Now waitaminute...
If the mechanical reefers were cancelled because of the truck snafu on the cylindrical hoppers, it's not the Scale guys (or even the Flyer guys who had trouble) fault because the cars wouldn't track properly.
It was an engineering design problem with the trucks. Period.
It's not the customer's fault the wheels wouldn't roll on scale or certain brands of hirail track. Once regauged, the trucks roll fine on scale track. Of course, the hopper still sits too high. Another engineering design problem.
The corporate solution for the issue was apparently replacing the coupler. A total side-step of the problem.
Lionel certainly knows how to make a proper scale wheel. They did it for the U33's, SD70's and ES44's. In fact, they bent over backwards to make the SD70's and ES44's attractive to the scale crowd. How they managed to screw up something as simple as a freight car truck is anybody's guess.
Now myself and others cut Lionel a fair amount of slack on this first attempt at a modern freight car. There were relatively inexpensive ways (at least cheaper that using Lionel parts) to solve the problem for those willing to try.
For others, it was a big deal. And it seems they have gotten their way.
Regardless, S Gauge/Scale has lost.
For the scale guys at least, Smoky Mountain Models is reconsidering restarting their 57' mechanical reefer project. It is guaranteed to be superior to the proposed Flyer version, but will also have to be built, painted, decaled by the modeler and subsequently cost more than the Flyer car.
I'm certainly willing to give any future scale detailed Flyer cars a look, even if I do have to change the trucks. But I won't approach it with the same enthusiasm I had in the past.
Now, where's my American Models catalog....
Rusty
