Available Items

November 15, 2006 - In this email weメll correct some errors that crept into the 2007 Volume 1 and Tinplate Traditions catalogs and clarify a few items that may have been unclear.

2007 Volume 1

RailKing Steam Locomotives

Imperial details: The four Imperial engines shown in the RailKing section ラ NYC Dreyfuss Hudson, N&W Y6b articulated, CP Royal Hudson, and UP Big Boy ラ offer a level of detail usually found only on more expensive, full-scale engines that require much larger curves. Features on these engines include:
Marker light housings with individual LED illumination (where appropriate)
Real coal load
Authentic, legible builderメs plates
Cab interior light
Operating firebox glow
Painted backhead gauges
Safety chains for tender trucks (except Big Boy)

Page 14, 4-6-4 Royal Hudson: Item 30-1444-1's Boiler, cylinder heads, and firebox will be light grey, not silver as shown in catalog.

Page 16, Big Boy Specialty Sets: The engine cab number on the freight set will be changed to cab number 4016, as the 4015 cab number illustrated in the catalog was used previously for another RailKing Big Boy. The engine cab number on the passenger set will be 4002.

Page 18, Silver Bullet Set: Separate-sale reefer car, item # 30-78040, was not illustrated but will be identical to the reefers in the set and operate in the same manner.

Page 32, F3 A-B-A Sets: Observation cars will have normal round-ended モboat-tailヤ ends, although that may be somewhat unclear in catalog photos.

Page 34, GG1 Electric Engine: Item 30-2589-1, Pennsylvania 5-stripe tuscan GG1, was inadvertently left out of the catalog but is depicted in the online database.

RailKing Passenger Cars

Pages 70-73, Observation cars: Observation cars in all sets will be normal round-ended モboat tailヤ observation cars, although some sets appear to be shown with square-end observations.

Page 70, UP Forty-Niner cars: While they do not match the paint scheme of the Forty-Niner engine shown on page 12, the grey cars accented by black and gold striping are prototypically correct for the Forty-Niner, whose train set was pulled by three different railroads during its journey from Chicago to San Francisco.

RailKing Accessories

Page 171, Over and Under Tunnel: This accessory is not shipped with track, trestles, or trains. The catalog copy neglected to mention that the trestles are not included.

Premier Steam Engines

Page 76, 2-8-2 L-1 Mikado: Lehigh & New England, Cambria & Indiana, and Interstate models depict prototype Pennsy engines that were sold to these smaller railroads. Pennsy and Interstate versions will have high-mounted headlights as shown in catalog, but Lehigh & New England and Cambria & Indiana versions will have a low-mounted headlight, per their prototypes.

Page 80, 2-6-6-4 Norfolk & Western Class A: As a result of many requests from modelers, the cab number on this engine will be changed to 1218, the only surviving Class A. We will also produce a second, uncataloged Class A, cab number 1242 with roller bearing side rods; item number will be 20-3279-1.

Page 84, 4-6-6-4 Z-6 Challenger: The Northern Pacific version was incorrectly shown with a coal tender; actual NP model will have correct coal tender. The GN and SP&S versions are correctly shown in the catalog with a prototypical oil tender.

Page 88, Canadian National U1F 4-8-2: Color shown in catalog is incorrect, and will be corrected on actual production models. Separate-sale engine will feature cab number 6079 and the set engine will have cab number 6076.

Page 90, Chesapeake & Ohio Greenbrier 4-8-4: Separate-sale engine (item 20-3277-1) will have removable smoke deflectors and its cab number will be changed to 613. This engine will not have the Proto-Scale 3-2 feature, contrary to what is stated in the catalog.

Premier Diesel and Electric Engines

Page 92, GE U30C Diesels: Scale-wheeled versions will have fixed pilots, no traction tires, and require 42ヤ minimum radius curves.

Page 107, Canadian National F7: White stripes on all three units in this 1975 paint scheme should face the same direction, up and to the left, as shown on only the far right A-unit in the catalog photo; this will be corrected on the production models.

Page 108, E6 Diesels/City of Miami: The City cars, as pictured, will consist of baggage Bougainvillea, coaches Japonica, Hibiscus, and Poinsettia, and observation Bamboo Grove. By adding coach/diner set (item 20-66110) on page 164, a modeler can reproduce the entire original City of Miami seven-car train. Separately sold Powered A Unit and non-powered B-Unit will be added to the product line for consumers requesting a the full ABA consist even though no such locomotive consist was used on the real-life City of Miami train.

Page 110, SD24 Diesels: These engines will be upgraded to Proto-Scale 3-2 capability; the purchaser will be able to install scale wheels (sold separately) and/or switch to 2-rail AC or DC operation if desired.

Pages 114-121, SD70ACe diesel sets: All locomotives will be packaged with a separately-attachable snow plow, as is normal procedure on Premier Line diesels. All Heritage locomotives will be sold separately in both Hi-Rail and Scale-wheeled models. Previously, only the scale wheeled models were listed as available separately.

Twin Stack container cars on pages 114-115 will operate on O-54 minimum curve, not O-42 as mentioned in catalog.

