The locomotive straight from the box. MTH even provide a load of real coal and a crew

Reviewed by Peter Smith

Over the years I’ve been pretty uncomplimentary about MTH locomotives. It’s time to put the record straight. In April 2017 John Smith and I were exhibiting our French narrow gauge layout at a show in Lille. It was a big exhibition, and of course we took the opportunity to have a good look at everything. That’s all we were doing, just looking…neither of us had any plans to model French railways beyond what we were already doing. Just looking! Well, I made the mistake of looking at a glass display case on the stand of Pierre Dominique, which is a large shop very much like the French version of Hatton’s. By far the bulk of their stand was covered in HO and N gauge models, as you’d expect, but in this display case were some O gauge locos, all SNCF. There was a fabulous 242 U1, a 141R and a 141P which translated is a 2-8-2 tender engine. Looking at the three there wasn’t much between them in terms of quality, all of them were superb. The U1 cost over 5000 euros, and the 141R wasn’t far behind…well out of my price bracket. The 141P, though, was much cheaper at 1600 euros. It was by MTH, an American firm who have produced a number of French locos over the years as well as some German ones and a Duchess for the UK market. I kept going back for another look and by Saturday of the three day show a card had appeared saying it was the last one they’d got. On Saturday afternoon all my good intentions went out of the window and I came back to the layout carrying a very large box. I hadn’t told John, and when he saw it he said ‘You haven’t?’ I had! There was only time to have a quick look at it during the show, so we were back home before we could examine the model properly. John was now saying things like ‘superb!’

MTH (it stands for Mikes Train House) have been in business for decades and they cater for two markets, finescale 2-rail O gauge and coarse scale 3 rail, which is still big in the US. The locos can be bought in both versions, but because of the coarse scale aspect, there have generally been some compromises to allow for ridiculously sharp curves, notably a yawning chasm between the loco and tender. I had a Bavarian pacific some years ago which suffered from this, and the fact that it stopped working rather coloured my opinion of the firm.

The 141P, though, is a different kettle of fish all together. The tender to loco drawbar has been redesigned and the gap is now to scale which makes a huge difference. The whole model is metal, weighs a ton, and is an incredible piece of work for the price. The electrics are complex because the engine can be switched between 3-rail and 2-rail, and DCC and the control system MTH use but which few on this side of the Atlantic seem familiar with. Once the switches are set to 2-rail and DCC, they can be forgotten about. The loco comes with sound, working lights and a smoke unit which is synchronised to the wheels and which sends smoke out of both holes of the double chimney. The tender already has a load of real crushed coal, and there is a footplate crew though these are toy-like and have been replaced with some Omen figures. The finish of SNCF green with red lining is flawless, and the various plates can be read easily. The cab detailing is a bit basic but little can be seen. There is the option of switching on a flickering fire that can be seen through the firehole door and is surprisingly effective. The 141P was a four cylinder compound, and the model has the inside valve gear which all works.

The gap between loco and tender is just right, which hasn’t been the case with older MTH models. This is a view of the weathered loco

The sound doesn’t just give the usual chuffs and whistles, there’s even a conversation between the driver and fireman among other novelties. The sound is in the tender which gives room for a nice big speaker, but on such a long engine it is obvious that the chuffs are coming from the wrong end.

The loco comes with very fine scale screw couplings; various other couplings come in a bag as spares but they can be ignored. One thing you do have to get used to with MTH locos is the way they are operated. It is a bit different from normal DCC, but nothing difficult, you just have to get used to it. One thing you cannot do is use a programming track as some of the electrical components don’t like it; instead, everything is done through programming on the main. To change the loco address you just alter CV1 from 3 to the number you want as long as it is only one or two digits to give a short address. When you want to run the loco, you have to switch it on which is not something we’re used to, but in fact it’s a good idea. When the loco is in the fiddle yard, for instance, you don’t want the smoke and sound on. To turn the loco on you press 3 twice and it all powers up ready to go. Pressing 3 twice then turns it all off again. You can turn the sound, lights and smoke on and off separately as well, of course, but 3 does it all at one command. The loco runs beautifully, and with all that weight haulage isn’t going to be a problem though that’s not something I’ve been able to test as yet. We’d hoped to give it a run on the test track at Doncaster but there was no provision for DCC. Perhaps organisers of Guild events could give this last comment some thought Of course, a little weathering brings the model to life and highlights all the lovely detail. As I have said, John’s reaction went from ‘What have you done?’ to ‘Superb!’ in the space of a couple of days. On the way home from Lille we’d begun talking about layouts and had decided that a loco shed would be ideal because we won’t need any coaches. Coaches take up a lot of room, especially the lengths of trains these engines pulled in the 1950s. A few days after we’d arrived home I got a phone call from John. Yes, he’d bought one too. In the UK Scalelink sell MTH models and they’d got all the versions of the 141P but I’m still glad that I bought mine at Lille because it brings back memories of the exhibition.

The Prototype

The 141P was a mixed traffic design which was intended to be a standard type for the newly formed SNCF which was created in 1938. Designed by Andre Chapelon, they were a typical French loco of the period, a large four cylinder compound. Unfortunately before the class could be constructed war broke out, but following the German armistice with France in 1940 the locos were built at the SNCF workshops. They were certainly not the ideal engines for use in wartime conditions, but mixed traffic locos were needed and there was not time to begin again with a simpler design.

The tender comes with a load of real crushed coal already in place, but I added the spilt lumps along the sides.

The 141Ps were powerful engines, generating 3000 horsepower, and they were efficient, using less coal and water than comparable two cylinder types. To put that into context, a 9F on a special test run generated 1500 horsepower. The top speed was 105kph, (65 mph), pretty good for a large 2-8-2 with quite small driving wheels. 318 locos were built in all but after the war such a complex design was less well suited to the times and the American designed 141R, a rugged, simple two cylinder machine of which there were 1323 in service by 1950 pretty much eclipsed the 141P. The 141Ps continued in service into the 1960s until the boilers were worn out but then they were withdrawn and none have been preserved. The 141P was very much the final flowering of the French approach to locomotive design, with compounding, four cylinders and a hugely efficient boiler. In the late 1930s it was a perfectly logical choice, but ten years later it was out of place on a post war railway that was short of staff for maintenance. The compound express engines were kept in top condition but for a mixed traffic type such complication was really an unnecessary luxury.

Weathering the loco really transforms it; it was all done using Railmatch enamels and brushes, nothing fancy. The main thing I did was to cover all the back with shades of grey and brown

The loco comes with a crew but they are shiny plastic and very toy like so I’ve replaced them with Omen figures which look much better.