Rusty,
I have not missed your point at all. There is nothing wrong with people at events voicing views on what they see as a possible new product and I would do the same and I did actually mention that, you seem to have missed that line.
My point is what percentage of the overall 'S' fraternity do you actually find at these events? The figure of 8,000 gets mentioned as being an estimate of total 'S' people, if there are say 250 at a meet this represents just 3% of that total, which I feel is on the low side to represent the majority. 250 like minded people may want a new item, great, problem is if the other 7,750 disagree it could be an expensive mistake. Waffle car comes to mind here.
Well, the waffle side boxcar was decided most likely by one person: the American Flyer Product Manger(or whatever his title would be.) Probably the same person who green lighted the likes of mint cars, zombie boxcars, SD70s and ES44s.
Just as AM, the former SHS and SSA ultimately have(had) one person deciding what to produce.
I hadn't seen a clamoring anywhere for a shrunken, flexible proportioned O27 car on a Flyer chassis by the way...
While approximately 250 attendees would likely be a relatively accurate number, the percentages you assume at these events are even lower, because they are not a monolithic block of one single interest.
You still seem to be laboring under the illusion that Lionel, MTH or whoever would make their decisions solely based on a consensus of folks attending S only events.
Rusty
