Roy, et al, It seems to me that the difficulty lies partly in the excellent quality of today's model railroad equipment. While there formerly was a distinctly different appearance and at least somewhat different operating parameters to "tinplate", "hi-rail" and "scale," today it is sometimes difficult to tell the difference. Witness the very good detail, for instance, that Lionel has put into the Mikado. While even this level of detail and accuracy might not impress p64 folks, judging from comments on the two lists, there were a number of scale people who at least considered buying one. Yet it is an American Flyer engine, albeit one that A. C. never produced, and even arrives in the traditional Gilbert blue and yellow box. This blurring or merging of the various levels of accuracy to scale, and of detail in our models would seem to be on a welcome upward spiral. A similar phenomenon has happened in O gauge: at least two manufacturers offer exactly the same looking equipment in three-rail and two rail scale. So, when someone asks me to explain the difference between tinplate, hi-rail and scale, I in turn ask him/her: "What do you want in your train equipment and/or layout?" If they say they love operating accessories, sound, etc., then I suggest looking at vintage Flyer, Lionel Flyer, SHS and AM, K-line and some of the MTH accessories. If they want a "realistic-looking railroad" and talk about how they would love to build structures and scenery, I suggest SHS, AM, some of the brass importers, and suggest buying the Scenery Unlimited catalog. And then I tell them about the various track options, of which we now have several. At the outcome, instead of trying to define the narrowing DIFERENCES between the three ways of thinking about S, I try to determine what the individual wants out of the hobby, and to steer that person in a direction that makes sense for them. As the person progresses in the hobby, the "nuances" of the various ways of looking at S will be revealed. Just my two cents... Roy Inman
> From: Roy Hoffman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Tue, 04 Oct 2005 11:57:07 +0000 > To: [email protected] > Subject: [S-Scale Modeling] Re: Question of ignorance... > > Tom, > > This would be a good time to once and for all define the sectors of S > scale in a way that we can educate the general public. "S Curves" is > meant to cover all of S. MRN is set up that way in that it covers all > aspects of model trains from toy to finescale. If the column was in MR > or CTT, it would of course, be slanted towards the intent of those > pubs. This does present the problem of mixing announcements of AF, > hi-rail and scale. From time to time I've tried to explain some of the > differences, but I'm not sure how well I'm doing. As this thread has > shown, it ain't easy. I would welcome any suggestions. Thinking beyond > MRN, it would be nice to have a good basic definition to use in > general. S will benefit greatly if we can pull it off. > > As for your comment that there is more relative animosity & > polarization in "O" because of the center 3rd rail. It's nice to hear > such an observation, because in the past we've had contention at > times. We're more on the same page now and realize that we have a > common purpose. > > Roy To REPLY to the list, use REPLY ALL; to reply to the sender, use REPLY. For those of you on DIGEST mode, all REPLY messages go to the list (remember to edit the SUBJECT of your message). Change message settings, use our CALENDAR or LINKS, view shared files or photos, view the list archives, GO TO http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
