Friday, May 22, 2026

MTH Maggi car

In 2013, MTH (Mike's Train House) advertised some European freight cars in their Premier line to go along with their foreign steam engines that it had been offering. Some of the trains (like the Orient Express) were really beautiful but apparently there wasn't enough of a market for theme both here in the USA and abroad. After a number of years, the line was discontinued. This was before I had switched to O scale and I didn't know much about them, but if they were available now I would probably be very interested. 



A couple of years ago I came across one car that caught my eye. I found one vendor selling it but I had to set my online account and there were issues with that, and by the time it was done the car was sold. Since then, I have been on the look for Itemm #20-99042, the "Maggi" liveried freight wagon. It was available in two car numbers, 91701 and 91702, with either 2-rail scale or 3-rail with tinplate wheels. Perhaps one road number was dedicated for each option. 


Occasionally we see "Maggi" brand seasonings in the supermarket and I wonder what they taste like but can't recall ever trying them. This website has some information on them. Per that site, "In 1986, the Maggi company introduced Maggi liquid seasoning, a dark-colored, vegetable protein-based sauce."

I don't know if a real prototype boxcar was ever painted to advertise it, but if so I would love to find pictures of it. I doubt I will run this car much but it certainly will look nice on display. 


After searching randomly on Ebay for several years, I posted a want-ad on the OGR Magazine forum and one kind gentleman offered to sell me his. He had several different MTH cars that he was willing to swap chassis with so it could be either a 2R or a 3R car. I picked 3-rail, and he substituted some spoked wheels from another project to match the prototype better. The couplers are the stock, non-operating Lionel style knuckle couplers.  

I wonder if anything else is out there?

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