

Hopefully they will make S gauge trains as affordable as their O gauge trains are so even more people an enjoy this scale as of right now a quality S gauge set is very high.

[Seayakbill]

Does this company use a more traditional or even scale knuckle couplers. I always thought the American Flyer S Gauge couplers were cumbersome.

[richhotrain]

I never have understood the company name - - - S-Helper Service.

What exactly does that mean, anyhow?

Rich

[Seayakbill]

I just saw a SW type switcher with the knuckle coupler. I am guessing that this is the industry standard coupler for the modern S Gauge. The coupler looked gigantic compared to the small SW type switcher. MTH needs to go with scale couplers right out of the starting blocks.

[Bob Keller]

You can place scale wheels and couplers on the SHS locomotives (and many came with the scale wheels  in the box), but from what I've been told over the years, more S gaugers than S scalers buy S gauge products. You would also get into backward compatibility issues. As with O gauge, it is better to let the customers and the market decide what they want.

[arkady]

All this attention to S scale recently is interesting.  It seems that more than one manufacturer sees some significant potential in S.  Somewhere, A.C. Gilbert must be smiling.

Seayakbill

I just saw a SW type switcher with the knuckle coupler... The coupler looked gigantic compared to the small SW type switcher. MTH needs to go with scale couplers right out of the starting blocks.

I agree.  Nonscale Lionel couplers don't look so bad on an O model, especially of the semi-scale variety. But Flyer-style couplers just look enormous on an S scale model.

 

[Seayakbill]

If I was getting into the electric train hobby today I would seriously consider S Gauge. Lionel has been putting out some nice stuff the past few years and now with MTH jumping in it can only get a whole bunch better.

[sir james I]

With the MTH PS3 board S-Helper engines will get new sounds. I am just wondering though if MTH isn't spreading itself a little thin. Some say O ga sales are down and that might be true but I would think sale's in the other sizes would be down as well.

[Carolina Road]

Seayakbill,

 

S Helper Service offered their products where the parts to convert from High-Rail To Scale were offered in the same package (The only exception was the 2-8-0 steamer). Also, SHS had a "Kadee clone" scale coupler in their product line.

SHS's products were high quality,. Let's hope that MTH keeps the tradition alive.

Robyn

[Carolina Road]

Rich,

A "helper" is a locomotive or a group of locomotives that help push a heavy train over a steep grade. Therefore "helper service" is common railroad jargon in mountainous or operating areas that had steep grades.  S Helper Service mission was to "push" S gauge/scale forward in offering new products that are on par or better than what is offered in other scales.

The Sandra Kan fiasco had really hurt them and with the owners of the company nearing retirement, it was time to sell. I wish them the very best.

Robyn

[richhotrain]

Carolina Road

Rich,

A "helper" is a locomotive or a group of locomotives that help push a heavy train over a steep grade. Therefore "helper service" is common railroad jargon in mountainous or operating areas that had steep grades.  S Helper Service mission was to "push" S gauge/scale forward in offering new products that are on par or better than what is offered in other scales.

The Sandra Kan fiasco had really hurt them and with the owners of the company nearing retirement, it was time to sell. I wish them the very best.

Robyn

Robyn,

Thanks for that explanation.  I appreciate it.

Rich

[11th Street]

Further diversification, further diversion of attention from the product lines that established the company. Any undergraduate Business School student can recite a litany of fallen firms that went down that path.  

[LittleTommy]

Seayakbill

I just saw a SW type switcher with the knuckle coupler. I am guessing that this is the industry standard coupler for the modern S Gauge. The coupler looked gigantic compared to the small SW type switcher. MTH needs to go with scale couplers right out of the starting blocks.

Well, Bill, about 90% of the sales of S are to folks that have large flanged locomotives and cars and large American Flyer Compatable couplers.   If MTH goes with scale couplers right out of the starting blocks, they will lose 90% of their potential buyers.  S is not a big enough market to make that kind of move.   It is far easier to make locomotives and cars that can be back converted the other way.  Offering scale wheel sets and making the car or loco with a  mounting pad that allows the modeler a way to install scale couplers are a quick and easy fix.  

If MTH can put the sound and sound packages that they put in their HO gauge engines into an S gauge product, they will sell a lot of product.  It will be especially nice if they can make modestly sized locomotives with those features as they will fit better on the small layouts that most of us have.

 Lionel, instead, tries to "smush"  their O gauge sound, smoke and control packages into S by making huge articulated engines, and locos with unattached pilots, or relies on a seuthe type smoke generator that burns out easily in their Mikados and Pacifics.   A modest sized layout can only run so many articulated locos.  One can sell a lot more $300-$500 locomotives in the current economic climate than they can sell $1000.00 Locomotives. 

