@Brad Trout posted:This is actually my biggest fear about MTH going away... reduction in competition and innovation for us.
While I'm sure smart Lionel people could have come up with Legacy without DCS (just like MTH could have come up with DCS without TMCC/DCC/etc/etc), the back and forth of innovation, demand for that innovation and competition is what keeps industries moving forward (and in a cost effective way).
Twenty-five years ago. MTH did push Lionel to innovate and in that regard MTH helped Lionel develop the hobby we have today. But that was twenty-five years ago.
The hobby and it's expectations have evolved too far the last quarter century for Lionel to go backwards. It's not in the current Lionel's culture to say: "OK everyone! MTH is now gone! Fill our next catalog with tired postwar Hudson's and GPs with mechanical E-units" That is not happening! Even without MTH, Lionel still has lots of completion for discretionary money spent on hobby and leisure activities. Lionel can't rest on it's laurels or those dollars go else where.
I know that people are emotionally invested in the concept of MTH as a company and it's story. However, the hobby is going to be just fine post MTH, it will go on!
