Model Train Journal

Hello Train world

Interesting factory tour in China by Mike Wolf of MTH .... rare video showing all the steps , people, tooling , parts and parts to build a toy train .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYNl1D1hdMo

Cheers Carey

Isn't Mr. Wolfe the savior of model trains?
That is what the announcer seemed to be saying at the start of the video.

Good eye Roger,
Indeed MTH is the source of all things good in 1:48. Watching the video I can only regret not buying more things in yellow boxes (or blue, or red)
Furthermore I realize now my collection is bad. I must atone. I will express regret by disposing of all models I own not originating in the PRC.
more to follow.........

I watched about 5 minutes of the video, and now I'm absolutely amazed that train engines come out of boxes looking as good as they do, when you consider the filth in the factory. Ya think about all those thousands of castings; the polishing and painting, etc. Keeriste! If they had to be made here, $2500 wouldn't by a die cast engine.

De Bruin wrote:Indeed MTH is the source of all things good in 1:48.

Yup. Midwestern Train Hobby is a good source,

At 00:00:17 the announcer states that Mr. Wolfe is "...the pioneer of the [model train] industry."

I guess Messers Bachmann, Williams, Carette, Walthers, Athearn, Ives, Cowen, Gilbert, Bing, Marklin, Fleischmann, et al, were just Johnie-come-latelies.

I smell lawsuit!

Like the products or not MTH has become the biggest player in the 3 rail market and yes these factory tours indicate how labor intensive the mfg process can be, a good comparison can be had by viewing the video on Scale Model Trains and their new state of the art factory, relatively new HO products offered in both "operator" and "rivet counter series. Sorry I do not have the link but its on you tube I believe.

hibar wrote:Like the products or not MTH has become the biggest player in the 3 rail market .

On what do you base this statement?

My dealer [for Atlas 2 rail orders] has a large MTH inventory and tells me in more recent times Mike puts out more product than Lionel and today these are the two major players in 3 rail + other gauges, he visits the warehouse regularly and is a big dealer for both MFGs.

I don't own a single MTH item. If I had ever seen anything of particular interest I might have been a buyer...bottom line, all that manufacturing effort is clearly pointed at a different market segment than the one I occupy.

Robert

BH

rogruth wrote:Isn't Mr. Wolfe the savior of model trains?
That is what the announcer seemed to be saying at the start of the video.

I'm sure Mike would like to think so. But, Lionel was getting pretty laid back during that period and to be competitive Lionel had to get engaged again. MTH woke up the 3R side of the industry, which in turn added more scale dimension cars to the pool, which were easily convertible to 2 rail. Lionel followed a few years later with the PS-1, PS-4 and PS-5.

The only MTH I ever bought is one of their scale UP cabooses. Made a very easy conversion to 2R by installing NWSL wheel sets in the stock sprung trucks and I was still able to retains power pick up for any lighting I might want to add. I'm sure I could find some 2R trucks to install if I ever get the desire. I bought it back when USH CA-4 were still bringing $100-150+ each, so $50 sounded like a good deal. Now that USH and MG CA-4's are bringing dirtball prices it's a toss up.

BH

Robert wrote:I don't own a single MTH item. If I had ever seen anything of particular interest I might have been a buyer...bottom line, all that manufacturing effort is clearly pointed at a different market segment than the one I occupy. Robert

My sentiments exactly. I really prefer to support the 2 rail segment of the hobby, so I spend my $$$$ there.

As for the Box color loyalty thing, I never could quite understand how people could become so polarized over such silly *ss stuff. I've always made my purchases based on what is inside the box.

I understand that about scale size but ween't Mr. Williams and Mr. Kline pushing the same way?
For me scale size is often too large. Although there were other problems I liked the pre war AF 3/16th size.
Not too big and seemed to be better proportioned than Lionel. Yeah, I should have gone with S scale.
Today the catalogs seem to be mostly scale size O.
I know that neither Lionel or MTH publish any sales figures but it would be nice to see. Even better would a
breakdown of what was sold. Various scales andtype within that. Accessories. Track. Control systems.
I feel sure the various companies have those figures,otherwise some stuff wouldn't be made.
I buy what I want.

I've got engines from MTH, Lionel, Atlas, Weaver, Williams, and Bachmann. I've never had any issues with any of them.

Some have better detail than others, but they all run like they're suppose to.

I suspect there's some that just don't like Mr. Wolfe for whatever reason. Personally I don't know the man or all the history behind the hatred (and don't care). As long as his company produces something I want I'm good with it.

My focus right now is Willams brass from last century, but if I can find a MTH Russian Decapod cheap I may pick one up to fill out my Seaboard roster.