I to would love to see OO return, but sadly that ship sank when WWII happened. Lionel was, back then, trying to do what they did with Standard gauge and create their own market along side a few other companies. Double O came about for Lionel in a couple ways, one, J.L Cowen felt threatened by Scale Craft and their dominance in the smaller than O scale market. Combined with needing the space to fit a robust motor. Small electric motors with the torque to run trains was in its infancy at that time, hence lots of HO models from the Reading Railroad with their huge Wooten fireboxes to hide the bigger motors available at that time. The Lionel sets were a jewel, especially the full scale NYC Hudson (001 and 003). Had WWII not happened or been delayed a few more years, OO might have grown a bit more, Lionel might have expanded to a second locomotive, more cars(especially passenger cars) and more track options. Dick Kuhn even wanted to bring it back during the LTI era, but was brought back to reality by the board that the market was not there to support production of them. The vintage stuff is out there, takes some looking to find it though. Here is my 1938 version of the 001 and 001w aka the mini 700e. I have the rest of the set along with the correct 1938 track. I plan to recreate the dealer demo layout and take it to shows once they return. BTW, the static models of the NYC F3's from Hallmark are OO and can be powered with self contained power trucks from NWSL. I am doing this as I type this. AD
