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MTH Electric Trains HO scale Electro-Motive Division SD70ACe diesel locomotive
I HAVE TO SAY THAT ALTHOUGH I RUN DCC, MY MTH SD70ACEs ARE MY FAVORITE RUNNING MODELS WITH MY BROADWAY LIMITEDS COMMING IN A CLOSE SECOND WITH THE PARAGON 2 SOUND. MODEL RAILROADING HAS BECOME A LOT MORE FUN FOR ME WITH ALL THE NEW TECHNOLOGY.
I bought two of these in the DCC-ready version. One works perfectly and is a fantastic engine, but the other has a short in the wiring and has fried two decoders before I figured it out. I have sent it off under warranty to be repaired. Hopefully it’ll come back fixed and work great like the other one. The jury is still out…
I bought two more SD70ACe, in Union Pacific colors, since my first two worked great. One was superb, the other had a short in it and I had to send off for warranty work. So out of 6 total purchase one was non mission capable out of the box. MTH needs to get some quality control
Our club president 2 of them, BNSF. One the fuel tank was gray (UP?) and the other ran south while its mate ran north. I agree with David, MTH needs to work on their quality control. BTW they were shipped back to MTH and they still run in opposite direction Phil
Update–
I put a Tsunami Soundtraxx TSU-1000 #827115 in this locomotive. The decoder itself will not fit in this locomotive without heavily modifying/rebuilding the shell. I did that and rebuilt it with a carefully cut/painted replacement piece. The two speakers were easy to install. The hard part was finding a place to stow the decoder itself. I tried milling above where the light board sits, but there is just not enough room.
It now looks and runs great, but I am still disappointed in the amount of work I had to do to put this decoder that is specifically designed for it into this locomotive.
I am on my second return to MTH, seems they have some bad motors, according to the repair comments under warranty the motor had a short in it. The repaired unit works fine as it should. Less than a week after it was back another MTH SD70ACE developed the same symptoms. In contrasts my 5 Athearn Genisus SD70ACe have had absolutely no problems and if truth be known seem to have a better electrical pickup system. MTH has some quality control issues or a lot of bad five pole electrical motors
I have three mth ace’s all thee had bad motors but they sent me new motors under warranty but their customer service is awesome very fast and extremely nice and helpful with the new motors they are my favorite locos very smooth and quiet and can pull almost as much as a proto 2000
MTH sd70ace - I have brought six of them and can not fault them. They all run like a dream.
I have one MTH SD70ace Union Pacific. When i got it all sounds worked but the engine aound itself. No start up or shut down sequence. But all other sounds worked fine. sent it back to MTH under warranty and it turned out to be a bad PC board. Took a little long to get it back. Around 3 months but they where very nice and very helpful. Engine works fine now. The electrical pickup is a little shakey.
One of the detail differences on the MTH model that I do NOT like is the front handrails. The outer 2 stanchions go into the ditch light housings, which is not prototypical. Ohter than that they appear to be nice looking models, though I do not own one, and after reading about all these issues people are having with them, might stick to Athearn.
Update: The “fixed” engine broke again and has been sent off for repair under warranty again. I assume its the same issue as before, the motor shorting out. Hopefully itll be fixed this time as when it returns the warranty will be expired; if it breaks again, Ill have a $140 paperweight.
Ive had this engine back from warranty repair for about 2 months now. MTH replaced the engine again and has since been running flawlessly. MTH did lose a handrail stanchion during the repair and have not been able to get in touch with them via email or phone or ordering system to get a replacement.
I may add a LokSound decoder with the ACe sounds as long as it continues to operate correctly. I feel theyve corrected the problem.
Its a nice engine, no doubt. I just originally received a lemon. I am glad MTH was able to fix it to my satisfaction. It looks great, runs smooth as glass, and would probably pull every car in my collection by itself as it has outstanding pulling power.
Update on MTH Ace, as you can tell from the reviews, MTH has some motor problems, out of the 6 I purchased I had to send 4 back to MTH. By comparrison of my 10 Genesis Aces/M2s only one had to be shipped back to manufacturer. I also am started to believe that the MTH electric pickup system is not as good as the Athearn. In MTH’s defense once they fixed the returns I have had about a year of no problems, knock on wood.
I have 3 of these locomotives and they are great. I would have to say that the Athrean is slightly better on detail and sound but they are both great locomotives. With the new batch of MTH HO Union Pacific locomotives being in the wrong mold, I have decided to by the remaining two heritage locos from Athrean. I am an accurate modeler and UP never had Heritage SD70ACe comfort cabs. I had some problems with the wiring in the MTH’s but again they are very good locomotives.
It’s good to hear some people are having good luck w/MTH. I have 9 SD70ACe’s and to say the least I do like them. But when I had a derailment with a consist, my two favorite BNSF units hit the concrete from a height of 43"! Totally my fault. It took nearly 6 months to get them back and one shell was still fractured. I’ll live with it. Indeed, they are nice units.