Believe it or not, S has been through leaner times than this. There was a time when there was no new Flyer being made, no AM and no SHS.
I'm not sure we can credit FlyerChief Berks and Geeps to "saving" the scale, but they certainly have made things more interesting. And something more interesting is much better than nothing.
After playing with a FlyerChief Geep for a little while, I find it's a very nice system for it's overall ease of operation. The GP7 certainly (and I assume other F/C locomotives) runs better under FlyerChief control than conventional. Even an old curmudgeon like me enjoyed operating it.
The big drawback is one locomotive, one controller. Even with the universal remote, if Lionel were to come out with different locomotives than the GP7 in the same roads, you can't MU them. The only way to MU locomotives is if they are of the same roadname and number.
A second drawback is there isn't (and isn't likely to be) any aftermarket F/C upgrade to other models (like AM) to FlyerChief.
Now, the HO Polar Express was supposedly DCC compatible. If true and if incorporated into the FlyerChief electronics, this could make some inroads for those that like to run multiple locomotives on one train.
Now, (VERY BIG) IF Lionel were to do something like re-release the U33C in FlyerChief with DCC compatibility and optional Scale conversion, they could hit gold (or at least pyrite...
) while MTH still scratches at the ground.
Rusty
