MTH O scale catalog 2008 (volume 1 and 2) overview

 It's been a hot minute since I've done an overview of an MTH catalog. I first started out by doing their HO scale and One gauge catalogs, but in today's blog I wanna do a catalog on the scale MTH was most known for: O scale. 

In this blog I'm gonna go over MTH's volume 1 and 2 catalog, going over things that I find stand out the most. I will just say right off the bat that I do miss MTH's catalogs and wish the company didn't downsize/could find a buyer to take over for Mike Wolf, especially with Lionel's near monopoly on the O scale market. 

One other things that I'd like to mention is that MTH's catalogs are split into two. The first half shows their Railking line, (aka O gauge). The second half is their premier line (aka O scale trains with details and most likely needing bigger curves.) 

Volume 1 

In volume 1 of the 2008 catalog, we start off with a train that I wish would see it's way back into O gauge, that being the Hiawatha Hudson. 

The schemes MTH gave the Hudson are pretty nice, and I wouldn't mind seeing Broadway Limited remake some of these in HO scale (assuming they could). 

The 4-6-2 stands out to me because of one of it's schemes, which is of a John Deer train. 

I would say I'd like to see anther John Deer train set, but Lionel kind of has us covered. 

I'll give them some flowers for trying, but seeing the bigger steam engines in O gauge like the 4-8-4 FEF Northern just looks a bit weird to me. You can tell they shrunk the train down to size, and even though it operates on O-31 curves, a part of me still wants to run this thing on O-42 or something bigger. 

On the fight and passenger car side of things is this: 

Yeah I forgot to mention, MTH made the Coors Light train, the one from those commercials with "Love train" playing in the background. Looking back now I kind of do miss seeing that set. It was MTH's "Polar Express" in a way, and it certainly got a lot of heads turning. 

Baseball box cars, what happened to you? These used to be a thing all the time and now not even Lionel seemingly does them. Can someone please bring these back from the dead? I can't accept Bradford Exchange being the only ones doing Baseball trains and Baseball train accessories. 

One thing that bothered me about the streamline passenger cars in the RailKing section is that they never came with Observation cars. I don't know if that was an error on MTH's part or the sets just didn't have them. 

And yes MTH I do dig those John Deer passenger cars. 

MTH's premier trains started off with the good old Hudson, including an Hudson train set that's still pretty pricy, but feels less pricy then what Lionel would offer (at least these days.) 

The 0-6-0 is one of those engines that's perfect for anyone who wants to get their hands into more to scale O scale trains, but either doesn't have the budget or the space, being a train that takes 0-31 curves. 

AC-6 Cab forward is such a treat to get as a scale model, and MTH makes the deal sweeter with a train set. 

The 4-6-2 K4 is anther beautiful steam engine that's offered in a set. I do like how they added a mail car to the set as well. It's something I wouldn't mind seeing be put into some of these train sets more often, as it wasn't just passengers some of these trains carried. 

The 4-6-4 Great Northern looks great here, and I love the passenger cars that MTH gave it for the train set. I always did like looking at MTH's passenger cars, I feel they did an amazing job with them, and I'm glad their talents for making great passenger cars transferred into the HO line when that was around. 

While MTH did mostly American trains, they did sneak in an European steam train in the 2-3-1E, with the promise of passenger cars coming for it soon. 

The M-1 Steam Turbo train set looks like something that came out of the future. It's not a train I'd personally add to the collection, but I do dig the unique design it's got going on. 

Can't forget about the good old Zephyr. 

The EMD GP60M diesel is anther engine that's perfect for "I'm tight on space but want more to-scale-O-scale-trains" collectors. It also comes with a set that's only $700. Hey, it is cheaper then the other sets above...

The P5A box cab was an interesting but unique choice to the line up. 

On the fright and passenger car side of things are two operating cars and two operating cabooses. 

Volume 2:

Volume 2's Railking section starts off with 2-8-0 steam train sets with Pennsylvania and New York offered. 

I can't help but bring these two sets up as I remember seeing them all the time in MTH's railking ready to run catalogs, which I may look at one of these days. 

Credit where credit is due, MTH's 2-10-0 Decapod looks pretty good in o gauge. As I mentioned above, some of the steam and even diesel trains look a bit weird as it's made obvious they were shrunk down to fit 0-31 curves, but this one looks pretty good. 

Same can be said with the 4-8-2 L-3 Mohawk, which comes with a fright and passenger set. 

A Union Pacific Big Boy that can run on 31 curves? I can't tell if that's blessed or cursed. Do like the two sets that are offered though...

And then we have the 2-6-6-6 Allegheny. Look I don't want this blog to turn into me being surprised that MTH were able to design some of the bigger steam engines in railking to take 31 curves, but I refuse to believe some serious thought didn't go into it. 

The Caterpillar and Harley Davison F3 are two diesels I wish would come back. 

MTH's O scale line up came out swinging with a 2-8-8-8-2 Triplex that was available in a set and paint schemes. 

In the last catalog MTH showed off an European steam engine. In this catalog they're keeping up with the trend, with the Princess Coronation steam engine. 

I have a soft spot for the J-class in general and always liked MTH's model on the train. Two sets were offered with heavyweight and streamline cars. 

The 4-6-4 Royal Hudson is a treat for anyone who anyone who has a Canadian theme model railroad. 

The AA16 AFB is an interesting diesel to add to the collection, and comes in a Great Northern set scheme that weirdly fits. 

The Traxx ALP-16 diesel is yet anther European engine that MTH has added to the line up. Honestly good for them. I understand the reason why, but American Manufactures touching European trains for just a one off seems pretty rare. 

The Orient Express Passenger cars are here, and look amazing. MTH did promise more European passenger cars in the last catalog. 

Final Thoughts 

In retrospect it's honestly kind of hard to believe that MTH folded up shop. I know a part of it was because Mike Wolf wanted to retire, but the company had so much momentum going for it back in the mid to late 2000's, going onto the 2010's. 

Who knows, maybe the company will get bought out by someone who isn't Lionel and start making more trains again.