MTH Motive Power

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Overview:

MTH, comes from "Mikes Train House", Mike Wolf owner.

MTH makes various scale locos and the #1 scale 1:32 is the most recent. They have a control system called DCS, which is a somewhat antique carrier based control system that uses DC or AC constant voltage on the rails. The decoders in the locos are called ProtoSound, and there have been 3 versions. The most recent version is SOMEWHAT DCC compatible.

These pages will mostly focus on the PS3 technology, in order to help DCC people understand the capabilities and limitations.

I'm not into 1:32, but the scale, detail, and operating features of these locos is very nice EXCEPT where gross alterations have been made to allow locos to traverse toy-like curves.

I completely understand the philosophy, just like LGB, they feel (and probably rightly) that a lot of their market has very tight curves so the locos can traverse these curves, even their big boy.

Unfortunately, quite often the appearance of the loco is greatly affected, and MTH is not cheap, it is priced similarly to LGB, so I believe this has somewhat stymied their large scale sales.

All that said, if ALL the locomotives were available for sale, one could make a nice stable of 1:32 locomotives. I say it this way beacause production is limited and usually only one or 2 different models are available at any one time, and not all road names.

That all said, the advent of DCC compatibility, albiet somewhat flawed and limited, is a smart move by MTH.

Construction:

Typically, MTH is of rugged, if dated, construction. Certainly their electronics are pretty old school, with a lot of connectors, wires, modules etc. There's even wire nuts used to connect wires, shades of the 1950's!

Some random observations, drivetrain usually pretty robust, still use traction tires, they use pickup skates which are often problematic on turnout frogs (shorting). They use carbon brushes on backsides of drive wheels, proven over time, but require maintenance. Locos are modified to allow tremendous swing on curves to allow toy train curves.

The axle bushings in diesels look very much like USA trains, the square brass/bronze bushing. The gears on the axles are nice and large and look metal, although there is a plastic center with the half axles pushed into the gear assembly, again similar to USA Trains.

DCC CV control / setting documentation

I have a link here by Ulrich Models from 2008, but I'm not sure all the timeline information is accurate. There was no DCC compatibility in PS2 as far as I know, but this article basically says that there was when MTH entered the HO market. According to all official MTH documentation I can find, DCC capability (limited) was introduced in PS3, recently released, but MTH HO was introduced with PS2, again as far as I can tell.

I'll try to further validate this stuff as I find it. Here is the Ulrich Models document: http://www.ulrichmodels.com/prostores/DCC_Topics/MTH_DCS_and_DCC.pdf

Here is a document from MTH itself. This shows troubleshooting, and DCC is only mentioned on PS3  http://mthtrains.com/service-documents/7043 In the MTH page, there is a link to a pdf of functions which is markedly different: http://mthtrains.com/sites/default/files/F%20Function%20Key%20Master%20ListingMar2015.pdf

NCE has pages that imply that there is DCC capability in PS2:  https://ncedcc.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/201499765-MTH-Protosound-2-CV8-27

And their page on PS3 being different seems to imply this was not a mistake: https://ncedcc.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/203794919-MTH-Protosound-3-CV8-27-

My listings of CV's and notes:

The big issue here is that MTH does not support the DCC programming track, also known as service mode. This actually means that MTH CANNOT say they are DCC. To set the loco address, or any CV for that matter, you need to do programming on the main. This is problematic, and if something gets screwed up, you have no way of resetting it because you cannot program the loco. You need to do a full reset from the "DCS" side.

Programming on the main means you must have a functioning locomotive address to get the loco to listen to you. (Also you cannot read back any value to validate the setting).

The procedure to set addresses are then the same as doing it for any loco by programming on the main. The important thing is that there is a default long address: 3333. This allows you to change CV 29 to switch to long addressing, and then change the address via CV17 and CV18 as usual.

 Feature reset: resets smoke, volume and lights

My listing of Function key assignments:

 PFA is "Passenger / Freight Announcements"

From actual testing, we believe that this sound file is the North American Steam but seems related to the Dash 8 diesel

PFA = Passenger / Freight Announcements, basically a sequence of sounds and chatter that create "scenarious), and you normally go through scenarios in sequence. There are ways to move ahead, and to skip the upcoming sequence. The PFA can also start and stop the loco.

Sub-Pages

Click the links below to go "deeper" into details on individual MTH motive power.