Loco(s) for Walthers 10-car Olympian Hiawatha

[Severity One]

The question has come up before, but the search showed that it was in 2014, and I figured I'd better not try and resuscitate a dead thread.

In November 2014, I found a full 10-car set of the Olympian Hiawatha on Ebay, in the orange/maroon colour scheme, mostly because I was infatuated with the Skytop. This was just before the Greek crisis broke out and the euro dropped like a brick against the dollar, so that was a stroke of luck.

The thing is, though, that I don't have a locomotive (or a set of them) for it. From the research I've done, these are some of the options:

• MTH Bi-polar (I've actually seen one here in Malta, but it's nowhere to be found these days)
• MTH Little Joe (my favourite, but really nowhere to be found)
• FM Erie-built (I've only seen brass, for over $2000)
• E7A/B set (not sure about the brand)

The E7A/B set looks like it might be around, but just last week I completed my B&O Capitol Limited with an A/B pair of E-units, so preferably it would be something different and more distinctive. Perhaps there are other options for loco(s) that I don't know of; I'm not too keen on steam, and anyway, with a Super Dome and Skytop I doubt it'd be an option.

So my question is really, which kind of loco could I get without too much trouble and without paying an extortionate amount? Or would it be best to keep an eye on Ebay? A small complication is that I live on an island in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, so I have to do everything via the internet.

- Peter

 

[Iron Horseman]

In November 2014, I found a full 10-car set of the Olympian Hiawatha on Ebay,

Wow, who made that. I have been wanting one of those for a long time. I've got the Walther's Twin Cities Hiawatha, and have even purchased some of the stuff to convert two of the coaches into the Touralux sleepers. That is a project I certainly would prefer not doing.

The thing is, though, that I don't have a locomotive (or a set of them) for it. From the research I've done, these are some of the options:

• MTH Bi-polar (I've actually seen one here in Malta, but it's nowhere to be found these days)
• MTH Little Joe (my favourite, but really nowhere to be found)
• FM Erie-built (I've only seen brass, for over $2000)
• E7A/B set (not sure about the brand)

So my question is really, which kind of loco could I get without too much trouble and without paying an extortionate amount? Or would it be best to keep an eye on Ebay?

Well, you can still get the set of locos Walther's produced for their set of the Twin Cities from Train World.
http://www.trainworld.com/manufactu...milwaukee-road-hiawatha-18a-18b-orange-black/. That is where I got mine a few years back.

For the used market Proto-1000 made the FM units. I don't think they had the silver band on the nose exactly right but 99.9% of everyone would not know that.

Like you, I would love a Little Joe or a Bi-Polar to pull it, but I refuse to purchase MTH products, so those are sort of off my list anyway regardless of price. As such I don't know much about them.

I think that is pretty much it unless one wants to go way back in time and try to find AHM E units or their C-Liners.

 

[Severity One]

Well, you can still get the set of locos Walther's produced for their set of the Twin Cities from Train World.
http://www.trainworld.com/manufactu...milwaukee-road-hiawatha-18a-18b-orange-black/. That is where I got mine a few years back.

Thanks, noted.

For the used market Proto-1000 made the FM units. I don't think they had the silver band on the nose exactly right but 99.9% of everyone would not know that.

Hmm, but now I know, and that's what counts... I'm a bit pedantic in that regard.

Like you, I would love a Little Joe or a Bi-Polar to pull it, but I refuse to purchase MTH products, so those are sort of off my list anyway regardless of price. As such I don't know much about them.

Why won't you buy from MTH, if I may ask? My trains will eventually end up in a 5m/17ft display case hanging on the wall, so how well they run is less of a concern.

- Peter

 

[montanan]

Nice to see someone interested in the Milwaukee Road. I was lucky enough to have ridden on the Hiawatha a number of times as well as the Northern Pacific North Coast Limited from Montana to Chicago when I was growing up.

I also loved the Sky Dome car, but being that I was a kid, the adults had a tendency to run me out of there even though we were always traveling first class.

