I'm interested to see which post gets the larger response :o)
The biggest factor in the long life of S scale with so little actual
support from modelers is AF collectors and toy train enthusiasts. If
it wasn't possible to make products do dual service, scale/hi-rail,
there would be almont nothing available, and it would have gone the
way of TT.
Now here comes the fun part...The biggest hindrance to S scale's
developement is the AF folks and toy train enthusiasts. HO is about
scale, period. If you get into HO you have the scale world at your
command. Anything you buy when you begin as a novice will be useable
later when you mature. The same is true for N. O scale has a hard
line of demarkation where toy folks are in pretty much a separate and
distict hobby. If you visit someone's layout, you know before you go
what to expect. S is very muddy. I'm a model railroader. I am not
impressed with collections of AF. I don't even like looking at the
stuff. All the club web sites I've visited pretty much show the same
thing. Rows of shelves with AF. If they have a video, its a bunch
of guys standing aroung watching somone's trains run around through
toy-like scenery on plywood tables. Where are the descriptions of
operating sessions? Of switching layouts? Of model railroaders doing
somthing with their trains besides drinking beer and watching them go
in circles? When my layout is up and running, am I going to have to
invite HO people to operate it?
OK, so I'm an odd-ball. I'm a model railroader first, and I have no
alliegence to any particular scale. I'm going to enjoy my layout no
matter what the future holds for S scale. I'm going to make the most
of what's available and enjoy it as long as it lasts. I think most
people who are worried about the future of S, as with O, are only
concerned with who they are going to sell their stuff to when they
need the cash. Guess what?, HO and N scale guys don't worry about
that. Why? because they get value out of model railroading and not
collecting/investing in equipment. I will never buy anything I don't
need to accomplish the opperating goals I have established.
HO guys never talk about their scale relative to others. Why should
we? What difference does it make? Just enjoy what you are doing. I
have no intention of becoming an S scale evangelist. If I desire to
evangelize I'll do it where eternal values are at stake. This is just
not that important.
Ed Kozlowsky
Sanford, Maine
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