MTH makes a decent toy train. I don't know that, except for the recent Big Boy mess, anybody could accuse them of making junk. They have good solid and proven drives, their shells and frames are great, they are heavy pullers, and they have good sounds. Unfortunately, maybe to save development costs, dunno, they entered the HO market with a hi-rail O gauge orientation, and boy did they miss the mark! Right away there were lawsuits galore, and PM's between members on forums scattered here and there, and between many of those forumites and Mike Wolf, but we got nowhere. No budging...so don't ask us again. That alone was enough to make me give up and keep buying the usual suppliers, and I have never once been disappointed in a single locomotive....well, except for that one wretched Bachmann Spectrum Series J Class....yikes...!
Then, I couldn't help myself, but when MTH announced they were going to release that beauty queen of steamers known as the Union Class, the UP's 9000 series 4-12-2, I was all eyes, ears, and lust. Then came the reality - an articulated frame with smokebox overhang a-la-Big Boy. Except, if the UP had wanted the Union to work like a Big Boy, they would have named it Big Boy. That spelled the end for me. Nowadays, it seems MTH's term of reference, or anchor, in the HO world is BLI, their Nemesis. When BLI announces a model, so does MTH. They managed to flub the Big Boy terribly this time, their J Class, although metal, is highly overpriced, and are they not doing a Pennsy 2-8-0, just like BLI? They have also done the Mohawk, like BLI, and the Dreyfus Hudson, like BLI.
I don't know if any of you know what schadenfreud is, but it's that little joyous shiver you get when you know someone else is getting all the bad attention and you feel secure....and on top. I would bet big bucks the boys at BLI are just a little pleased with this cave-in by Mike Wolf who has at last smelled the coffee. Or, maybe they are unhappy because MTH is slowly coming around to actually offering what we have asked for all along?
One last personal observation - no matter which command control system, I don't use any F Functions above 8. I tried F42, Toilet Flush, but I thought is was a wash.