Here's a link to MB Klein showing what they have available for the Milwaukee Road. http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/SearchResults.asp?Search=Milwaukee+road+locomotives&Submit=

I wouldn't mind having a full Hiawatha passenger train, but unfortunately even though my freelance railroad does connect to the Milwaukee Road, a full passenger train would not hace shown up on my layout. I do have a full North Coast Limited, but it too would not have shown up.

We of course were behind a Little Joe leaving where we lived in Montana to Harlowtown where electrification ended and I always wondered what power would be taking us east from there. It could be EP-7's, a C-Liner or even an Erie Built. You never knew.

 

[Severity One]

Thanks for the links. I posted a reply yesterday, but that appears to have, well, disappeared.

I'm not familiar with True Line Trains. Any word on how accurate their C-Liners are? Online reviews are hard to find and any discussions are from 2009 or before.

Like you, I would love a Little Joe or a Bi-Polar to pull it, but I refuse to purchase MTH products, so those are sort of off my list anyway regardless of price. As such I don't know much about them.

Interesting. Why wouldn't you want to buy MTH?

- Peter

 

[Severity One]

Right, I just realised I made a mistake. The set of cars that I have is of the Twin Cities Hiawatha, which automatically excludes the electrics. So it looks indeed like it's going to be the E7A/A set.

- Peter

 

[trailrider]

Don't know where you'd find one, but how about a Walther Proto2000 E6? Don't know if that's a legitimate historical choice, but Walthers did market one awhile back.

 

[Iron Horseman]

Interesting. Why wouldn't you want to buy MTH?

MTH with frivolous law suits, claiming they owned technology that had been in common use in the MR community for years, halted innovation in the MR industry (especially with the electronics like DCC & sound - the biggest being the back EMF issue) for 3-5 years. I can only guess that they were trying to establish their own proprietary DCS as a major player in the HO train control market. These suites also had side effects such as bankrupting or nearly put out of business several other vendors, taking several good models off the market. Some of those same models have come back with MTH branding but at nearly twice the price.

Further, their marketing at the time was what one would more typically see in negative political campaigns. I used one of their ads as an example of "poor marketing" for a project in one of my marketing classes.

They could make the 100% best running locomotive, with 100% best detail, for a model that I could not get anywhere else, for a wonderful price and I still would not buy it.

 

[Severity One]

@trailrider: Actually, yesterday I found a new Walthers Proto 2000 E7 A/A set (the 920-47951, with locos 19A and 19B) for €200, which is around $220. And actually from Germany, so I don't have any issues with tax or custom fees. (Value Added Tax and custom fees would add easily 20% to the price.) ETA is Wednesday, which I think is somewhat optimistic, but that was a stroke of luck.

@Iron Horseman: fair enough. There have been some unpleasantries between some European manufacturers, but not to this extent. Of course, the Chinese owner of Modern Gala running away with all the money was a bit of a setback for LS Models, one of my favourite brands.

Thanks, everybody, for the help. For the moment, I'll stop buying American trains, because there are these issues such as buying food, paying bills, and sending my kid to school. There's still the sole HHT-8 that needs a consist, but I'll wait and see what else Walthers Proto come up with.

- Peter

 

[montanan]

Glad that you found what you needed and at a reasonable price. You'll have to post of photo of the train.

 

[Iron Horseman]

Thanks, everybody, for the help. For the moment, I'll stop buying American trains, because there are these issues such as buying food, paying bills, and sending my kid to school.

I think we all have that problem - buy trains or pay bills hmmm decisions, decisions.

If I ever get a Touralux sleeper side cut or printed I'll run you off a few two so you can begin to convert that twin cities to a Cascade Hiawatha.

 

[lmackattack]

a former club member past away 2 years ago and left his equipment to his best friend ( another club member). The new owner spread some of the equipment to other members. I was fortunate to receive a complete set of the walthers 1955 twin city Hiawatha. Power comes from E7's # 19 and 19A.

Here is a vid of it

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bIutQXFYaK0