LeRoy, you answered your own question when you said, in part: ³...²don¹t understand how this will help S grow in any way other than providing more possibilities in what locomotives that will be produced.² That is one of the things some of us want.
Regarding price, consumers like you and me aren¹t alone in reeling from sticker shock. According to Fred at Fred¹s Train Shop in Overland Park, KS, (who carries quite a lot of S, BTW) manufacturers across the board have increased prices from 10~20% every year for the last several years, and have avoided passing along some of those costs to us by decreasing the dealers¹ profit. Fred has had numerous, animated discussions on this subject with manufacturers, from Athern to MTH. What everyone close to the industry realizes is that there needs to be a serious shift in the total production/marketing plan, and that may involve somehow making it work to produce stuff here. Don¹t laugh. In this era of Future Shock whatever-phase-we-are-in-now, things can and do literally turn on a dime and leave a nickel change, and without warning. Witness the sale of SHS to MTH, a move totally out of the blue for most of us. Regarding the offerings by MTH: Please don¹t decide to stay or leave S on the basis of this first catalog. At least it is a CATALOG. Recall the first AF stuff offered by Lionel (1990-something) was a tiny selection within the O catalog. It has taken Lionel until 2012 to produce a stand-alone AF catalog, and IMHO, that was partly due to MTH¹s imminent entry into the S market. Most S gaugers/scale modelers have whined and wrung their hands over the lack of available equipment. MTH DOES have the resources to make it happen. And when they entered the O market, Lionel was forced to step up its act. We saw the beginning of Lionel feeling the heat when MTH started issuing new versions of of Gilbert Accessories. Sure enough, Lionel followed suit. Armchair critics such as myself and others on this list do not fully comprehend all that is involved in bringing our treasures to market, although the sainted Don Thompson (and I mean that sincerely) has tried to carefully explain it several times. Synopsis: Vision/commitment/money/time/ are what it takes, in that order. I guess the MTH catalog may come under the heading of ³Watch what you ask for. You might get it.² <LOL> Roy Inman From: LeRoy <[email protected]> Reply-To: S-Scale <[email protected]> Date: Sat, 20 Apr 2013 10:03:42 -0400 To: S-Scale <[email protected]> Subject: {S-Scale List} Re: MTH catalog Rarely do I post, most of the time I just read and absorb comments. I do dabble in S and as well as other gauges (O, HO and OO). When MTH purchased SHS I was thinking of reducing my inventory of O and concentrate on S, I just like the size. I do own a few SHS items that I purchased over the years and at what appears now as bargain prices. I expected a rise in prices but not to the extent that I¹m seeing in the catalog. I was comparing the prices between the O and S F3 ABA offerings. For an O ABA Premier set the prices is around $729 to $749 depending on the wheel set selected. To my knowledge the O ABA set is 2 powered A units and one non-power B (correct me if I¹m wrong). To get just 2 powered A units I would need to spend $759 and then add another $189 for the B unit. I could drop the price by $20 by getting a power B unit and a non-powered A unit. Lionel has no comparable product with the exception of the PA so can¹t make a direct comparison. I understand that S is a smaller market and prices have to reflect that but isn¹t this a bit too high of a premium to pay? I also don¹t understand how this will help S grow in any way other than providing more possibilities in what locomotives that would be produced. So although I¹m happy in one respect, I¹m also sad in another. I¹m also pondering what to do now. LeRoy Price
