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Video: MTH Electric Trains HO scale SD70Ace
Is the coupler metal or plastic?
Nifty … Moma buy me that!
Interesting, but that long shank and huge gap really spoils the appearance of the model. You should have attached the supplied snowplow - it would help hide these errors…
This is the development I’ve been waiting for. Now we need to see all manufacturers adopt this latest step in model railroading.
Bob
I can’t see much use for this if only the loco couplers have this ability. A lot of uncoupling occurs between other cars in the train.
Agreed Colin Murray, most uncoupling is not done at the engine but between cars. I also agree with James Bernier, it looks aweful and out of scale. NOT worth it or useful.
Agreeing with Bernier, that shank is way too long. Or is that the minimum needed for the coupler’s mechanics? For now, think I’ll pass based on what I’ve just seen.
Looks like the coupler height is wrong on either the car or the loco? Would be a real pain if it is he loco.
Nice feature, but not really a new issue. Marklin introduced their TELEX remote controlled coupling/uncoupling system already in the 1960´s. With DCC around for more than 10 years now, we should have enjoyed this feature a lot earlier.
Nice loco ! will all the funtions work with other dcc units like digatrax???
Yeh - sexy feature at first blush, but then one has to start wondering about the distance between loco and car, coupler height mismatch and then consider that most(?) coupling/uncoupling takes place between cars in the consist rather than between the loco and first car… For me, this ends up being a pretty ho-hum feature that is likely not worth the cost, whatever it is.
I appreciate the sneek preview of the MTH HO engine with reomote coupling/unclouping. It is a start, but I must say, I am glad that I held onto my OMI $1600 brass locomotive, in mint condition. This coupler length is waaaay too long, but I do appreciate the attempt at adding a special feature. Darn, I thought I might buy one of these for display in my office - where it won’t dissappear.
Stick with Overland models and add your DCC and sound system of choice to it. When it comes to a once-and-a-lifetime celebration of the Union Pacific Heritage, you do not want to represent it this way. Darn agian.
Ya gotta love it! Thanks for taking the risk invilved in bringing it to market. As far as outfitting cars goes, the TCS FL-2 and 4 should do nicely… that is if you are going that way.
Dirck
It looks really cool, but I think it would only be really good on a yard engine moving cuts of cars. Like most people said, most switching is between cars. It would also work well for adding and taking off helpers without stopping the train
I agree with the gentlemen above, the shank is too long and too high. The idea is good, but it looks like more work needs to be done to be more realistic. MTH is leading the pack with product development and new product releases.
The coupler looks kinda’ goofy without the air hose (trip pin). It doesn’t match up with the coupler on the hopper car. Yeah, and the long shank is a bit problematic as well.
I will wait for the upcoming MR review and have the full picture on this before I make up my mind. However as it stand so far, I does not look good.
The industry has spent many years improving the quality of operation and also the appearance of models. So far this appears to be a step backward for the appearance at least as it does not look to scale both in size and space between units, it also look like the coupler height could be a problem.
In closing, I like the concept but I don’t see a need for this on all locomotives specially if it’s going to drive the price up. Switchers and yard engines possibly but even then I am not sold on this.
Nice Toy. At least it is a start. Improvements will follow fast.
I commend MTH for taking the inititive and spending the R&D to develop a DCC operated coupler in the first place. I agree with other posts before me that it doesn’t look very prototypical and that it’s not very practical because most uncoupling chores occur between cars unless your just uncoupling a long drag from the loco. But, by the same token, if it catches on you’ll see vast improvements which in turn will prompt someone to develop an economical DCC uncoupler for cars as well.