Page 126, R40 Subway Set: 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.

Page 128, Electroliner and Liberty Liner: Green color of Electroliner shown in photos is incorrect; actual green will be more teal in appearance. Red Arrow Liberty Liner will not have steps in middle of two end cars, as the steps were removed from the Liberty Liners because they operated only with high platforms.

Premier Rolling Stock

Road numbers: With a few exceptions, all Premier freight cars and cabooses will be offered in two road numbers per item number. Exceptions include Jordan Spreaders, Schnabel cars, and flat cars with subway and diesel engine loads.

Page 160, Twin Stack Container Sets: Minimum radius will be O-54.

Page 164, Illinois Central City of Miami passenger cars: Set # 20-66110 will consist of coach Camellia and diner Palm Garden to enable a modeler to reproduce the entire original City of Miami seven-car train. Set # 20-69110 will consist of sleeper West Palm Beach and baggage Magnolia.

2007 Tinplate Traditions Volume 1

A word about couplers: As much as possible, we make Tinplate Traditions engines and cars with the same couplers as the original toys of the tinplate era. Ives equipment is supplied with original Ives-type couplers. The 4696 Steam Engine and 4000 Series freight cars will be delivered with correct モpost and scissorヤ couplers. All other Standard Gauge models are equipped with latch-type couplers. The three coupler types are not compatible with each other.

O Gauge engines and rolling stock will be delivered with box-type or latch-type couplers, per the original toys and as indicated in the catalog. Box-type and latch-type couplers are compatible and may be intermixed in a train, as they often were in train sets of the tinplate era.

Page 10, 260E O Gauge Locomotive: Tender will have remote-controlled Box-type Proto-Coupler, not latch coupler as illustrated and stated in text.

The matching 710 Series passenger car in the inset picture is incorrectly shown with 4-wheel trucks; the 710 Series cars will have the correct 6-wheel trucks as shown on page 34.

Page 12, 249 O Gauge Locomotive: Tender will have remote-controlled Box-type Proto-Coupler as pictured, not latch coupler as stated in text.

Page 23, 200 Series Standard Gauge Rolling Stock: Flat cars 10-2106 and 10-2107 will carry red fire trucks, not white fire trucks as pictured.

Page 38, 600 Series O Gauge Passenger Sets: Individual sets are incorrectly labeled as モ2600 Seriesヤ and are in fact 600 Series as page title states.

Set 10-8503, Two-Tone Blue, will match colors of 10-3034-1 Two-Tone Blue 249 locomotive shown on page 13, although colors in catalog do not match.

Page 39, Ives 240 Series Standard Gauge Passenger Sets: Cars will have correct Ives 6-wheel passenger trucks and couplers, not 4-wheel trucks as pictured. Item 10-5086 will be light green not apple green as described in the catalog.

Matching engines and cars: Tinplate toy trains were not built to exact scale proportions, and in fact Lionel sold at least two sizes of Standard Gauge and two sizes of O Gauge equipment. As one might expect, the larger size equipment in each gauge was more deluxe and expensive. The following chart indicates which rolling stock is most appropriately sized for each engine and would have been sold with it in the tinplate era:

Standard Gauge Engines
Standard Gauge Cars

400E Steam Engine
200 Series freight cars, Previously cataloged large passenger cars

390E Steam Engine
500 Series freight cars, 300 Series passenger cars, Previously cataloged Stephen Girard and Blue Comet passenger cars

4696 Steam Engine
4000 Series Freight Cars

318E Electric
500 Series freight cars, 300 Series passenger cars

Ives 3245R Electric
Ives 240 Series passenger cars

Ives 3236R Electric
Ives 180 Series passenger cars

8E Electric
500 Series freight cars

408E Electric
200 Series freight cars, Previously cataloged large passenger cars

O Gauge Engines
O Gauge Cars

260E Steam Engine
2800 Series freight cars, 710 Series passenger cars

249 Steam Engine
600 Series passenger cars

The early-order deadline for the 2007 Volume 1 O Gauge Catalog and 2007 Tinplate Traditions Volume 1 Catalog is November 30, 2006. Orders should be placed with your local M.T.H. Authorized Retailer by the deadline to ENSURE delivery of any item featured in the catalog. However, it will take us a few days to tabulate everything, so if you missed the deadline, get ahold of your M.T.H. Authorized Retailer in the next few days and let them know what you're after. We'll let'em slide in those requests.

Regular fans of M.T.H. probably know, as with past catalog order cycles, M.T.H. Authorized Retailers have been requested to CONTINUE accepting consumer orders for items featured in the 2007 Volume 1 catalog once the early-order cycle has concluded. However, M.T.H. will continue to adhere to our policy of establishing conservative production quantities for each item we produce. As manufacturing deadlines for these items pass, M.T.H. will be unable to modify the production quantity and consumers may risk missing out on a hard-to-find item.

Don't miss out on any of the 2007 Volume 1 and 2007 Tinplate Traditions Volume 1 offerings by waiting too long. Any item can be ordered through your local M.T.H. Authorized Retailer.