Available Items
May 3, 2006 -
Premier locomotive and car numbers
As in the past, we will offer multiple numbers of many Premier products for modelers who want several units of a particular road name.
Premier steam engines
Scale-wheeled and high-rail-wheeled versions of each engine will have the same pair of road numbers. The 4-6-2 P47 Blue Comet set (20-3259-1) locomotive will have a different number than the Blue Comet locomotives without the set (20-3255-1 and 20-3255-2), and the set will be available with hi-rail wheels only. All other steam engines will be made in one road number per catalog item number.
Premier diesels, electrics, and subways
Single-unit diesels will be produced in three road numbers for each powered unit and one road number for each non-powered unit. Modelers can therefore build a lashup of four different numbers of any single-unit diesel, including the ALCo S-2, GP9, AC4400CW, F40PH, SD45T-2 Tunnel Motor, SD-50, SD70MAC, and BL2. As with steam engines, for diesels that are available with scale wheels, scale-wheeled and high-rail-wheeled versions of each engine will have the same pair of road numbers.
Multi-unit diesel and subway sets, as well as single-unit add-ons for those sets, will be produced in one set of road numbers for each item number. These include the F3, Baldwin Sharknose, E8, and R40 subway sets. In addition, the Baldwin Sharknose A-B sets will feature two motors in each A and B unit for a total of four motors, not two motors as indicated in the catalog copy.
The FF1 and P5a Modified electric locomotives and the # 80 Turbine will be produced in one road number for each catalog item number. Note, however, that the P5a set locomotive and the separate (non-set) P5a with the same paint scheme will not share the same road number, although they are shown with the same road number in the catalog. In addition, the R50b reefers in the P5a special set will not duplicate the road number of the MTH Railroaders Club R50b reefer, and the caboose in the set will be an N6b as pictured, not an N8 as indicated in the catalog copy.
Premier freight cars
Premier freight cars, including the operating N6b caboose, are offered in two road numbers per catalog item number. The one exception is wrecking cranes and crane tenders, which are offered in one item number. In cases where a car has been cataloged in the past, such as the New Haven wrecking crane, the new item will bear a different road number. In cases where a car is offered both for separate sale and as part of a multi-car set, the separate-sale and set cars will all have different road numbers.
Premier passenger cars
Passenger car sets are offered in one set of road numbers per item number. Cars that are offered in multiple sets, such as coach and baggage car add-ons, will have different car numbers in each set, so that no car numbers are duplicated. If a particular item was produced in the past, the new version will have a different road number.
Premier freight cars
Page 130, Operating N6B Caboose: The animated signal man will respond to the whistle button in conventional mode only. An operating track section can be used to activate the signal man in both conventional and DCS operation. Also, 20-91225 PRR N6b Operating Caboose in photo had no car number on side of caboose. Car numbers will be 980803, 980805.
Page 144, funnel flow tank cars: While the paint schemes pictured are correct, the catalog inadvertently shows those schemes on standard, rather than funnel flow, cars. The correct cars will be pictured under their item numbers on the M.T.H. Web site.
Premier passenger cars
Page 164, Rock Island cars: Cars will be ribbed, not smooth-sided as indicated in text.
Page 164, Milwaukee Road cars: Set will feature skydome observation as shown in closeup photo, not round-end observation as show in set photo.
Page 165, Chessie and Reading sets: Five-car sets are correctly pictured without dome cars, despite ﾓFeaturesﾔ copy on page 164 that indicates all 5-car sets have 1 dome car.
Page 166, Pennsylvania sets: Santa Fe cars inadvertently pictured in five-car set, which will have three coaches, not two coaches and diner as shown; two-car set will have sleeper and diner as pictured, not combine and diner as text indicates.
Page 166, Santa Fe sets: Five-car set will have one short dome and two coaches, not two coaches and diner as pictured.
Page 167, Monon sets: Five-car set is correctly pictured without dome car, despite ﾓFeaturesﾔ copy on page 164 that indicates all 5-car sets have 1 dome car.
Pages 168ﾖ170, Madison combine and baggage cars: All Madison combine and baggage cars will have square-window doors as shown in the close-up shots on page 169, not Pennsy-style porthole doors. The one exception is Pennsy set No. 20-4473, which is correctly shown with porthole doors. In addition, baggage cars in five-car sets and similar baggage cars in two-car sets will have different car numbers.
Page 169, Baltimore & Ohio sets: Cars are pictured correctly as smooth-sided streamliners, although they were inadvertently located on Madison car pages.
Page 170, Pennsylvania two-car set No. 20-69043: Cars are pictured correctly as ribbed-sided streamliners with square-window doors on the baggage car, but were inadvertently located on Madison car pages.
Page 170, No. 20-4240 New Haven RPO car: Should be same color as 20-4440 New Haven two-car add-on set.