Little Tommy

 

 

[Andrew Falconer]

The S-Helper Service The Showcase line items are excellent. Great to see their production will be continuing.

Andrew Falconer

[Andrew Falconer]

11th Street

Further diversification, further diversion of attention from the product lines that established the company. Any undergraduate Business School student can recite a litany of fallen firms that went down that path.  

The problem with diversification by other companies is that they did not retain any of the previous employees or hire new employees who were familiar with the company. This is not a huge leap of product line for MTH, what they need though are more employees in Columbia, MD and in China to do the work on all the product lines. If they are understaffed, then the company will suffer.

A merger is pointless if there are no employees available to do the work.

Andrew Falconer

[arkady]

LittleTommy

 

Seayakbill:

 

I just saw a SW type switcher with the knuckle coupler. I am guessing that this is the industry standard coupler for the modern S Gauge. The coupler looked gigantic compared to the small SW type switcher. MTH needs to go with scale couplers right out of the starting blocks.

 

 

 

Well, Bill, about 90% of the sales of S are to folks that have large flanged locomotives and cars and large American Flyer Compatable couplers.   If MTH goes with scale couplers right out of the starting blocks, they will lose 90% of their potential buyers.  S is not a big enough market to make that kind of move.   It is far easier to make locomotives and cars that can be back converted the other way.  Offering scale wheel sets and making the car or loco with a  mounting pad that allows the modeler a way to install scale couplers are a quick and easy fix. 

I'd go the other way with that.  I've never had any real problem with AF wide flanges, but the coupler size always turned me off.  Going with deep flanges but allowing the easy installation of closer-to-scale couplers would be great.

 

 

[stebbycentral]

arkady

LittleTommy:

 

Seayakbill:

 

I just saw a SW type switcher with the knuckle coupler. I am guessing that this is the industry standard coupler for the modern S Gauge. The coupler looked gigantic compared to the small SW type switcher. MTH needs to go with scale couplers right out of the starting blocks.

 

 

 

Well, Bill, about 90% of the sales of S are to folks that have large flanged locomotives and cars and large American Flyer Compatable couplers.   If MTH goes with scale couplers right out of the starting blocks, they will lose 90% of their potential buyers.  S is not a big enough market to make that kind of move.   It is far easier to make locomotives and cars that can be back converted the other way.  Offering scale wheel sets and making the car or loco with a  mounting pad that allows the modeler a way to install scale couplers are a quick and easy fix. 

I'd go the other way with that.  I've never had any real problem with AF wide flanges, but the coupler size always turned me off.  Going with deep flanges but allowing the easy installation of closer-to-scale couplers would be great.

 

You know, moving to S from N-scale, I really never noticed the difference.  In N-scale every coupler is oversized, de facto.  In fact the first time I saw a "scale" S-scale coupler I was convinced someone had thrown in an HO coupler by mistake. 

[lionelsoni]

The knuckle heights for O, S, HO, and N scale couplers are .229, .172, .126, and .069 inches, respectively.

[Boyd]

Are they going to change the name? I always thought the name was odd,, as in the "Helper" part of the name. I'm sure they have great products but now and then I see business names or advertisements that make me scratch my head in wonderment as to what is attractive about it. I don't mean to offend anyone. Just my 2 cents. Good luck to MTH as I think its good to have multiple players in the field of hi-rail trains.

[Andrew Falconer]

MTH needs to have as the first new S Scale rolling stock additions to the line the PS-1 40' Box Cars and the PS-1 50' Box Cars with all the various door configurations ever used.

Andrew Falconer

[Andrew Falconer]

If they use only the name :"The S Scale Showcase Line", they will have a fine name for the products offered.

Andrew

[Boyd]

If you measured the gauge of S scale track in O scale, how many scale feet and inches does it come out to? I wouldn't mind seeing some company make hi-rail narrow gauge in O scale. I think it would be interesting.

[stebbycentral]

I'll leave the fine calculations to someone who's brain works on Monday morning, but On30 track is  5/8" actual inches between railheads, and On36 is 3/4".  S scale track is 7/8" between railheads, which would scale up to On40".  That is not a real guage that I am aware of, at least not in North America. 

Still only the purists object to the current practice of running 3ft guage equipment on On30 track.  So it all depends upon how fussy you are about that extra 1/8th of an inch.  This would probably be a project that you could do quite easily by using a Flyer model 21088 or 21089 American-class locomotive.  They were oversized for S-scale anyway.  You could use O-scale narrow guage equipment on S-scale trucks.