Jerry, I think if you were to talk to the O gauge guys or follow the o forum you would see it is littered with QC complaints. Every big deal release had its portion of Lionel sucks threads. The big boy and the scale berk off the top of my head had plenty of issues. It's an issue with all gauges, and probably with most offshore produced product companies. It is what it is. No one else is making a RTR set in S that appeals to a mass audience like the PE set, no one else is making challengers, y3s and lots of new diesel locos...just Lionel. It's not an excuse by any means, it's an understanding. I have had lots of issues with Legacy S gauge equipment, heck I had to have Lionel replace my defective ZW-L (at their cost). It gets old, no doubt...But it's part of the hobby at this point. I remind myself that everyone is dealing with this, not just us S gauge guys.
What I have far less tolerance for is a lack of commitment to growth in S, after all if they don't make the new "this or that" to begin with, there is nothing to complain about to begin with - and nothing to get excited about.
Ben.
