Mike's Train House

MTH. Perhaps the one company that US toy train enthusiasts either love or loath. The history began in 1973 when Mike Wolf was aged 12, and started assembling reproduction Lionel trains, for Jerry Williams, proprietor of Williams Electric Trains, and now part of the Bachman empire. Within a few years, Wolf was running a mail order business from his parents' home, supplying Williams trains and parts. Jerry Williams withdrew from that market, and sold the tooling to Mike Wolf, who continued the production and sales of reproduction Lionel trains. By the 1980s, Mike Wolf, trading as Mike's Train House, was trading as a Lionel sub contractor, and, by the 90s, was the second largest mail order toy train business in the US.

It all ended in tears, in 1993, when then Lionel owner Richard Kughn terminated the agreement between MTH and Lionel, due to competition between the two companies. MTH sued Lionel, and settlement was agreed out of court, in 1995. MTH expanded their product line and, by 1998, were larger than Lionel in terms of market share. The rivalry between the two companies was intense, and has not been helped by court cases which are ongoing. MTH sued Lionel and, in 2004, were awarded damages of USD 40.8 million, although the original trial was overturned and a new trial ordered. The case continues.

MTH are market leaders in the 0 gauge world, although their products are not really suitable for this site, with one exception; tinplate traditions. These models, in both 0 gauge and Standard Gauge, are remanufactured reproductions of pre war tinplate trains, and a few are illustrated below.

710 and 712

812

814

816

817

Is it my imagination, or are MTH and Lionel issuing more new catalogs than trains each year?

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2002

2004

2005

2007

2008