I bought my first MTH engine yesterday. It’s a Conrail SD Railking. I was told its conventioanal and has Proto 2 sound. I heard problems with Proto 1 and he told me that I did’nt to worry about it cause this engine dosen’t need a battery. He said when I start it up just to wait for the air release sound before I move it to keep the sound insinc. It runs nice and sounds good. I’m just used to Lionel products so is there anything I need to know about MTH products before I buy anymore.
Good luck and enjoy your engine. I have 7 MTHs and all work good no problems.
laz57
Congrats on your purchase. All Proto 2’s come with a battery. The early versions have a 9v and the later a 3v. I can’t comment on conventional running but in a command DCS environment a battery is essential. It needs a good charge present to remember it’s ID from one session to the next. A common problem when an engine can’t be found with the DCS remote even if it’s on your list. But is readded easily and runs fun till it sits overnight again.
I’m not a conventional runner and your dealer may be correct. There is no danger of scrambling a chip in the Proto 2’s that was a known problem of the Proto 1’s when the battery died.
A good test for the battery whether running conventionally or command. Is to place the engine on a toggled siding or power down the layout. The engine should go through a shutdown sequence powered only by the battery only for at least 5 seconds.
My first and only MTH so far is the Buckeye express set.
No problems so far and the steamer realy puts out the smoke[tup]
You will enjoy it, I have “several” PS 2’s downstairs and they never let me down.
Any pic’s?
I have the Buckeye set as well, and I do not wait for any steam release before I get it moving forward. I run in conventional mode only right now. It will blow smoke rings too!
Wes
I noticed the rings as well fitting for an O-H-I-O train. All I need is a Brutus figure to put on the caboose, found one but would have to buy a nine dollar mug and remove the figure from the recessed area in the mug[|(] they where at Schottensteins but even there it was too pricey maybe someone will make some. Do you have the billboard and water tower? I missed out on the billboard and water tower. We need a box,a flat and a hopper to round out the Bukeye Express.
I have the tower and billboard. There is a national championship boxcar out there that was released some 4 years ago that I can’t find. I do have the newest boxcar, caboose, and tanker car on order from a local dealer. They have pushed back the release date until December. They are a gift for my son for Christmas, so I hope they come in! Come on MTH!
I think Robbies Hobbies has the water tower in stock, but I’m not positive. John and Betty’s in Galena does too.
Wes
I have nothing but MTH locomotives, love them. They are great! Have fun!
Wayray [C):-)]
I’m not much of a MTH guy simply because they anymore make so scant little for an operator like me. But I have to give Mike Wolf credit: his company is THE ONLY company that has ever made modern diesels in a 14 inch length, more traditional size. The now Rugged Rails SD90MAC is in my estimation, the very best shrunk down of all the smaller prior Railking modern locos.
I only wish that MTH would make these locos in a horn only version, no other electronics. I could even live with other compromises like plastic truck sides if it would help keep the price down. MTH had a bunch cataloged under the Rugged Rails banner, but then cancelled them - probably due to lack of pre-orders.
I believe there IS a market for a modern looking loco at a reasonable price. Other companies are seeing that market potential. But MTH already has the tooling done for the SD45 and the SD90MAC. I wish they would take a chance on them. People that like these sorts of products don’t tend to preorder.
I have had an MTH GG1 (the basic one with horn) for some time and it’s very “rugged” and a strong puller.
I recently purchased an MTH VO-1000 (Western Maryland) with PS2. That engine rocks. Very smooth and a great sound system. MTH really does build good stuff.
the osu set was myh first mth and i am happy with it. can’t see the rational of buying a lionel tmcc steam engine with a puffing unit for about the same $$$.
i noticed my wife purchased something from glenns train shop in akron that cost about the price of the osu water tower they keep in stock. pretty sure it will be under the tree this year.
I have a RailKing Genesis with Proto-Sound 1 and a BNSF switcher with ProtoSound 2, and I am pleased with them both. Just so you know, the scrambled chip is an issue with the PS1 locomotives (it did happen to my engine), but once you get it fixed, they are pretty nice engines (you can usually get them really cheap nowadays). The switcher I have works great as well; very clear sounds with neat extra features and a directional headlight. So far I haven’t got a new mainline locomotive, but I’m thinking on a GP60M when they come out next July. One thing’s for sure: MTH will always come out with something that you want, sometimes exactly what you want. You can’t go wrong! Hope you enjoy your new engine.
From the MTH Locos that I have, the instruction manuals state that all ProtoSounds 2 units have the Digital Command System built in, but you do can operate in conventional mode just fine. You can run them in Conventional Mode much easier than the PS1 units.
Andrew
If you have a modern engine with more sounds than just a bell and whistle you should have one of two engines types.
First (NOT PS2 but with electronic sounds) is a conventional only locomotive with electronic sounds. This may be just a bell and whistle or more. Not many of these are made because the PS2 sets are not that much more expensive. This set probably would not have a battery. This unit must always be operated in “conventional variable voltage” mode. DCS command control can be present on the rail line but will not control this locomotive directly (it must vary the voltage to operate conventional operations). These sets are usually about $75 less than PS2.0 sets but are still a good value for the minimum price.
The second modern MTH set is a PS2.O (or protosound 2.0). Usually they will clearly state Protosound 2.0 clearly on the set. Protosound 2.0 engines will run very will in conventional mode (variable voltage) with most but not all transformers (Lionel CW-80 may blow whistle always at high power levels). You access the various sounds and actions in conventional mode by pressing a series of bell/whistle combinations (kind of like morse code) to activate different sounds and features. This set definately has a battery. Sometimes after storage for a while you might need to charge the battery for about 45 minutes by putting on track at high power. ONly then will the engine forward and reverse well.
If you have a PS2.0 set you can unlock even more features (and make all features easier to activate) by adding a DCS controller/remote ($250). Then you will run in command mode (constant voltage). DCS also controls conventional locomotives but the starting voltage is a bit high at 5V which can make some conventional engines do jack rabbit starts.
Protosound 2.0 sets (even without the DCS) are usally an excellent value (although slightly higher starting price)