Same s***, different day.

[Neil]

Good to hear from you Marty. You did well. And you didn't have to bully anyone who was having trouble with the product, because they were too stupid or ignorant.

One of the things I found most unpleasant about the late Barry Broskowitz was that he was so intolerant of others and attributed all problems to user error rather than acknowledging that the product was inadequately designed and implemented. He didn't see that a product should be designed so that mere mortals could make it work almost all the time.

Some of the discord in the hobby came from such behavior, in my view. I know I contributed a bit myself, but I was a bit player compared with the MTH true believers. The pitched battles over the lawsuit, and MTH's and their fanatics constant refrain that they were the greatest and Lionel sucked were major factors in making the hobby a war zone on-line. I'm truly glad those days are long gone. While I enjoy a good argument as much as anyone, this was often nasty and personal stuff.

[ScaleCraft]

The issue of books and seminars is a real hoot to me. When I was in business, I did radio control, later with sound (primarily Soundtraxx Sierra) and batteries (NiCad and later NiMH)

We used to sit around laughing about i. At one point, the brand we used was called "Simplicity RC" and it really was...and is. Had 3 year olds get brought over by their folks, we put the controller in their hnd, showed them what to do, and couldn't get it away from them. Ran the rain, speed up, slow down, stop, reverse, blow the whistle, ring the bell.

And we decided we needed to have seminars at the conventions like every body else NEEDED.

Tried to write a book on how to make it work, how to make it work better, how to troubleshoot...and we couldn't come up with enough to fill one page much less a book.

Didn't have to worry about star wiring, uploading new firmware or software, programming transmitters or receivers, never had a TIU (or whatever) fail. Then Hairwire came along and tried to convince everyone they could run 999 trains at once. No.
Argued with competitors who were using that to point out any possible shortcomings.

Finally one of the guys who runs here ran into one of those competitors at a convention, and said competitor launched into my buddy about ho I was a clueless moron, that Hairwire could run 999 trains at once, and where did I come off telling him they couldn't?

My buddy told him what I told him....8. As in 8 in a convention hall, no matter the scale, total.
Told him to walk over to the Hairwire booth and asked...and he tagged along.

Hairwire guy said "999". My buddy asked, "How many at once?" "999".
Asked aging, pointing out he could get several club members over to TELL the Hairwire guy how many.

"8".

But you know, if we'd a known about ol' Barry, we coulda got him to write a book for us. End up with thousands of starry eyed followers.

BTW, what ever happened to Dave Hickel? I think that's how the last name is spelled.
All over DCS, worked to make the stupidphone 3.0 work with it (did do it with a tablet..saw it..and THAT was stupid...two hand to operate it), and one day, POOF! he was outta here, no longer one of Mikey's Favourite People.

Never did find out what pixxed Mikey off. Folks speculated Dave was drawing more attention than Mikey was getting.

[rogruth]

Maybe this should be posted as a new topic but part fits here.

I have two questions.

I. Are we really sure Mike Wolfe is retiring and his announced retirement is not just a ploy to stimulate interest in MTH?

2. Will the three variations of the MTH locomotive control system work with traditional control?
The only sounds I really like are the whistle/horn and bell.

[chuck]

I. Are we really sure Mike Wolfe is retiring and his announced retirement is not just a ploy to stimulate interest in MTH?

Pretty macabre way to "stimulate interest" by selling your headquarters and everything in it. He has made noises about this for about 2 years.

Will the three variations of the MTH locomotive control system work with traditional control?
The only sounds I really like are the whistle/horn and bell.

You mean PS-1, PS-2, PS-3? If so, yes. No signal, loco's revert to conventional mode.

[Neil]

"I. Are we really sure Mike Wolfe is retiring and his announced retirement is not just a ploy to stimulate interest in MTH?"

In addition to Chuck's points, the guy has apparently been pretty much living in Florida for some time. He wants out. The fact that no one wants to buy or continue the business suggests that the future is not all that bright, and he's getting out while the getting is reasonably good.

[G3750]

The issue of books and seminars is a real hoot to me. When I was in business, I did radio control, later with sound (primarily Soundtraxx Sierra) and batteries (NiCad and later NiMH)
...
Tried to write a book on how to make it work, how to make it work better, how to troubleshoot...and we couldn't come up with enough to fill one page much less a book.

That was very much the case with TMCC. I am friends with Bob Bartizek, who wrote an article in OGR (December 2006) on the 1-2 TMCC issues and how to correct them. The article is/was pretty much all you needed - to this day.

The accompanying article on DCS was written by the late Barry Broskewitz. In it, I learned a number of things that weren't part of his "DCS commandments", which eventually became the nucleus of his books. I was furious that a) information to make the system work was being withheld and b) MTH had nothing to say - no enhanced documentation - just their stupid insistence that "DCS was easy". That was the tipping point for me.

BTW, what ever happened to Dave Hickel? I think that's how the last name is spelled.
All over DCS, worked to make the stupidphone 3.0 work with it (did do it with a tablet..saw it..and THAT was stupid...two hand to operate it), and one day, POOF! he was outta here, no longer one of Mikey's Favourite People.

