Ed and Friends, Much of what you have mentioned is quite true. However, tooting our own horn has been done via the several S magazines that we have or have had. Those magazines and the NASG has created a very loyal bunch of followers. However it really doesn't do much good unless the masses (those thousands at the train shows for instance) see S when they have money in their pockets. We've all heard the stories of HO guys who would switch to S iff'in they didn't have tons of HO stuff. Very few will change because they have it so good where their at. We have to get them early at the same time the market is shrinking. Both AM and SHS have made 'train sets' in one form or another but they are seldom seen at the typical train show, much less demonstrated. However we all see tables of very tired AF Atlanics, red cabooses and boxes of rusty track! Talk about a way of discouraging a potential convert or beginner!
I see our history as two parellel roads with a crossover. One road was the AF road where thousands of kids got their Christmas trains from the Sears or Wards stores. Maybe for a few years the accessories came and little Johnny grew up. It was a pretty smooth road as AF was generally available until the mid 60's. Now if our friend Johnny, got a little more interested in his trains he would buy a magazine or two and be shown the developing wide world of HO. Perhaps his buddy's were also at a cross roads regarding their Marx, Lionel and AF trains. So at that time it was easy to trash the toy trains and get a whole pile of stuff pretty cheap--you had Roundhouse, Manatua, Athearn, Penn Line and a ton of other reasonably made stuff. The road into HO was pretty smooth at that time and of course, is like a super highway right now. : But you say, Johnny decided to stay in S but wanted more than just AF! That's when he took the crossover and found out the "other road" was pretty rough with the previously mentioned lack of dependable stuff (face it how many kids or guys could solder together a Nord engine especially without a motor). So the folks we have now are the ones who are generally loyal and can live with what we have. The job of the NASG and the manufacturers is to show everybody that the road is now really quite smooth, but that's not really happening enough of the time. SHS can't drag their layout and display to every train show in the country, but Athearn and Overland do! To my knowledge AM doesn't have any presence at any of the shows. It also costs a lot of money for the NASG to have a presence at the shows. Generally speaking our two majors do not run ads (other than little coop ads) in the scale magazines, so they cannot expect to garner support from the those magazine publishers nor pickup new customers from their subscribers. So you're right when it comes to tooting our own horn--just that it's a peanut whistle in an empty forest many times! I am personally very happy where I'm at in my modeling, I have most of my layout built. I am awaiting my new gondola and a future UP engine from Cryer Gray. Maybe I can pick up another Milwaukee caboose from River Raisin. I'm getting into group operating sessions, I have open house when the time arises (Nov. 10-11th). I've tried to help our manufacturers sell their products by providing forward thinking and my photography skills (traded for new trains) but that has pretty much ended. So I'm not sure what our future will bring but like Ed says we have more past than future. The soccer balls out there needing a few good kicks! Bob Werre BobWphoto.com Ed Kozlowsky wrote: > Years ago the O scale community decided it was in their best interest > to abandon the mainstream in favor of O specific publications and > organizations. I don't think I understand why it is that S scale > thinks it matters what Model Railroader does, or for that matter the > NMRA. They are devoted to N and HO, but mainly HO. S scale has to > stand on its own feet without any help from without. HO will "always" > be the dominant scale because it runs well, looks good, and can be fit > into a reasonable space. The proliferation of HO offerings is because > of these facts, not the other way around. Denying that makes us > cranks, not holders of the holy grail. O scale was never mentioned in > MR either until one of their biggest advertisers, Atlas, went into O > in a big way. If Atlas ever buys S Helper Service or American Models > you will see an instant jump in S stock. I like S and am willing to > put up with the limitations. Most others don't see the point and > frankly, I'm not all that > certain we have a point to make other than we just fell in love with > it. In the days of open frame motors and analog controls, the extra > mass of S had some commendable characteristics, but now? I'm not so > sure how important it is. I don't give a hoot about AF, and I don't > particularly care what influence it had on S "scale". I'm just happy > so much is available now in scale equipment. > > For those of us who have a great deal more past than future I guess > dwelling in the past has some comfort, but obvious as the phrase is, > there's no "future" in it. I'd like to see some effort expended by the > "Prophets of S" on producing a publication like Joe Giannovario did > for O scale. He published a modern guide to O scale where enough > pictures and information were presented in an attractive magazine > format to make people believe that O scale had more than "history" to > offer. You will virtually never hear the name Lionel mentioned among O > "scalers". If this is a scale group, why is AF still so much a topic > of conversation? > > Let's get out of the past and move on, taking advantage of our > strengths, and blowing our own horn. If anyone wants to begin the > Guide to Modern S Scale, I'll volunteer to do what I can to help. > Maybe someone new and naive is needed to break with the past and be > optimistic about the future. > > Ed Kozlowsky > Sanford, Maine > > Bill Rigsby <[EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:silvergost1%40yahoo.com>> > wrote: > I have read all the responses on the subject, however what is missing, > is that in the eyes of Model Railroader, and Model Railroading, is > that they just don't get it. > >From their perspective, S is still a Toy Train scale, and not a > "real" model railroad scale. Even when the S manufactures place a full > page ad, they still write articles about scale autos in HO, and O, and > don't ever mention S. > I have also noticed that when they print technical articles, they will > for example say, wire size is 12 AWG, for O, 16 AWG for HO, and 20 AWG > for N, and completely over look S. However they all say are > publications for "all" Model Railroader. > > Bill rigsby > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around > http://mail.yahoo.com <http://mail.yahoo.com> > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! 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