and he notes -
Many years ago John Page wrote an editorial (entitled an 'Egap Fable)
about a 'Pink Engine' and how the idea of having such a model grew
from one man's complaints like Topsy. The hullabaloo continued until
one manufacturer took up the task and produced the loco with the
result that there was only ONE sale. It would appear that this group
is doing about the same thing.
Consider this as a Hgielar Fable, so t' speak...
A long time S Gauger (call him 'Pinky') becomes dissatisfied with the
S-Scale site - "Not pure enough." He says, "Too many non-strictly
non-S Scale members. We 'S-Scalers" must conform to a higher standard
than the average modeler. After all just because Hi-Railers support
the scale doesn't mean we should have to put up with them."
And it came to pass that a new web site was set up and the list of
members carefully gone over to insure that only "pure" S-Scalers
would be welcome. "Now at last we have the site where we can express
ourselves without having to put up with inane questions from new S
Gaugers or tolerate those whose models are not pure scale."
But alas, it wasn't long before someone posted an idea about a fire
truck that he found in a toy store that came close to pure S-Scale
but was slightly off. "That's not good enough for our group." Pinky
said and the member, now rebuffed quit the site. It wasn't long
before a picture was posted by a member showing a string of converted
AF hoppers. They had extra details and ladders and brake rigging so
that one may assume they were scratch built. But 'Pinky' knew: "We
can't have converted Flyer on our site." He said, "Even though they
look like scale we all know that deep down they started out as a toy
and we can't have that now can we!"
So another member bites the dust and then another for using an H0
bridge and another for having rail height that wasn't a pure 100 lb
prototypically correct S-Scale trackage. That caught several members
whose rail were a couple millimeters too tall. "Track is basic to
S-Scale." 'Pinky' stated, "How can we maintain perfection if our
trains run on unsightly rail?"
More members were asked to leave for using couplers that weren't on
the approved list and another for having the gall to install a
converted, fully operating super detailed Plasticville (ala Vic
Roseman) conversion. "Can't have any of that here." He said, "Imagine
what would happen if all our structures were rebuilt from non-S-Scale
resources."
It wasn't long before the correct number of rivets on a shovel handle
became an issue and then the correct size for pea-coal. As more
offenders were uncovered the web site shank to a handful and finally
'Pinky' attained perfection. Only his layout remained 'pure' enough
to stand the test. Needless to say, the site flourished under his
moderation. No Flyer conversions, no out of place rivets and only the
purest S-Scale posts were allowed. Of course his was the only such
posts as others (as he stated) who were not 'pure' had gone back to
that 'other' site where ideas were controversial and lively, (if not
provocative) notions abounded.
Now is there a moral? Of course. Every fable has one. Web sites are
cheap. Ten bucks (or less) buys you one and membership can be
restricted and restricted until only those members who think alike
can join. But the solution raises a question - where's the
commeradery? Where's the exchange of new ideas and the help given to
new members? There are only so many hours in a day and vacillating
between one web site or another will soon get old. (Not to mention
the work involved in keeping it 'pure'.
My opinion of course, and I'm not a 'purist'. I like all of it and
have found many ideas and suggestions on this list as helpful and
even the controversies (such as this one) lively. It always amazes me
how some subjects go 'round and 'round and come out about the same as
when they started.
A pure Scale web site would be of little interest to me. But the
notion is interesting. Bill Fraley could pass out white chocolate to
the purists and dark chocolate to those who stay with this list.
(It's no secret that I like dark chocolate so I guess I'd stay put).
Raleigh in sunny Maine
P. S. "Groundhog Day" was a take-off on Ebenezer Scrooge where the
hero sees his own shortcomings by repeating the day over and over
much as the Dickens character did with the 'ghosts'. I'm sure the
founders of this site felt that splitting from Flyer would eliminate
that - NOT! - R.
At 08:04 AM 12/28/2007, Bill Fraley wrote:
>Help!
>Don't know about you all, but trying to read today's S scale list
>(12-28-07) is like seeing the movie "Groundhog Day"
>again, again, again, again, again, again, again, again , again,
>again, again, again ........
>Bill
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