If you don’t see anything special look closely, It’s a DCC READY version of the MTH SD70ACe. Instead of having a MTH sound system standard, they equipped the unit to run on DC with an NMRA 8-Pin plug for DCC users to add their own decoder. I thought this was interesting because a major complaint against MTH is that they only offer their loco’s with their sound system. Now they just have to do the same to their steam loco’s…
maybe they figured out that “one size fits all” doesn’t work[:D],
That’s a positive development. I wonder if their DCS models continue to sell well in HO, considering high quality of their motor control and sounds in DCC mode.
Interesting but I wonder what that means. It shouldn’t be for a sound decoder since they usually take more than the 8 pins. I wonder if they’re going with a dual decoder option like BLI.
No this was a minor complaint, The major complaint is that they sue everyone for blinking wrong. Held DCC development in check for over three years claiming patents on things which were in common use for years. How will they ever “make up” for that? What about Lionel? What about other companies we don’t know of that went under or were crippled directly or indirectly for years because of the legal manuring [sic]. Just say “no” to buying MTH.
Hey, they lost me when the boiler overhang on their ‘non-articulated’ 4-12-2 going around a corner was worse than the boiler overhang on my Akane Yellowstone articulated 2-8-8-4’s on a 34" radius. I mean, Geez, at least blank some DRIVERS if you want to produce a non-articulated wheelbase that long for 24" minimum, guys! [%-)]
They probably heard the requests for DC without the standard DCS installed, if they read their emails.
This should help their overall sales and the price is lower now without the installed sound. This way, the sound can be installed if it is wanted and the price is affordable.
They haven’t listened to all of us. Instead of doing a steam locomotive a good number of us want (the Southern PS-4) they elected to do a Berkshire which I think P2K for the high end and Bachmann for us po folks covered the market. I can’t see much room for improvement over the P2K Berk and the MTH is going for a healthy $450
Well the real test will be to see what speed this thing runs at 12-13 volts. If goes prototype top speed, than maybe Mike has come to his senses or his bank account is hurting from not selling many HO locos with DCS.
One local dealer here says MTH is calling up dealers offering lower prices on HO stuff to get dealers to take some of it. This dealer has only sold one and the customer was not happy.
Seems to me that myself and others predicted failure for MTH and HO with DCS.
Even though I like to have the option of putting a decoder of my choosing in my engines I still wont buy a MTH loco, Athearn will have a superior product and the dcc board change is to compete with the athearns dc offerings of the sd70ace.
You are right about their choices of model locomotive, but at least someone could purchase that diesel without buying the DCS and DCC option combined. It seems everyone so far has made the Berkshire except Athearn, Atlas and Kato, but the Berkshire has been available from Rivarossi, P2K, Bachmann, Walthers which is P2K now and finally MTH. It has come full circle and the detail on the P2K puts all of the rest to shame.
It would be nice if some company actually made some of the models we keep asking for. We have asked for the NP Z8, the DM&IR M3 and the B&O EM1, but do they hear??? Sunset is bringing in the NP and SP&S Z6 soon in lower detail brass, but no die cast metal or plastic models are out there. I believe that a good large Challenger would sell very well. The D&RGW L105 model would be a good one also.
To give MTH little credit, they are making the little Joe and the previous Lionel Veranda Turbine. I have one of those Lionel models and they need some serious upgrades to the handriails and details. Looking at the pictures on the MTH web site, they did not upgrade this model. I also noticed they are releasing the PA series from the tooling they got via the lawsuit against the Korean builder.
I am sure about only one thing, they have listened nothing about us.
As say in a answer in this post, I beleive is just a commercial deal.
Don’t forget they try to use another standard far from the NMRA DCC ones.( Based on a Lenz/NMRA standard).
DCC whith some minor problems is a upgrading system, which will again comes whith future features, but the only full standard one since WWII.
We all need to preserve this standard.
I beleive nobody can imagine the trouble it will be if we lost this kind of standard for running our trains in any scale and in final the impact for the price of our models.
Ah the B&O EM1, beautiful engine, would love to see one by Broadway.
I also agree with Atlantic Central/Sheldon that Broadway Limited should make stealth versions of these beautiful locos, in my opinion, sound doesn’t translate that well into HO, so I couldn’t agree more with Sheldon in that area.
Broadway’s locos are exquisitely detailed, and they could sell a whole lot more if they dropped the sound gimmick.
As much as I love DCC, there are several serious frustrations that come with it. My MRC Prodigy advanced has always been buggy, never behaves properly and you have to reset this, unplug that, all the time. A real hassle for the money.
The only really good thing MTH has is that their locos run beautifully in silent mode, no motor noise, no need to lube, never any squealing, and excellent slow speed performance.
Some of the detailing I have admitted myself is crude on their engines however, but they are getting better. I was happy with the detailing on the Empire State Express hudson, it surpassed even brass, not to mention these things runs 100 times better than brass and for 1/3 the price, but trying to program without DCS is why I sold mine.
This is a good move by MTH. People are already buying their engines and replacing the DCS decoders with true DCC. So, this allows them to lower their price point and be more competitive. By making it plug-compatable, they’ve signalled that they are giving up trying to force DCS on the HO market.
Going forward, I suspect they will eventually offer all of their engines without DCS, and it wouldn’t surprise me if they eventually offer true DCC as well. In the final analysis, it’s still a consumer market. They have to make what the customer wants, and 95% of the HO market wants either DC or DCC.
I’m glad they finally woke up and smelled the creosote.
Huh? QSI and Loksound decoders have 8 pin plugs on their decoders. That’s all you need for track pickup, motor leads, front and rear lights, and function common. Optionally one more function. The ‘other stuff’ on sound decoders connects right to the decoder, like the speaker and keep-alive capacitor.
Since BLI can’t seem to get there act together, they are forcing me to go to MTH for what I want. I’ve been waiting for 3 years for them to deliver the Dreyfus Hudson they promised and all they can do is keep pushing back the delivery date. I’m tired of waiting for them and I’m buying the MTH Dreyfus. I’ll also be getting the Empire State Express Hudson from them as well since that doesn’t even seem to be on the drawing board for BLI.
I really don’t care about the infighting that is going on between rival companies. The company that can deliver what I want at a price I am willing to pay will get my money.
Fair enough, I’m free market guy. MTH has yet to make anytihng that works on my control system (good old fashioned 12 volt DC), nor have they made a model that fits my layout scheme/neds/wants.
So even if they start offering DC models that actually run on 12 volts, none of their current models will be on my shopping list.
Still tired of seeing the same old locos done over and over by different companies.
As for BLI, they are adrift with too little working capital and no clear direction on what to make for who.