MTH 2009 catalog (Volume 1 and 2) overview

I know model train catalog season is upon us, with Lionel, Bachmann, and other model train manufactures getting ready to release their 2026 catalogs, but in the meantime why don't we go down memory lane and see what MTH was up to with their 2009 volume 1 and 2 catalog. 

Volume 1: 

The rail king (aka traditional O gauge) section started off promising with a 4-6-4 royal Hudson being offered, with the promise of passenger cars as well. 

The good news: MTH did do the 2-8-8-8-2 triplex in traditional O gauge. The bad? It still needs a bigger curve then 31. Honestly I'm just impressed that MTH even tried this to begin with. For those who don't know, the Triplex is a pretty long steam engine. The fact that MTH was able to at least shrink it down to fit a 42 curve is impressive and great for those who don't have room for the o gauge version which takes a 72 radius curve. 

I can't help but fall in love with MTH's Southern Pacific Rail king. It looks great, and the passenger cars it and it's Freedom Train scheme come with look amazing. 

Therapist: Rolling Rock switcher isn't real, it can't hurt you. 

The milky way, snickers, and 3 musketeers hopper cars are much appreciated. With the exception of Lionel it just doesn't seem like we're getting as many candy based cars as we used too, and I'm sorry but even if it is just an advertisement to convince us to buy those sweets and treats that will rot our teeth's out, I'd love to see them make somewhat of a comeback. 

The 3 car fright sets are pretty nice. Sure, most of them are for companies like rolling rock and 7-up, but I do like the idea of a 3 car pack with a box car, gondola, and tank car. 

Love the Harley Davis streamline cars by the way MTH. 

O scale has it's decent selection of steam trains as well. The 4-8-2 Mohawk being one of them. 

The Yellowstone 2-8-8-4 is a favorite of mine in the "big steam engines" category and MTH really did it justice here. 

The Russian Decapod is anther favorite steam engine of mine. In spite of how short the engine is, it takes a 72 radius curve. 

MTH offered a twin stack fright set for Union Pacific and Florida East Coast, and I'm sorry but if they really were selling those sets for $699 back then, that is an absolute steal. 

Our friends over at Lionel would sell this same set for at least $1000. 

I have a soft spot for the wooden passenger cars in general, and was glad to see MTH offering them in this catalog, alongside one that's for Strasburg Railroad. Either I'm looking in the wrong places, or Strasburg just isn't that represented in the world of model trains. 

Rounding out volume 1 is some buildings for scenery, and though it's not much, I do appreciate what MTH offered. I also do really love the operating transfer dock. 

Volume 2: 

One thing I will highlight about the railking section of MTH's volume 2 catalog were some of the sets they were offering. Some of these sets look really nice and are something I wish Lionel would offer as traditional O gauge sets (though I know the price for them would be expensive. 

I also wanted to point out that MTH had made the George H.W Bush train for their railking line as well. I mentioned way back in my MTH HO scale catalog that I thought it was nice that MTH made a funeral train for that scale as they had done so for O. 

One final set from MTH to mention was the Areotrain set. I don't really have anything to add outside of "this is nice" and "I wish someone would make this in traditional O gauge". Forgive me for yet anther petty shot at Lionel in this blog, but it would be nice if they toned down the "Halloween and Disney" trains a bit to give us train sets like we see in this catalog. 

European trains showing up in these catalogs is a running theme I don't mind. The 2-3-1E Chapelon Pacific looks great (even if the cab drivers look a little off) and the Duchess class are two engines I hope those who wanted to model European got. 

No. 999 Empire State Express was a nice surprise. I do have a soft spot for older steam engines, and clearly MTH does as well as they put a lot of detail into this train. 

The 3GS 21B Genset diesels were a new offer for this catalog. 

Like in the railking section, MTH offered some train sets for their O scale premier line, and I really do like some of these sets and wish I had the money and space to get them. To Lionel's credit they do something similar in their own modern day catalogs where they offer big boy (not referring to the steam engine, referring to the boxes and packaging they come in) sets for O scale. 

Final thoughts: 

Part of the reason why I can't quite get over MTH going away is because I like how much of an alternative they were to Lionel. The company really tried and succeeded in bringing their "A" game to keep up with Lionel, and I think they did better then them in some cases. 

A part of me kind of wishes MTH had just stuck to O gauge or at the very least O and HO. Yes MTH, I did like seeing the One gauge stuff you had to offer and even some of the standard gauge stuff as well, but I can't help but wonder if over expanding into other scale markets is what killed you in the long run. 