Page 170, New York & New England woodsided ﾓWhite Trainﾔ coaches: Roofs will be black per prototype, not white as shown in catalog.
Updates to Premier Chessie Steam Special Passenger Sets
Relive the summer of ﾒ78, the second summer that the Chessie Steam Special barnstormed over the Chessie System! The actual CSS consist was an eclectic mix of about 18 heavyweight, lightweight ribbed-sided, and lightweight smooth-sided passenger cars. Bringing up the rear was promoter Ross Rowlandﾒs personal observation car, ﾓSplendid Spirit Two,ﾔ built by Pullman in 1926 for the New York Central. To accurately recreate the unique look of the CSS consist, weﾒve revised the contents of the sets listed on catalog pages 165 and 170 as follows:
20-65098 5-car set will now consist of lightweight smooth-sided streamlined cars, with the lead car carrying the billboard lettering that appeared on the CSSﾒs car #1: ﾓCelebrating B&OﾒS SESQUICENTENNIAL and the 151st Birthday of American Railroading.ﾔ Cars in this and all CSS sets will have the CSS paint scheme ﾗ which unified the prototype trainﾒs crazy-quilt mix of cars ﾗ and the correct ﾓChessie Steam Specialﾔ logo on one end of the car side and the car number on the other end. The 5-car set will not contain the observation car as originally pictured.
20-66098 2-car set consisting of smooth-sided sleeper and diner will not change, and will be as pictured in the catalog.
20-69098 2-car set will now consist of a pair of ribbed-sided sleeper cars, rather than the smooth-sided cars pictured in the catalog.
20-67098 Full length done will not change; while not part of the 1978 CSS consist, an ex-Milwaukee Road Superdome was in fact included in the 1980 Chessie Safety Express consist.
20-4400 2-car Madison heavyweight set will now consist of one coach, CSS car #7 and Ross Rowlandﾒs own heavyweight observation, with authentic Chessie Steam Special drumhead on rear platform.
CLARIFICATIONS
We have received a number of questions about the power pickup on scale-wheeled diesels when used in 2-rail mode. Two-rail pickup for these engines is as follows:
Proto-Scale 3-2ﾙ Diesels with scale wheels: In 2-rail mode, these engines (AC4400CW, SD45T-2 Tunnel Motor, SD70ACe from previous catalog) will pick up current from all wheels on both sides of the locomotive. Scale-wheeled versions will also feature fixed pilots, rather than the truck-mounted pilots found on hi-rail wheeled versions.
Diesels converted to two-rail operation with separately-sold scale wheel sets: Scale wheel sets are insulated in the middle of each axle to allow the converted engines to pick up current from all wheels on both sides of the locomotive.
CORRECTIONS
Premier steam engines
Page 85, 4-4-0 American: Fuel loads will be corrected, with wood loads for diamond-stacked engines and coal loads for straight-stacked engines. Cab, smoke stack, and other details will be improved and more accurate than portrayed in catalog photos.
Page 93, 4-4-2 Atlantic: Pennsylvania version, item 20-3245, will have paint scheme as shown in bottom photo and full-page picture, but with cab number 169.
Pennsylvania version, item 20-3246, will have cab number 1645 and fancy passenger paint scheme similar to our earlier Premier K4 with cab number 1737: gold striping on engine and tender, with driver wheels outlined in gold as well.
Page 95, 4-6-2 P47 Baldwin Pacific: Blue Comet set 20-3259 is available with Hi-Rail wheels only, and has engine number 832 as pictured. Separate-sale Blue Comet engine 20-3255 will have cab number 831. Baggage car will have square-window doors as shown in close-up on page 169, rather than porthole windows as shown in set photo.
Page 99, Alco S-2: NASA paint scheme will be corrected to be more accurate, including NASA lettering on the locomotive sides.
Page 101, EMD F-3: Note that models will have our new, super-detailed Blomberg trucks that feature separately added brake cylinders, air lines, springs, and spring hangers. (Catalog photo correctly depicts new trucks.)
Page 103, EMD GP-9: B&O version will have ﾓtorpedo tubeﾔ rooftop-mounted air tanks and all models will have new, super-detailed Blomberg trucks, as indicated in the product description. Catalog photos incorrectly show B&O model without rooftop tanks and all models with old-style trucks.
Page 109, SD45T-2 Tunnel Motor: Catalog photo shows M.T.H. pre-production sample, and features of production models will be very close to models pictured. Characteristic Tunnel Motor see-through rear grille will be modeled correctly. Unlike prototype, however, some of modelﾒs rear motor will be visible through grille opening, although we will shroud the motor to hide it as much as possible. Single center light on top of front hood will be red, not white as shown in catalog. On the prototype, this light came on when a train went into emergency braking, to warn approaching trains on parallel tracks that an emergency application had occurred and a derailed car could be in the path of the oncoming train.
