Don't forget that Overland is making them in HO and O scale! Certainly not as "typical" but most definitely unique. I'm sure their target is the collector, not the modeler. I'm also sure they'll sellout at Overland's price.
Sent from my iPhone On Jul 6, 2012, at 1:00 PM, "richgajnak" <[email protected]> wrote: > > > --- In [email protected], "ctxmf74" <ctxm@...> wrote: > > > > > > > > --- In [email protected], Peter Vanvliet <groups@> wrote: > > > "M.T.H. Electric Trains has announced the remaining Norfolk Southern > > > Heritage Series diesel locomotives that will make up the entire NS > > > Heritage Series roster announced in the 2012 Volume 2 catalog last > > > April. As originally detailed in April, M.T.H. will be promoting three > > > series of locomotives based on the Norfolk Southern Heritage Series of > > > real-life SD70ACe and ES44 diesel locomotives. > > > > The fact that they are promoting these vanity schemes makes me think they > > don't understand the scale model railroad market as well as they do the toy > > train /collector market. > > Scale modelers want to model the typical, not the unique. If NS has a 100 > > diesels in plain black for every 1 loco in heritage scheme the modern NS > > scale modeler is not gonna run out and buy a heritage loco. and the beauty > > of model railroading is we can pick our own year to model so an SP guy can > > model 1995 and pretend UP never existed so they are never gonna buy a > > heritage scheme. So although they will sell some they should not make any > > decisions on the viability of S scale modeling sales potential from the > > results. ....DaveBranum > > > > You make it sound like MTH and Lionel are ONLY going to offer the "vanity" > schemes. > > The NS Heritage is the buzz right now and will be for a while. Even the UP > Heritage units still create buzz when they appear. > > I think MTH understands the scale market, all you have to do is look at the > HO line. A pretty wide selection of steam and diesel locomotives, plus > passenger cars that are railroad specific. If MTH follows the HO pattern, who > know, we may even see a scale lenght, accurate Empire State Express or Super > Chief in S. > > About the only thing I would say is tepid in MTH HO is the selection of > freight cars. By aquiring SHS, they're off to a good start with freight cars > in S. > > Also, MTH met resistance early on in HO when only DCS was going to be > offered. After meeting that resistance, MTH worked on making the changes > necessary to be DCC compatible. There is even the occasional straght DC > version of some locomotives. > > As for Lionel, I'll grant the scale market is uncharted waters for them. Over > the decades, Lionel never could make a go of it in HO. > > Other than scale proportioned equipment in O, they make NO attempt for fixed > pilots, Kadee compatibility or scale wheels. They've at least made a start by > offering scale wheels and Kadee mounting pads on some of the new > scale-oriented Flyer. Even the Challenger included Kadee mounting pads... Who > knows, we may even see scale-wheeled steam out of them yet. > > I'm willing to give Lionel the chance to adapt their thinking for the scale > market. But S Scale is still a minority of a minority. > > There is one other thing to remember, both Lionel and MTH have the pockets to > market S to the masses AND get it into the retailers, much more so than AM, > the former SHS and SSA ever could hope. > > Rich G(ajnak) > > > > > > >
