I come late to the discussion, appalled to think that either MTH or Lionel would even consider eliminating the "hand-held". I've read as many of the postings as I can bear and only write to add my voice to those of others who have raised their voices in protest.
My railroad career began with a Lionel transformer handle in my hand and, after 40 years of 1:1 railroading, I'm back to the Lionel (or MTH) throttle and cannot conceive of operating anything by sliding my finger up or down a touchscreen.
I applauded the strides made by Lionel with TMCC, eagerly jumped on board with one of their CNW GP7 - TMCC kits, and I still prefer the Lionel handheld - it's more like a real throttle that that little MTH knob and it works better. Great stuff! I've never looked back!
Meanwhile, I have a heck of a time using my much resented "smartphone", my fingers are too big, too old, too fast, too slow, too warm, too cold, etc and I miss half my calls because I can't get the God forsaken thing to work.
Following generations may never know what its like to sit in an Engineer's seat, pull back on the throttle and pray for adhesion. There are kids who live in their mothers' basements and come to work in jeans and a T-shirt to operate drones that kill people in Iraq. Perhaps the next generation will operate trains that way, too. But then why would they model railroad, anyway, when they can railroad virtually with no muss, no fuss and no need to relinquish basement living space for a layout? I've seen a number of these "virtual" railroad videos on YouTube and think they're clever but totally unrealistic and unrewarding. There's no substitute for the real thing in any scale.
