"I'm also pretty sure Atlas O sells more products to the 3-rail crowd than to the 2-rail crowd.
It's the simple fact that if true S Scale could survive on it's own with out Flyer, it would have."
O scale is much larger than S scale so more O gauge buyers being able to operate O high rail on tighter curves than O scale is no surprise. But it is surprising that folks will not devote that same 3 rail space to a 2 rail scale S layout, until one takes into account that there is very little S scale stuff made then the appeal of that O high rail compromise makes more sense.
If you believe S can't stand on it's own as a scale separate from flyer then you seem to be saying that S is inferior to HO scale because HO can stand on it's own? My experience is that S is just as attractive as HO and could stand alone if there was reasonably priced product for enough modelers to buy. I see no lack of demand just a lack of product.Anything S scale sells quite well on ebay or other used markets while the same old flyer stuff just sits there clogging up the pages so making more of it doesn't seem a sure thing to me either. How many more toys can the 50's kids buy before they run out of time? What's gonna be the relative attractions of flyer and S scale then? Flyer was the past but S scale could be the future with the right investments in product to cultivate a new market for scale modelers, I see it as much more appealing to older HO guys who like something a bit easier to handle and older O guys who'd like to downsize their houses but don't want to model in HO. In this case size does matter while toy train heritage doesn't......DaveB
Them's fight'n words...
I never said, stated, spoke, thought, hinted or implicated that S Scale was inferior to HO.
It's all about numbers, pure and simple.
It is a simple fact that there aren't the same amount of people in S Scale than there are in HO. There aren't even the same amount of people in S Scale than there are in Flyer.
And S Scale and Flyer combined don't equal the same numbers as O, let alone HO or N.
Until Lionel attempted scale and MTH bought S Helper Service, (and I'm not sure it was an easy sale) the was not one major model train manufacturer of S Scale trains. The jury's still out with both companies although one appears to be approaching a verdict.
S was a scale comprised of small companies selling to very small market. I don't think SHS had more than a half-dozen employees, American Models, probably about the same. S Scale America is a sideline of DesPlaines Hobbies and "an amalgamation of of several small S producers acquired by DesPlaines Hobbies" plus some cars of their own tooling, according to their one and only catalog. Had DPH not bought up those companies, they would have likely been sent to the trash heap of failed model train companies.
In that alone, S Scale is superior to the other scales in that the few folks willing to put their financial futures on the line by going into a scale where others fear to tread.
And if you haven't noticed, most SHS freight cars are visually the same size as traditional Flyer. That was done on purpose to overcome sales resistance from the Flyer market.
The last 5-6 years have been rough ones for S, in whatever flavor it exists, but particularly the scale side. There's no denying it and I never have.
Had not Sanda Kan fired their customers, SHS would probably still be independent and we'd likely have an E7 and maybe even a 4-6-0 along with other new cars and expanded track selection. AM and SSA might also be in better positions today.
But, that's not the S world as it is.
S has always been a tough sale, even in the good old days of the 1990's. Few hobby shops carried anything S and those that did, there was usually a nice layer of dust decorating the packaging. Even at DesPlaines Hobbies.
Sure, modelers from other scales say they like the size of S, but they "have too much invested in..." A nice polite cop-out.
Rusty
