MTH Triplex Virginian 2-8-8-2 Like New

Here is a rare opportunity: an MTH 70-3024-1 VIRGINIAN RR 2-8-8-8-2 Triplex Engine.  A 1:32 G scale / Gauge 1 marvel, it will run with plain DC power: lights, rich speed-sensitive chuffing sound, smoke. Using MTH's DCS system will unlock whistle control and many other features. A DCS controller is not included.
 
This item has been graded per TCA standards C-8: Like New based on visual appearance. The instruction manual is included. The original box, which shows signs of its age, is included. 
 
This model makes a lot of fun smoke, so we include a free extra bottle of MTH 60-1051B Coal Proto Smoke Fluid - 2 oz.
 
Features: Detailed Polycarbonate Boiler and Tender Body Die-Cast Metal Chassis Authentic Paint Scheme Metal Wheels and Axles Constant Voltage Headlight Detailed Truck Sides (2) Precision Pittmanr Flywheel Equipped Motors Supplied with Remote Controlled Proto-Couplerr, hook & loop coupler, and drilled mounting pad for Kadee coupler Engineer and Fireman Figures Operating Firebox Glow Metal Handrails and Decorative Bell Decorative Metal Whistle Operating Marker Lights Lighted Cab Interior Numerous added-on details including piping, ladders, front end throttle, builder's plates, air pumps, pilot radiators, and metal bell, whistle, and handrails Synchronized Puffing ProtoSmoke System In Boiler & Tender Locomotive Speed Control Proto-Sound 2.0 With The Digital Command System Featuring: Freight Yard Proto-Effects Unit Measures:41" x 6 3/8" x 4 1/2" Operates On MTH R3 Curves. WE RECOMMEND 10 FEET DIAMETER MINIMUM CURVES.
 
MTH 2010 CATALOG DESCRIPTION:
Virginian RR - 2-8-8-8-2 Triplex Steam Engine 70-3024-1 w/Proto-Sound 2.0
 
P. T. Barnum would have loved the Triplex. It was an engine of superlatives: more drivers than anything before or since, too big for the shops of its owner, the Erie Railroad, powerful enough to pull a train nearly five miles long. Ninety years ago, in the days before multiple-unit control allowed one throttle to control several locomotives, the Triplex was the ultimate attempt to put as much power as possible in the hands of a single engineer. In the end, it proved a noble, flamboyant, but less-than-successful experiment.
 
Baldwin Locomotive Works built three triplexes between 1914 and 1916 for pusher service on the Erie Railroad's daunting Susquehanna Hill (also known as Gulf Summit) near Deposit, N.Y. The cylinders of the Triplex's middle engine were powered by high pressure steam direct from the boiler, while the front and rear engines used low pres- sure steam exhausted from the middle cylinders.
 
Each triplex replaced three ordinary helper engines, and the new locomotives worked well enough to stay on the Erie roster for more than a decade. But the design proved a bit over the top and only one more Triplex was ever built, for the Virginian Railway. Even with their huge boilers, the locomotives could only make enough steam to go 10 mph. One reason was poor draft in the firebox, because only the front cylinders exhausted through the smokebox and created draft; the rear cylinders exhausted through a separate smokestack on the tender. Another inherent problem with the design was that traction rom the rear engine decreased as the boiler used coal and water and the tender got lighter.
 
Our RailKing One Gauge Triplex recreates the sound, the smoke, and the flamboyance of the original design — but runs much better than the prototype ever did. Only M.T.H. engineering could make such a complex model run smoothly and steadily at speeds from a barely perceptible crawl to wide-open throttle. And our unique quillable smoking whistle, when operated with the M.T.H. DCS system, allows you to "play" the whistle just like a real engineer plays the whistle cord. Add the Triplex to your roster and experience the sheer visual drama of one of the grand experiments in early twentieth century heavy machinery.
 
FEATURES:
 
- Detailed Polycarbonate Boiler and Tender Body - Die-Cast Metal Chassis
- Authentic Paint Scheme
- Stainless Steel Wheels and Axles
 
- Constant Voltage Headlight
- Detailed Truck Sides
- (2) Precision Flywheel Equipped Motors - Engineer and Fireman Figures
- Operating Firebox Glow
- Metal Handrails and Bell
 
- Metal Whistle
- Supplied with Remote Controlled Proto-Coupler, Hook & Loop Coupler, and Drilled Mounting Pad for Kadee Coupler
 
- Operating Marker Lights
- Lighted Cab Interior
- Synchronized Puffing ProtoSmoke System In Boiler & Tender
 
- Locomotive Speed Control
 
- Quillable Smoking Whistle
- Numerous Added-On Details Including Piping, Ladders, Builder's Plates, Air Pumps, and Metal Bell, Whistle, and Handrails
 
- Proto-Sound 2.0 With The Digital Command System Featuring Freight Yard Proto-Effects
 
- Unit Measures: 41" x 6 3/8" x 4 1/2"