ScaleTrains.com Acquires M.T.H. HO & S Scale Tooling

[SkipGear]

As mentioned above, MTH's S-scale is S-Helper Service tooling that they just purchased a few years back. If MTH did nothing bit re-run the original S-Helper stuff, it should be very nice, if they tried to put their "toy train" spin on it, I hope Scale Trains can get back to what it used to be.

We used to deal with it a bit for the Cincinnati Museum Center that used S-helper equipment for their Cincinnati in Motion transportation display. The loco's 'were' very nice. Haven't dealt with them since MTH acquired the tooling.

[cv_acr]

For that matter, and excuse my ignorance, where did MTH's HO stuff fit in the marketplace, be it quality, scale fidelity, variety, price or market presence?

Meh.

[learmoia]

I'm still trying to figure out how this means the end of N scale when.. in the midst of all of this..

N scale is getting Turbines, fuel tenders, an Automax... More Carbon Black cars, more ET44s, More Dash 9s.

Yep.. N scale is dead...

[C855B]

Lordy... who said "N scale is dead" for ST? Not I. Short version: I said taking on an S product line was likely to be a distraction, and would compete for resources, to N's detriment. It's a small, mostly HO-centric company, and they are spread thin as it is; it's my assessment that the development and support "pie" for secondary lines is finite.

I hope to be proven wrong on this and ST will march on unabated in their support of N. I have money on the table in the two Turbines I have committed to, and am hoping beyond hope that the "standard" Turbine project is a foundation to be extended to include U50s. Taking it one step further, if we want to talk about one-railroad orphans, maybe C855s, too? In my lifetime?

[learmoia]

I will say.... in recent years, I'm amazed with the models that are being released in both HO and N...

Models that I would never imagine outside brass..
.. and these models are now (just as..if not more) detailed than the brass models.



Maybe I'm wrong, but in my mind, the brass market is dead (at least in HO...) with the exception of extremely unique locomotives.

[CSXBaltimore]

Lordy... who said "N scale is dead" for ST? Not I. Short version: I said taking on an S product line was likely to be a distraction, and would compete for resources, to N's detriment. It's a small, mostly HO-centric company, and they are spread thin as it is; it's my assessment that the development and support "pie" for secondary lines is finite.

I hope to be proven wrong on this and ST will march on unabated in their support of N. I have money on the table in the two Turbines I have committed to, and am hoping beyond hope that the "standard" Turbine project is a foundation to be extended to include U50s. Taking it one step further, if we want to talk about one-railroad orphans, maybe C855s, too? In my lifetime?

I dont think its dead, but it is of note that their HO releases, prior to the acquisition, are along the lines of 4+ to 1 against N scale.  If you download their 2020 digital catalog from their site, its 26 pages of products, the first 24 are for HO scale, and the last 2 are for N.  I know that I love their stuff, but I dont get the sense that the N scale market place is one that they are overly committed to. That's not a criticism per se, they have to do what is right for them from a business perspective. However, it seems a natural consideration that with the large increase in HO models that they are now bringing in through the acquisition, and with the addition of the new S scale,  the N scale lines would now be getting a smaller relative portion of the company's portfolio and resources unless they staff up proportionally. This would seem to be especially true as the company would be naturally expecting to find a way to get a return on the investment of their purchase, especially if it was a leveraged buy.

All that to say that I hope that I am wrong.  I love scale trains, so the opportunity to get more of their stuff makes me giddy. I do hope the best for them though. Its a tough business climate, thats for sure.

J

[cv_acr]

I dont think its dead, but it is of note that their HO releases, prior to the acquisition, are along the lines of 4+ to 1 against N scale.

Isn't that essentially what the market as a whole is?

Not sure if anyone has any references to "scale polls" conducted by the magazines; google isn't coming up with an easy answer.

[Englewood]

I heard the model railroad manufacturers got together in a secret meeting in Davos Switzerland and decided to kill off N scale. The Model Police will come to your house in the middle of the night and arrest those unlawfully holding on to N scale. Sheesh.

[migalyto]

I heard the model railroad manufacturers got together in a secret meeting in Davos Switzerland and decided to kill off N scale. The Model Police will come to your house in the middle of the night and arrest those unlawfully holding on to N scale. Sheesh.

And Walthers Bankrolled it!

[ednadolski]

I heard the model railroad manufacturers got together in a secret meeting in Davos Switzerland and decided to kill off N scale. The Model Police will come to your house in the middle of the night and arrest those unlawfully holding on to N scale. Sheesh.

Except if you use 100% Rapido couplers for switching ops, in which case you've suffered enough.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

They must be doing something right to have the capitol to purchase the HO and S lines from MTH..

Or they just cashed in thier Gamestop Holdings

💎🙌

[pjm20]

MTH's line is a mix. Some of their stuff, like Pennsy H9½s (a steam loco that was part H9s and part H10s) was just god awful, with no real prototype, a remote controlled coupler that couldn't easily be replaced with a Kadee, and a drawbar that was so difficult to couple the authorized repair store I took it to broke the engine more just trying to connect the tender.

I'm hoping for an updated H9 with a 70F70 tender.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Shane over at ST is a hard core supporter of N scale. He was one of the guys responsible for growing Athearn's N scale line. I have no doubt that ST will continue to push what is possible in N scale.

I'm not very familiar with MTH but I'm guessing the SD70ACe and GP38 will find their way into the Operator line.

Too bad the MTH website is down, I remember they had a pretty nice PDF catalog.

[learmoia]

It is?

https://www.mthtrains.com/catalogs-new/6395

[learmoia]

To save everyone the hassle.. Here is the list.. somewhat in catalog order oldest to newest.
Steam:
4-8-4 SP/WP GS-4 and GS-6
2-8-8-8-2 Triplex
4-6-2 PRR K4
4-8-2 NYC L-3 and L-4 Mohawks
2-8-2 URSA Light Mikado
4-12-2 UP 9000 Class
4-8-4 N&W Class J
4-6-6-4 Challenger (UP, DRGW, Clinchfield)
4-6-4 NYC ESE Hudson
4-6-4 NYC Dreyfuss Hudson
2-8-4 NKP/PM Berkshire
4-8-8-2 Cab Forward (AC-6 / AC-8)
4-8-8-4 Big Boy
Bavarian S 3/6 Express ?
2-8-0 PRR H10(ish?)
2-6-6-6 C&O Allegheny
2-8-8-4 DMIR Yellowstone

Diesel / Electric
SD70ACe
Veranda Turbine
Alco PA/PB
ES44AC (Duplicate ST Operator model)
Little Joe Electric
4500hp Turbine
F-7A/B
Alco FA/FB-1
MILW Bi-Polar
GG-1
GP-35
SD70M-2
F3A (trainset)
Dash 9-44CW (Duplicate ST Operator model)
F-3A/B
GP38-2

Freight:
60' Flat Car
Aquarium Car
USRA 55-Ton Steel Twin Hopper
R40-2 Wood Reefer
70-Ton Quad Hopper
70-Ton Mill Gon
40' PS-1 Box Car
40' Steel Reefer
70-Ton Ore Car

Passenger:
SP Daylight Passenger cars.
NW Powhatan Arrow
ESE Passenger Train
20th Century LImited Passenger Train
Heavyweight Passenger Car set (Generic)
Smooth Side Lightweight Passenger Set (Generic)
Rib Side Lightweight Passenger Set (Generic)
R-17 Subway