It's easier said then done to work on multiple scales as a company, and even Bachmann seems to struggle with that with their bread and butter clearly being HO and N while G and O fall to the wayside (at least before they started making more modern trains for G). 

Review: Bachmann's streamline Observation car, Norfolk and Western

 I've mentioned in past journals covering Bachmann that I'm a big fan of them bringing in more smooth, streamline cars for railroads such as NYC, PA, and Norfolk and Western. 

Don't get me wrong guys, I'm a fan of the heavyweight passenger cars as well, but the streamline cars just have something to them that draws me to them. Their smooth, slick, and got style to them. Well, at a train show I went to recently I was able to pick up one of Bachmann's streamline cars, with it being an observation car from the Norfolk and Western. 

The Powhatan Arrow passenger cars are a favorite of mine. I do like the heavyweight cars that I have with the Norfolk and Western that are from their Spectrum line, I wanted to slowly but surly collect the Powhatan Arrow cars, and just in general add more passenger cars to my fleet. So, how good is this car? 

Anther thing I've mentioned in the past is that these cars don't look as nice as MTH/Fox Valley, with the cars being a lighter shade of brown then those cars. Still, I don't want to completely trash the passenger cars, and not just because I have a soft spot for Bachmann. 

There's still a decent amount of detail on the observation car. Inside the train are seats that I imagine with some modification can be filled with passenger cars. On the side of the train is the Powhatan Arrow label. 

The lantern that could be seen on the side of the observation car isn't really there, replaced by some sort of bump on the side. 

I don't mind too dearly, but I can understand those who are really going all in on realism being a bit annoyed. 

While there is a bit of a light glowing through the car thing going on, it's in the very back where one of the trains symbols are, and I honestly don't mind it. It makes it look like the glow the observation car would have. 

Other then that, I don't have any issues with the train. It runs well on the track and gets along fine with it's heavyweight brothers as it runs around my layout, which now has 22 radius curves so I can run it and my Norfolk and Western train (alongside other big trains I may have in my collection.) 

Final thoughts: 

If the budget just isn't there for the Fox Valley cars I'd recommend getting Bachmann's Norfolk and Western Observation car. Is it perfect? No. But the flaws it has can be fixed via some good old fashion modification (which is something I'm sure many model railroaders do with their trains) and it's a pretty great runner. 

Keep up the good work with the passenger cars Bachmann. If you have to cut some detail out to make them affordable so be it, but the base your working with is promising at the very least...

What I like about modern day Lionel

 Before a good old fashion flame war starts in the comments, yes guys, I know that Lionel isn't perfect, and depending on who you ask they've derailed completely off the tracks, but I wanna take some time in today's blog to talk about somethings that I feel Lionel is doing that I think is pretty good. 

I'm right there with calling out Lionel or any model train company that screws up, but I'm also for shedding a light on the good things that a company has done. So what is modern day Lionel doing that I feel is worthy of a pat on the back? 

Making Battery Operated Train sets 

On one hand, I agree that Lionel's battery operated train sets shouldn't be as expensive as they are and can be a hit or miss. On the other, I do have a soft spot for the decision. Yes guys, I know battery operated trains can be rough around the edges, but I like the fact that Lionel is making them in general, because I do feel these types of trains are important. 

It's a way to ease the kids into trains without dropping $300, and gives them a taste of what it's like to have their own model railroad via easy to set up battery operated trains. I'd also argue that these types of sets are perfect for people who want a train set for their Christmas village or around the tree, but don't want to spend that much money. 

As for the battery operated train sets themselves, I do think their pretty good. Lionel's G scale trains may have started off rough with a remote that didn't have that far of a reach for the train, but it seems they've changed that up in later models, and I'm digging the battery operated O scale trains. 

I also really like how Lionel has made these trains have the ability to smoke via water vapor. Again, if Lionel's goal is to give the kids a taste of what it's like to have a real working model train, having features like that works. 

Fantasy Schemes 

And here comes the tomatoes. Look guys, I can't help but have a soft spot for some of Lionel's fantasy paint schemes. Sure not all of them are winners, but some of them look really nice and are worth having a nice run on the layout. 

This is especially the case for some of Lionel's Halloween and Christmas legacy trains. Yes guys I know how crazy I sound thinking it's not insane for a Halloween or Christmas train set to cost over $1,000, but for what it's worth Lionel does put a decent amount of effort and detail into most of these schemes, while giving them the Lionel Legacy treatment. 

