CNJ831When the new N&W J is taken together with the other huge steam-era models introduced in the past year or two, it appears the hobby is moving toward becoming little more than a group of folks who collect plastic brass.
Figures, doesn't it? The aesthetics collector will dictate what gets made/sold and the rest basically learn to scratchbuild.
AAACCH!! Maybe it be better that way. I'm just trying to picture MTH doing a 2-8-0. Can't see it happening
Any argument carried far enough will end up in Semantics--Hartz's law of rhetoric Emerald. Leemer and Southern The route of the Sceptre Express Barry
I just started my blog site...more stuff to come...
http://modeltrainswithmusic.blogspot.ca/
Yes, i agree the lighting is impressive and even the UP 9000 has neat lighting on the tender. MTH is making some nice quality engines for those who enjoy the features and have DCC or DCS.
I have the MTH Mohawk, it is as true to actual as I have seen, very high quality, and a great runner on DCC or DCS. I am running only DCC/DCS, so DC mode is not an issue for me. It would seem to me that MTH has made a marketing decision to design their HO line for DCC/DCS.
Now when batteries become so efficient and sized for HO locomotives, then we will no longer have to concern ourselves over DC/DCC/DCS. And that is not as far off as some think it is. Major advances are being made in battery technology with newer materials and techniques, that will make small batteries very powerful and last much longer between charging as well as requiring very short recharge cycles.
The MTH engines that have really caught my eye are the Erie Triplex and the Mikado, absolutely amazing sound, class lights, and even though smoke is not my thing, I have to hand it to MTH they really have made some advances in this particular arena. In many ways I feel that MTH has actually surged ahead as one of the leading companies that produces ultra realistic models in HO scale. They seem to have blended the best attributes of both scales, they have successfully transferred the immaculate detail of the premier O gauge engines (along with the nice heft and weight) to a smaller size for the model railroader who has limited space.
And putting engines aside, just look at their excellent selection of rolling stock that is being released. Who else is producing the Powhatan arrow? In my opinion, excluding a few electronic issues like DCS, this company just keeps making one right decision after another.
And for those guys that want some smaller engines, I completely understand, and I don't think there is any reason to worry, I would wager its only a matter of time before MTH releases the best HO 2-8-0 Consolidation of all time. So keep your heads up , this company has a history of having the most diverse engine rosters in O gauge from the smallest to largest. Why would it be any different for their HO line?
I just found this new video of the class j. Its an amazing loco by mth. Look at those class lights!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeZ9Py-4duE
Honestly, I'm more impressed by the DCC pantograph and the opening and closing doors, complete with conductor's whistle, on that Roco model. ANd I have zero interest in European prototypes, and limited interest in electric locomotives and passenger trains. But that's just neat how the doors work!
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
grayfox1119 I have the MTH Mohawk, it is as true to actual as I have seen, very high quality, and a great runner on DCC or DCS. I am running only DCC/DCS, so DC mode is not an issue for me. It would seem to me that MTH has made a marketing decision to design their HO line for DCC/DCS. Now when batteries become so efficient and sized for HO locomotives, then we will no longer have to concern ourselves over DC/DCC/DCS. And that is not as far off as some think it is. Major advances are being made in battery technology with newer materials and techniques, that will make small batteries very powerful and last much longer between charging as well as requiring very short recharge cycles.
Yes I would say MTH has made a marketing decision, only time will tell if it was a smart one. I am a member in a local round robin modeling group of about 25 guys. Some have large layouts, some small, some are old, some much younger, some use DCC, some use DC, some are into sound, some not so much, some collect stuff, others have a more focused modeling style, some spend a lot, some a little, some follow their prototype closely, some freelance or are "casual" to a prototype. BUT in those 25 guys there is not ONE MTH locomotive.
Yet among us there are hundreds (if not thousands, I have over 100) of Atlas, Bachmann, Broadway/PCM, Athearn, Intermountain, Bowser/Stewart, etc,etc, locomotives.
As for battery power, bring it on. I still use DC, using Aristo Craft Train Engineer throttles. One reason was to avoid decoder installation in over 100 locomotives. Workable radio controlled battery power would be the advancement that would get me to install "equipment" in my locos. Eliminating track power or signal pickup problems would be the ultimate advancement in model trains. A system already popular in large scale.
But unless MTH builds something that works on my layout, as it is powered now (within NMRA Standards and accepted practice for decades) my money will go elsewhere.
Sheldon
Just to be scrupulous about sampling and biases in sampling, I'll play devil's advocate for just one post...and that will be it.
Sheldon, if you had gone to, or even worked at, a Ford dealership, you would expect to be able to say, later to a friend, that not one person in the 30 customers on the lot when you polled was interested in a Volkswagen. And it should surprise no one paying attention.
At your club, it would be possible that one MTH user was a regular, and that the others accommodated him in one or more ways so that he felt welcome and could avail himself of the benefits offered by the membership and its facilities. But it would be highly unlikely because clubs don't tend to work that way. Any aggregation of people, any group, is likely to tend to develop a homogeneity over time. It is natural.
You could just as well state that you belong to a club where everyone uses DCS exclusively, except there is one die-hard DCC user in the bunch. We can't draw much in the way of useful information from either of those claims, except that in those aggregations one control system rules supreme. Going on to "generalize" to the greater population of HO model train enthusiasts is a stretch. You would have to sample 40-60 more clubs across the country in order to establish whether one system was really in niche status. Even then, it would only be at clubs, and would not allow valid inferences to be drawn about the much larger population of 'lone wolves' out there.
Just for the record, though, I do find it very hard to believe that MTH has more than perhaps 1-2% of the market.
-Crandell
Crandell,
I understand and agree, it is not a scientific sample by any means. It is however not a club. While it does have some homogeneity as ANY group with a common interest will, it has no group layout, written group goals or rules, no dues, etc. Some have been in the group a LONG time, some relatively short. This does make it at least a little more of a "cross-section" of at least the HO modelers in this area.
Also, for whatever it is worth in additional data, we have a local hobby shop, that is mainly an O and large scale store. Some HO, but a good place to special order from. He sells lots of MTH O/large scale. He has sold ONE MTH HO loco, to a beginner in the hobby, who was very unhappy with it. So, If the goal of MTH is to create a NEW market, based on the type of customers they have in larger scales, I'm not sure that is going well either.
I could be wrong, what do I know, I'm just a hick with a pickup, a gun and a few trains.