ToyTrains1's Blog

As long as I had the Pennsy freight train on the tracks, I decided to shoot the last of my big PRR freight hauling steamers. This is a True HD 1080p video of the MTH Premier PRR Mountain (4-8-2) steam locomotive hauling that train. The model came out in 2003 and has held up quite well over the years of heavy use. As you can see in the video, it looks and sounds great and runs very well. The prototype locomotive was one of Pennsy's main freight haulers, with more than 300 Mountains having been built and used in heavy freight service.

On a visit to Trains & Things in Trenton, NJ where Mike Wolf of MTH Electric Trains was visiting, they had on display the 2007 MTH reproduction of the Ives Olympian set, which was one of the last made by Ives in the years leading up to the Great Depression (1929-1930).  It seldom happens, but for me it was love at first sight and I walked out of the store with the set even though it's Standard Gauge.  For those unfamiliar with it, Standard Gauge trains run on track that is much wider than O-gauge track and, being much more from the toy train genre, there is no real scale, so Standard Gauge trains come in a variety of sizes, from small to very large.  My Standard Gauge Christmas trains are from the small school.  This new set is from the very large school.  The locomotive (based on a Milwaukee Road bipolar) and four cars stretch out over six feet in length!  While faithful to the original set in appearance, this reproduction incorporates all of the latest electronics and is fully controllable with the DCS remote control system. As you can see in this True HD 1080p video, it a super appearing, super sounding set.  HTML clipboard .style1 { margin-left: 80px; }  If the background looks unfamiliar, my Standard Gauge trains run on my auxiliary layout, which is on the carpeted floor of my library.

Just about nine years ago, I got the MTH Premier model of the Pennsylvania Railroad Q2, a duplex-drive 4-4-6-4 freight hauling behemoth of a steam locomotive.  It was one of the first locomotives equipped with Protosound 2 (PS2).  I've had it running on and off all the years since and it still runs great.  In this True HD 1080p video, you can see it hauling my PRR freight train.  Since the feedback I've received about this train has been quite positive, I visited the train store recently and bought quite a few more cars to add to it.  In the slow speed run-by you can get a good look at the now two dozen car train.  Following the higher speed run-by, you can watch as the Q2 uncouples from the train and returns to its track in my locomotive ready yard.

This is another unusual video.  It shows the MTH Premier Great Northern (GN) S-2 Northern-type (4-8-4) steam locomotive pulling a large consist of 36' woodsided reefers.  That's quite a load, and the S-2 runs out of oomph.  It calls for help, and the MTH Premier GN R-2, a 2-8-8-2 articulated behemoth, answers the call.  It backs out of the ready yard onto the mainline, couples to the back of the train, and together the S-2 and the R-2 get it up to speed and on the way to its destination.  As you'll see in this True HD 1080p video, the S-2 and the R-2 work splendidly together in lash-up using DCS, combining to move the train with no trouble at all.  The detail and operation of both locomotives is superb!

While the Pennsylvania Railroad FF1 and FF2 boxcab electric locomotives belonged to different eras, there are some perks to running your own railroad! In this True HD 1080p video, you get to see them double-headed (that's the FF1 — Big Liz — up front) hauling a very long all-Pennsy freight train.  Though they might not have run together in real life, double-headed locomotives on long freight trains were and are still a very common sight on the railroads.

In June of 2003, MTH brought out a Premier model of a 4-truck Shay steam locomotive, decorated for C&O and featuring PS2 (I already had the one issued years earlier with PS1 decorated for WVP&P).  A Shay locomotive was designed for use in the logging industry, on lightweight track that might have very steep grades and very sharp turns.  It's a geared locomotive with great tenacity though made for low speeds.  Though mine usually runs on my auxiliary layout, I've moved it to the main layout where it's easier to film in detail.  In this True HD 1080p video, you get to see it in operation with a close-up of the amazing gear operation.  I've seen real Shays at museums and this model is pretty much on the money.  Enjoy!

Big Liz starred in the very first video that I uploaded to YouTube, so it's only fitting that she get her own True HD 1080p video.  In this video, I have her hauling a dozen Pennsy freight cars, though that's a pretty small load for such a large, powerful model.  The prototype was built in 1917 as Pennsy's first experimental AC jack-shaft electric locomotive but was so powerful that it kept ripping out the couplers of the day and was finally relegated to pusher service.  Since people seem to want to see other parts of my layout, I've done this video a bit differently.  Big Liz normally resides in my locomotive ready yard, so I show her leaving the yard, proceeding through the interlocking plant and onto the Track 1 mainline.  You then see her and her train in several run-bys and finally get to see her uncouple from her train and come back into the ready yard.

In the previous video I showed the MTH Premier D16d pulling its 19th century passenger cars.  This was shot on Track 1, my outer O-72 loop which is closest to the camera.  This train normally resides on a storage track in my central yard, which is accessed via Track 3, the innermost loop.  I thought it would be interesting to show how the train makes its way back to the storage track, traversing the interlocking plant to get from Track 1 to Track 2 to Track 3 and then into the yard and onto the appropriate storage track.  It was a pain to shoot as I had to move the camera around to locations that really aren't suited for filming, but the final True HD 1080p product gives you a good idea of how my layout works, even when it's clogged with train after train on all of the loops and storage tracks.

In December of 2005 I received the MTH Premier PRR D16d American (4-4-0) steam locomotive.  This is a model of a high strutting late 19th/early 20th century steam locomotive, complete with high domes.  From the large 80" drivers, you know this was designed for passenger service.  It's a small locomotive as were most locomotives of this time period.  It's a highly detailed model that runs very well.  In this True HD 1080p video, I show it hauling a set of late 19th century passenger cars, which is very much how you would have found it in real life.

This True HD 1080p video highlights my MTH Premier Pennsylvania RR Baldwin Shark (A-B) diesel locomotives, which came out in October of 2001 and which haul my Pennsy work train.  Both a slow speed and a higher speed video segment are included.  Since the work train normally resides on one of the stub sidings in the yard that occupies the center of my layout, I thought I'd also show how it gets from the inner main track 3 (to which all of the yard tracks connect) to the outer main track 1 where I film via the interlocking plant that connects all three main tracks.