Francine you said:
Excuse me, but talk about "thomas" is a waste of time. No one, except you, is interested and with limited funds doled out the S, we want Lionel to maximize new engines (Legacy & FlyerChief), especially with the direction of senior management to cater to kids. THINK, if you lose the established base, there won't be S anymore. ENOUGH OF THOMAS!
1) First off I think you are all missing the point. I don't care if it is Thomas or a Harry Potter engine. The point is if by making that item you can appeal to new Train perspective customer then it will only help bring more dollars to S scale. Thus giving Lionel more money for new tooling for both the classic and new S items.
2) Regarding your comment that no one but me is interested in Thomas. You are incorrect. Over the past 2 years I ran surveys on this site as well as others plus also in train clubs as to what people wanted. Although Thomas was not at the top of the list it did get a significant number of votes.
3) I agree you should THINK. We are loosing the established base as we are all getting older. Many are retired and have fixed incomes. If we do not bring new customers into the scale it will die off.
In conclusion if you do not like Thomas, substitute any other train related product that will bring new S customers who may one day transition to classic S scale. Keep in mind that several people only like Gilbert style 1940-50 trains. Does that mean we should not have modern rolling stock and engines that appeal more to the younger new train enthusiast. I like Legacy trains but I would not suggest that we should only focus on what I want. If Flyer Chief brings more people into the scale then great.
So I apologize that using Thomas as an example offends or annoys others who have no interest in it but instead it is meant to represent a set of new ideas and the opportunity to bring new people into S gauge. If you have a better idea on how to bring new customers feel free to suggest it. I promise to listen and will not tell you to stop pushing forward your suggestions on how to help.
--Rocco--