Page 113, Baldwin Sharknose: A-B sets will feature two motors in each A and B unit for a total of four motors, not two motors as indicated in the catalog copy.
Page 117, SD70MAC: Model will not feature lighted marker lights as indicated in ﾓFeaturesﾔ section, but will have illuminated headlights, number boards, and ditch lights that flash alternately when the horn is sounded.
Page 121, EMD BL-2: Powered models will have smoke, although this is not mentioned in the catalog.
CORRECTIONS & CLARIFICATIONS - May 31, 2006
RailKing Steam Locomotives
Page 13, Norfolk & Western USRA 0-6-0: Lettering will be imitation gold, not white as shown in photo. There will not be a stripe on the running boards or tender, and there will not be a box around the cab number. Cylinder and piston rod heads will be black, not silver as shown in catalog photo.
Page 15, New York Central Lines/Michigan Central 4-6-4 Hudson: Tender deck will be black, not red as shown in catalog. Engine is intended to go with New York Central Lines Madison passenger cars on page 76; paint scheme represents the Michigan Central, a subsidiary of the New York Central. Begun as a state-owned line in the early years of railroading, the Michigan Central grew to serve Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and the province of Ontario. The road came under the control of Cornelius Vanderbilt in the late 1800ﾒs, became part of his New York Central empire, and was eventually merged into the NYC in the mid-twentieth century.
Page 21, Rugged Rails Pennsylvania 2-8-0: Cab number will be 8014.
RailKing Diesel Locomotives
Page 27, Rock Island E6 A-A Set: Engines will have silver roofs, not black roofs as shown in catalog.
Page 31, Maryland & Pennsylvania Doodlebug Set: Doodlebug and two trailing cars will have black roofs, not green roofs as shown in catalog.
Premier Electric Locomotives
Page 123, P5a Modified: As noted in an earlier email, the P5a set locomotive and the separate (non-set) P5a with the same paint scheme will not share the same road number, although they are shown with the same road number in the catalog. The caboose in the set will be an N6b as pictured, not an N8 as indicated in the catalog copy. The R50b reefers and the caboose in the set will have unique road numbers that will not duplicate other, separate-sale offerings of the same body styles.
Page 125, FF1: Because the computer drawings in the catalog contained inaccuracies and did not do justice to this pioneering Pennsy electric, we are reproducing here some prototype photos, courtesy of famed Pennsy historian and author Alvin Staufer, to offer a better idea of how the actual FF1 model will look.
As pictured in Alﾒs three Pennsy Power books, the 1917 experimental FF1 was a contemporary of the E6 Atlantics and the K4 Pacifics when they were young. An FF1 with a train of wooden boxcars, reefers and an N6b caboose will make an appropriate companion for our E6 and K4 models in their early pinstripe passenger paint schemes. Fans of Pennsy ﾓjuice jacksﾔ will also find the FF1 and the GG1 are the bookends of Pennsy electric engines ﾗ the former as the Standard of the Worldﾒs first experiment in mainline electric power, and the latter as its ultimate success.
Premier Subway
Page 127, R40 Subway: Side views of sets incorrectly show the left-hand car in each pair with an extra window on the very end of the cab end of the car. Large view on page 126, however, correctly depicts the car with a blank panel in that area.
UPDATES
Premier White Train: Research has revealed some additional information that will be incorporated into our model of the New York & New England White Train shown on pages 85 and 170. The White Train, a.k.a. the New England Limited, was the first train in the United States to take on water en route from track pans between the rails. To replicate this feature, the tender of our NY&NE 4-4-0 will feature a water scoop on its underbody. We have also learned that the actual color of the Limitedﾒs cars was cream, not stark white, and this will be duplicated on our model along with the correct style of lettering used on the trainﾒs coaches. As mentioned in an earlier email, the roofs of the coaches will be black, not white as shown in the catalog.
Inaugurated in 1891, the White Train used the same type of scheduling that would later attract businessmen to the 20th Century Limited. It left both New York and Boston just as the workday ended ﾗ which for financial types was 3PM, ﾓbankerﾒs hours.ﾔ After a hard day of deal-making, patrons could relax in the easy chairs and sofas of the males-only Royal Buffet Smoking Car and have dinner in the diner for only a dollar ﾗ courtesy of the NY&NE which, like most railroads of the time, took pride in serving outstanding food to attract travelers and losing money on every meal. Until the ﾓ999ﾔ became the talk of the nation in 1893, The White Train was about the most famous train on American rails.
The latest catalog(s) have been posted on the M.T.H. website. Visitors can download a pdf of the catalog by clicking here or by searching for individual catalog items by using the Advanced Search tool on the M.T.H. website.
Counter copies of the catalogs are available for review at your local M.T.H. Authorized Retailer. MTHRRC Members should have received their copies via U.S. Priority Mail by now and regular M.T.H. mailing list subscribers should begin receiving their copies within the next 10 days.