Rocco posted:Imagine if Lionel did Thomas the Tank Engine in "S" gauge. If they would make an S scale Thomas maybe many of those on this forum may not buy one but many more would. It would bring more people to "S" which then Lionel would provide more focus and thus more funding. I could see Fastrack re-railers and level crossings being added to the line.
Finally, It was interesting that people in this thread said no to the Deluxe set which is the exact opposite response I received when speaking face to face with some S friends.
--Rocco--
Rocco,
In no way was I trying to disparage anybody from getting a more deluxe PE. It's just not what I'd want. An upgrade to the heavyweights would be very nice, but Bob Bubeck's comments on what Lionel thinks about that make sense, at least in Lionel's terms.
Fastrack re-railers and crossings make more sense for them to do, however. And as far as a Thomas set, cramming the electronics the people want into such a small shell would be a (forgive me) "monumental" task. Lionel's circuit boars are LARGE in comparison to a DDC decoder. I agree that a Thomas would probably bring some folks into S, but then he's already available in O and HO, so that market may already be saturated. I scratch built a Thomas train a few years ago. It's based on their O gauge train scaled down to S proportions and running straight DC for simplicity. Here it is last year on my club's display layout. It was also written up in one of our S friendly magazines a while ago:
Thomas will be appearing at the upcoming Spree or Convention if the layout is there.
