Gentlemen, Guess it's my turn to speak on this issue. Let me start
rambling! Way back when...I bought that little book that AF produced
written by Marshall McClintoff (might have that spelled wrong). In the
front chapters the case is made for the AF trains being better
proportioned than the zero guys trains. In that conversation the term
Hi-rail is mentioned in regards to AF trains.
Thus in my mind if we eliminate the narrow gauge for now, we have
two divisions hi-rail and smaller.. I suppose the division would be at
code 126. If the rail is code 126 or above they are running on hi-rail.
If the rail is 126 or smaller we default to what is commonly called
'scale' although it is a terrible term. Of course, the wheels that will
run on so called scale rail could be code 125, 110 or 88. I don't have
a clue what the code designation would be for running on hi-rail
trackage, but in my youth I did run the old Miller code 125 wheels
(along with AF flanges) on Gargraves track and turnouts with some luck.
In my opinion we have set up an artificial barrier when it comes to
dividing things into more than two designations. Just because the AF
X-29 is much more basic than Bill Lane's X-29 doesn't mean they can't
run on the same layout in the same train!
My AF X-29 along with a couple of AF flat cars have been modified and
detailed to where they fit in to the level of detail I like. The same
examples can be found in many HO gauge layouts where the owner will have
some cheepie Tyco boxcar, running behind a Atheran boxcar followed by a
Westerfield boxcar. The level of detail and prototype fidelity might be
vastly different but hardly anybody will separate them into different
classes and make them attend different conventions or meets. The
differences are generally by the quality of modeling one does.
I don't know exactly how to fit this into a marketing scheme to
sell the public on the variety of possibilities we offer. However, very
soon most casual observers at a train show will only think of AF as
total antiques, thus a name we should not cling to. I think all the
people with AF in the closets have been found and we must concentrate in
finding the guys from the other scales to hang with. In my business the
name Kodak has almost passed into history in five to ten short years!
remember at one time everybody got out their Kodak's for the vacation
and family shots! Currently we spend our money on names like Lexar,
Epson and LaCie in the photo business--what names are modelers going to
spend their money on?
Bob Werre
Roy Hoffman wrote:
>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
>
>
>
>
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