The other point regarding 2 rail O "scale" is that it is 5ft broad gauge. Always bothered me.
Sent from my iPhone On Sep 2, 2012, at 9:38 AM, "bcgsteam" <[email protected]> wrote: > The other day a fellow S modeler and I came to an interesting observation > about S. Maybe the observation is new, maybe not. But here goes... > > We are unique among all the modeling sizes in that the trains that generally > popularized 1:64 modeling (American Flyer) are still sought after, collected > and operated today by a considerable group of folks. In fact, these trains > are still in production today, in some cases using the original or identical > tooling. I don't think any other modeling proportion has this situation. We > can buy a newly-produced boxcar that looks and runs like one built 60 years > ago. That's not everyone's cup of tea, but it is for many. It's like if GM > were still building '63 split-window big block Corvettes for those that > wanted them. > > At the same time, over the years some modelers, and therefore some > manufacturers, moved toward more scale appearing track and wheels and much > more detailed locomotives and rolling stock. The result is that today you can > buy everything from a inexpensive plastic 0-6-0 (Lionel Docksider) to an > extremely detailed and expensive brass articulated (River Raisin Alleghany) > that sit on the same width 2-rail track. > > In 1:48, there is a clear distinction between 3-rail and 2-rail O scale > models. While both are in production today, the separation is much clearer > because at some point the guys (and gals) that wanted more 'realism' dropped > the center rail. The two kinds of trains aren't even close to > "interchangeable" from an operating standpoint. The distinction between > 'tinplate/hi-rail' and 'scale' is much clearer. > > I've never been an S manufacturer, but I can see the dilemma our situation > presents for them. When they bring out a product, which segment(s) of the > 1:64 hobby are they going to sell to? Freight cars are pretty easy as > converting wheelsets and couplers is easy, but to what level of detail re: > grabirons, etc? Even diesel wheelsets can be swapped in minutes. Steam > engines...now there's the rub! The bottom line is they sometimes can't afford > to do every product for every approach to modeling in S. > > For those of us in 1:64, we should be thrilled that our original heritage is > alive and well and that some folks enjoy those 'old' trains as they keep > some, if not many, of the manufacturers in business. I still appreciate a '63 > split window! At the same time if one's interests lean to greater realism (to > the extent it can be achieved on a table top) we've got that, too! But just > like parts from the '63 'Vette won't work on a new ZR1, manufacturers can't > make every product work on both 'old' and 'new' approaches to approximating a > railroad on a table top. The fact that our 'heritage' is still 'in > production' is both a blessing and a curse. It's always fun to see how other > modelers make decisions and tradeoffs when building their layouts to find the > 'blessings' in 1:64 and minimize the 'curse'. And we can all be thrilled that > there is more available in S across the entire spectrum than ever before! > > > > > > >