Never did find out what pixxed Mikey off. Folks speculated Dave was drawing more attention than Mikey was getting.

Dave Hikel is alive and well. I just corresponded with him about an MTH signal - very nice guy, helpful.

George

[ScaleCraft]

Dave Hikel is alive and well. I just corresponded with him about an MTH signal - very nice guy, helpful.

George

Met the guy a time or two. His involvement with DCS showed my I would never, ever do that.
HUGE dug out basement in this guy's house, tracks and trains everywhere, 5-6 guys doing wiring, scenery, track, buildings.
And walking around with a tablet you could "dock" for updates, I guess.

Just before he came out with stupidphone 3.0 control.

[MartyE]

Barry definitely had a gruff side but I always found him to be good to talk to one on one. We sometimes talked via email and even a few phone calls when the restaurants we were using closed. We finally dropped the meal portion of our meeting.

I know Barry wasn't everybody's cup of tea but I got along with him. I can definitely see where he could be downright snippy at folks though.

A few years back Andy E asked me about possibly combining our meetings but it really never went anywhere.

[Neil]

Andy seemed like the voice of reason in a somewhat crazy company.

[rogruth]

I. Are we really sure Mike Wolfe is retiring and his announced retirement is not just a ploy to stimulate interest in MTH?

Pretty macabre way to "stimulate interest" by selling your headquarters and everything in it. He has made noises about this for about 2 years.

Will the three variations of the MTH locomotive control system work with traditional control?
The only sounds I really like are the whistle/horn and bell.

You mean PS-1, PS-2, PS-3? If so, yes. No signal, loco's revert to conventional mode.

1. The interest thing I saw on a different forum. Just wondered what people I trust thought.
2. Are there other problems with the MTH locos that are not associated with the control
system that would affect traditional control ? Quality control? Reliability?

[ScaleCraft]

1. The interest thing I saw on a different forum. Just wondered what people I trust thought.
2. Are there other problems with the MTH locos that are not associated with the control
system that would affect traditional control ? Quality control? Reliability?

I have worked on my fair share of MTH stuff. Almost always it involves gutting the electronics and putting in an electronic reverse unit. Not one of those were for folks who wanted sound, or smoke.
The drives seem robust enough. Haven't had a bad motor or gears on any of them.
One of the issues with almost every one I opened was pinched wires. There are so many wires, and just no enough real estate. Never been opened engines, pinched wires, and if they weren't shorted now, they would have been with age, handling and vibration.
The only one I can think of that didn't get gutted was a Standard Gauge MTH copy of an Ives, 1134 I think.
Two or three months later the speaker let out a loud noise, and it was dead.
Came back and got a Dallee reverser, now it's fine, and no sound, just like the rest of their SG locos.

[rogruth]

Thanks all. I doubt if I will ever have an MTH loco but thought the info would be good to know.

[chuck]

I agree with Dave 100%. I only briefly had a PS-2 subway set that the dealer "accidentally" ordered for me (I actually wanted a DCRU unit but that wasn't possible so I settled for "LocoSounds"). Unit came in and it was behaving badly right out of the box. Took it back to the dealer and we ran it on the test layout. I started smoking! I remarked that I didn't think that was an option on subway sets. We took it apart on the bench and found that the wiring harness was shorting out because the extremely sharp screws that held the body shell to the frame were cutting through the harness. Short harness stretched tight and a sharp screw thread did the dirty deed. The PS-2 boards were shot. He sent it back and I got the loco sound unit (terrible sounds).

About 50% of the issues with MTH units he sold were software related (scrambled boards, user IQ errors) and the remaining 49% were electronics, bad boards, loose boards, pinched/nicked wires, poorly routed/assembled wiring harnesses. Less than 1% were mechanical. The engines were well designed and mechanically well assembled.

My RailKing Dash 8-32 BW was torn down to the frame and I used a Red Caboose GP-9 kit to make my Erie unit.





I was able to salvage the fuel tank by machining the bottom so I could reverse it and I replaced the side castings with Lionel Blombergs. Frame, motors, gears, trucks all MTH original. New TMCC boards and led lights and a kit bashed GP-9 shell. Looks good, runs great.

[G3750]

Someone forgot to tell him to get a 2 year tech school degree in digital electronics along with a library of publications on DCS application and trouble shooting. Once you get past all that, DCS becomes easy to use and troubleshoot.

John,

The 2-year degree just isn't going to cut it. You've got a guy on OGR who has a PhD in EE. He designs circuitry for NASA at Jet Propulsion Laboratories (JPL); that's who's fixing DCS issues. Yeah, a full-fledged, dyed in the wool rocket scientist.

That's the kind of technical firepower you need, apparently.

But remember - "DCS is simple".

George

[ScaleCraft]

Or the Aristo T/E (Trash Electronics)....advertised by the great Lewis Polk hisself as "better than DCC".
No.