MTH ELECTRIC TRAINS

M.T.H. Electric Trains has released its 2007 Dealer Appreciation Program (DAP) brochure to M.T.H. Authorized Retailers. Counter copies of the brochure should begin arriving at your local retailer by week's end.

As in the past, the 2007 Dealer Appreciation Program features a limited selection of items, each in a specially marked D.A.P. package, that will not appear in any M.T.H. catalog in their DAP configuration. To make these limited edition products truly special, we offer each Authorized M.T.H. Retailer only two of these special packages.

This year's program is headed up by a Norfolk Southern F-7 in the railroad's Executive Train paint scheme. In a nod to its heritage, the Norfolk Southern decided in 2006 to replace the modern engines that hauled its executive train with a set of vintage diesels. Through an equipment broker, they found a set of EMD F7's with a long history. The A-units were built in 1952 for the Baltimore & Ohio, while the B-units were originally delivered to the Chicago Great Western and the Chicago and North Western. In 1981, the four were rebuilt by Morrison-Knudson for a new career with MARC (Maryland Rail Commuter Service). After being retired a second time, they went to RailCruise America for dinner train service and then to the Kansas City Southern, which later declared them surplus and sent them to the equipment broker that sold them to the NS.

This time, it looks like the four wandering F-units have a permanent home. In late 2006, they were towed to the Norfolk Southern's ex-Pennsy shops in Altoona for a full mechanical and cosmetic overhaul. They emerged from Altoona in a paint scheme that harks back to NS predecessor Southern Railway, but with the Thoroughbred, Norfolk Southern's corporate symbol, emblazoned on the nose of each A-unit. Their maiden outing with the company train (minus one A-unit that was not yet finished) was in early April at the Masters golf tournament, and they have since been spotted throughout the Norfolk Southern system.

Also included in this year's program is an all-new version of the M.T.H. Premier Line Pennsylvania L1 Mikado steam locomotive. In contrast with the Premier L1s Mikado in 2007 volume one, which represents the Pennsy's Mikados as they appeared after World War II, the limited-production DAP version depicts the Mikes as they appeared in the 1930s and 1940s. On the DAP model, the headlight is mounted high on the smoke box front and the generator sits just in front of the smokestack - whereas after the war the headlight and generator switched places. In addition, the DAP version features red marker lights mounted on the pilot beam, whereas the cataloged postwar version has classification lights mounted high on the boiler.

Built between 1914 and 1919, the Pennsylvania Railroad's fleet of L1s Mikados hauled freight through two world wars and served until the end of steam in 1957. Designed by the railroad's own mechanical engineers in tandem with the passenger-service K4s Pacifics, the Mikes replaced 2-8-0 Consolidations as the Pennsy's main line freight power. The L1s class - 574 strong - and the 425 class K4s Pacifics shared an identical boiler and many other common parts, giving shop crews nearly 1000 locos that were largely the same. While the "s" in L1s stood for superheater, the Mikados had few other modern appliances when built. The Walschaert valve gear was reversed by a heavy screw mechanism and the large firebox was hand shoveled.

As in previous DAP packages, we've also included a 2007 Christmas car and RailKing One Gauge box car.

A newly numbered Pennsylvania HO Scale K-4 steam engine rounds out the final item in the 2007 DAP package.

Finally, unlike past DAP programs, the 2007 edition includes several optional items that retailers can elect to obtain to complement the Norfolk Southern Executive Train. These add-on passenger cars allow the Executive train to double in size if desired and include (2) 2-car add-on sets as well as a full-length vista dome car.

Visitors to the M.T.H. website can review all of the contents of the 2007 DAP Program by CLICKING HERE.

These packages will be limited to two per M.T.H. Authorized Retailer. Check with your retailer to learn if they plan to put their sets up for sale.