Sure, there are schemes that don't work or don't look that good, but Lionel has put out a decent amount of schemes that look really nice such as the Twilight Limited from their October 2025 catalog and the red and silver vision line Hudson from the 2025 Big Book. 

Lionel Chief 2.0: 

Originally I was going to make this about Lionel Legacy engines and system, but I wanna give some flowers to anther featured line/system Lionel offers that I feel deserves it, and that is Lionel Chief 2.0. 

Lionel Chief 2.0 basically gives their O gauge trains a boost with more features such as crew talk, electro couplers, and the ability to be controlled by not just the Lionel Chief remote but also the Lionel Legacy Cab. 

I know from the surface this doesn't seem like anything too special, but I wanted to highlight it because I do appreciate Lionel giving their O gauge trains some much needed attention and detail, especially because these are the trains that are made to run on tighter curves and are the ones that folks with not that much space (or money) go to. 

While I don't expect Lionel to start featuring things like a swinging bell on Lionel Chief engines or any other major features that were on Legacy, I do hope they keep the Lionel Chief 2.0 line in mind. There's only so many smaller engines out there that Lionel can make for the Legacy line... 

Bachmann train catalog 2007 overview

 Right off the bat I would like to apologize for the lack of blogs lately. I tend to try and get at least one blog out every week, but during the holidays things got a bit hectic and busy. 

Never the less, I hope everyone's had a good holiday, and starting off their New Year on the right foot. For me, I'd like to start it off with one of my favorite Bachmann catalogs from 2007. 

As I mentioned in past blogs, I have a soft spot for this catalog. It's one that I personally have, and one that I looked at a lot as a kid. So what was it about this catalog that made me gush over it so much? 

Well, for one thing it was the two train sets that it started off with, the Walt Disney's Carolwood Pacific Railroad and the Sherk's holiday special. 

The Walt Disney train set looks great. It's essentially the train that Walt ran in his own backyard, scaled down to HO scale with two gondolas, a box car, and a caboose. I personally have this train set and I'm glad I do, as this train set is one that Bachmann hasn't offered since. 

Same can't be said for the Sherk's Christmas special. Not trying to make this train set out as the next "Blue Comet" or "Santa Fe" train set, but it does have a soft spot in my heart. 

The color Purple might not be the first color you think of when you think Christmas (I think it's more of a Halloween color), yet it looks good on the EMD diesel. Sherk and friends also don't look too bad on the train either. 

While I can see why people might not be a very big fan of this set, I personally think it's neat. 

Oh Bachmann, why can't you make anther Herhsey's train set? Nothing against the Chocolate town USA train set (Hershey's train set before this one), but that train set being from Bachmann's dark ages aside, I really just like this train set better. 

Sure it doesn't have as many cars as Chocolate Town USA, but the cars it does have look great. The Reese's pieces gondola puts me in the mood for Reese's pieces, the bumble gum car looks good, and to top it off it comes with a twizzles caboose. 

Maybe it is best if I didn't get this train set as I kid. I'd be begging my parents for Hershey's, Reese's pieces, bubble gum and twizzles all the time. 

Bachmann would go back and forth between bringing back the Southern Pacific's Freedom train scheme. In this catalog they brought it back which I thought was nice. It is a nice looking scheme. 

Bachmann sold two limited edition G scale trains in this catalog. The first being White Pass & Yukon, and while it's not a Christmas train in name, I wouldn't mind seeing this run around the tree Christmas morning. 

The Wonderland Flyer is a set I wouldn't mind seeing come back or even replace the "Night before Christmas" set, if not for the fact that it would probably cost much more. I'd also take this set over the North Pole special as I do like both the passenger car at the end that the set comes with and the gondola full of Christmas presents. 

Final thoughts: 

When looking back at this catalog alongside the others, it is kind of a kill joy as there wasn't too many new things featured. Truth be told anther reason why I had such a huge soft spot for this catalog was because it was the first new Bachmann catalog I had gotten in a while, and pre before I knew Bachmann put their catalogs online for those to read. 

Still, I do like a lot of what's offered and long for the days of some of the train sets I talked about to return. I'd also argue that this catalog alongside 08, 09, and 10 are getting closer/just about their to what would be modern day Bachmann, bringing their best selves to the model train dance while being the only company offering train sets. (LifeLike was just about on their way out around this time).