Right on Howard! (there's room under my layout to ward off the stones
for you too). Our club, the Houston S Gaugers, do several shows a year
and half the conversations with the viewing public revolve around
explaining the differences within our scale. Keeping it simple for
everybody is in our best interest if our scale is to survive.
Case in point if Ed's AF only friends want to expand their numbers
where are they going to get equipment from. Since they won't purchase
Flyonel, AM or SHS they are going to have to pay a ton of money for a
new AF Northern--my guess well over $1000. So those guys might want to
keep the good old daze for themselves but when it comes to some baby
boomer or young father wanting to buy trains--forget it! I once popped
into a train show in Odgen, Utah almost by accident. There was a very
nice Hi-rail layout there with some nicely modified AF stuff made to
look like UP stuff. I introduced myself to them, then after awhile
asked them why nobody was running any Southwind SP/UP consolidations
(hi-rail versions of course) and the gentlemen said they only ran AF!
If I were a hi-rail guy and liked the UP, I guess I would not be welcome
in that club if I wanted to run that Southwind engine! I also pity the
poor dealer who is stocking a couple of those engines thinking they
would be right for that club's members.
Another case: One of our newer members who operates a small
Hi-rail layout (not sure who's track) but he is somewhat frustrated
because he owns some older AF, some of the new Flyonel with their
command/sound control, the new SHS with it's Locomatic, and the two
button controller on his AM stuff! I pity the poor dealer trying to
explain all that to a guy who just wants to run trains--no matter what
scale. His system makes DCC like a walk in the park. Look what's
happening in HO where all the wheels are (mostly) the same and even the
powering (whether straight DC or DCC) is all in one package.
Additionally many have Kadee compatible type couplers installed. So now
HO, formerly the scale of kit builders, has become the scale of RTR,
where S and O have become the scales of confusion, multi track systems,
multi control systems and separate little cults. This is not a good
environment for any of our suppliers.
Our only S friendly train shop in Houston, was opened by Ben
Pearlman (Ben, who recently passed away, was big in the NMRA nationally
and a local icon). Ben took me aside once and asked me why guys from
our club weren't buying much of his stuff! I explained that much of his
stock was AM's hi-rail engines and rolling stock and that we were mostly
using scale flanges. So buying his stock means, purchasing new wheels
from AM, throwing away the large couplers and in the case of the engines
rewire them without the E unit which is a costly chore. At this time
they have in stock K line track, Gargraves track, AM track and SHS track
--all different size rail and widely different
looking track. Again not an easy solution for some counter clerk who is
generally more familiar with HO trackage.
I also seem to recall a very nicely published magazine dedicated to
the scale guys published by Ed L. A similar but smaller version later
was published by Billy Wade for awhile only to be later republished by
Richard Benedover. I can only guess that the number of copies sold
have been short of being profitable because there are way too many
divisions in our very minority scale already and, just maybe, not enough
effort has been made to make things work together (SHS's idea of putting
both sets of wheels in there products was a step in the right direction).
Although I gotten a bit long winded, I still believe the simpler we
keep things the better off we are! Think hard wood and soft wood and
not really soft wood! Think Republican or Democrat not six kinds of
Libertarian! and even better think Mac and PC now running on the same
system! what a wonderful world to come!
Bob Werre
Howard Sheffield wrote:
>
> Hello Everyone
>
> As a dealer who constantly has to explain the difference between hi
> rail and scale, I most fervently agree that we need to keep it simple
> on the difference as Bob explains his veiw. Confusion can mean lost
> sales and new S members.
>
> Howard Sheffield
> Howard' S Trains
>
>
> Friends, all this discussion brings up my point exactly. It is again:
> if your operating AF, Flyonel, SHS with big flanges you are a
> hi-railer! If you decide that your only going to own AF from 1952
> fine--but your still operating on hi-rail track with big flanges! Now
> if your layout consists of three engines one AF, one SHS and one
> from AM
> and your rolling stock is of similar vein running on hand laid
> code 172
> track, Kadee couplers, beautiful scenery and sound equipped DCC --you
> still are a hi-railer (but with a nicer layout). I doubt if the hard
> core guys are really operating a total AF layout--my guess is that
> there
> is some Plasticville and maybe some LifeLike trees on that
> layout--just
> like the display people at the Gilbert factory who built those
> hi-rail
> layouts used in stores to sell AF trains.
> I think it's important to get rid of 50 years of confusion that is
> holding back our scale!
>
> Bob Werre
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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