Miscellaneous Motive Power

Just a place for some misc information on manufacturers

K-Line

K-Line was a company of Maurk Klein (the "K) and Robert Grubba, and they made some respectible Lionel compatible trains. They were also successfully sued and forced to stop selling products that used Lionel technology in 2005. (They actually paid Lionel's chief engineer to develop versions of Lionel systems and other features, mostly sound, speed control and transformers).

Worthy of mention is the little 1:32 speeder car, sold by K-Line, then sold by USA Trains, and recently in 2019, sold by Bachmann. (clearly Kader was the manufacturer all along).

MTH (Mike's Train House) motive power

MTH makes a line of 1:32 locomotives and rolling stock.

The scale is normally quite accurate, but there are often concessions to tighter curves, like pilot superstructure that pivots with the truck, etc.

There's some unique features, some toylike, and some very nice. They are known for their great smoke units and synchronization of the puffing. The electronics are a proprietary system called DCS. The speed control is by an optical tachometer, normally attached to a flywheel. This allows precise speed control, and the system knows the actual speed of the loco, once calibrated.

The also offer operating couplers. The weels and axles are stainless steel.

The sound systems are very nice, although there seems to be not as many different recordings as you would be led to believe.

I'm not completely knowledgeable, but it appears that not all models are manufactured every year.

The 2010 RailKing catalog lists:

 GE Dash-8 (has pilot/snow plow attached to truck, not body)

Erie Triplex 2-8-8-8-2 (very nice looking, and the whistle smokes and is playable), it has 2 motors, wonder if all trucks are powered.

Hudson J3a 4-6-4 (a nice loco and a mainstay apparently)

VO-1000 diesel (a nice model for switchyards) 2 motors, proto couplers 

ALCO PA diesel (I believe the B units are dummies) 

EMD F3/F7 diesel (don't know which prototype it is closer to) 

GG-1 electric (the pilot and coupler is part of the motor block, not part of the body)