In support of and agreement with what Jim said (quoted below), I can say that
in all of my years in HO and the few I've spend in bth HO and S, I have never
once heard an HO scaler say that, due to worsening vision problems, they were
moving from HO into S... it has ALWAYS been that they were moving into O from
HO. S scale was ALWAYS overlooked. And why? Maybe it is primarily because
most folks do not know that there is a modest amount of "scale" models
available in S... but I suspect that the main reason is that they know that
most O scale offerings, using Atlas' line of models, comes in both O-27 and O
("scale") versions. Their O-27 diesels have the disgusting 'pivoting pilot'
and the O "scale" diesels have the stationary pilots.that accurately represent
the prototype... as in, there is no gaping hole in the pilot for the coupler to
swing... like on American Models' locos. SHS does offer their locos with a
very similar option, but most modelers from the other scales probably do not
know this... and therefore they ignore S thinking that it is all toy-like.
This is all speculation, yes... but I'd bet on it.
John Degnan
[email protected]
----- Original Message -----
From: SMMW
To: [email protected]
Sent: Saturday, January 28, 2012 02:47 PM
Subject: {S-Scale List} Modern offerings in S
However, I think that offering these goodies in hi-rail is a misdirection of
where S has to go if it is to survive. Offering hi-rail and scale dilutes the
market, IMO. The future of S lies with getting new (younger) blood involved
who will create a market for new products. The younger crowd will likely come
from other scales, probably HO but maybe N, where highly-detailed,
prototypically accurate products are the "norm". Hi-rail related products will
NOT attract potential entrants. Seeing trains fly around sharp curves at 200
scale mph might entertain 4 year olds at a train show but those are not the
immediate future of the hobby . their parents are.
