I regard this as very exciting news!
S scale has always intrigued me, but alas, the manufacturers, Lionel's pretty much neglected American Flyer line, S Helper, and American Models were unable to compete with the plethora of product offerings available to us three railers sufficient to tempt many of us away from the product cornucopia of today's O marketplace.
HO, most of us "toy train" guys would agree, is just too small for aging eyes and hands, but S has the size advantage enabling a model railroader to pack a lot more layout into an available space like a basement or attic. Despite the much larger numbers of us who cut our electric train teeth on Lionel, there has always been a sizable potential market for S due to its artfully sized dimensions somewhere between O and HO, as well as a loyal crowd of American Flyer fans hankering to go rivet counting and scenery building.
MTH's purchase of an existing manufacturer/importer of quality scale offerings like S Helper, can only be good news for those already committed to or considering S scale as a space-expanding alternative to the real estate consuming size of O scale, three rail or otherwise! The recent introduction of the smaller component size of PS-3 makes a perfect fit inside the smaller confines of S scale diesel locos and steam tenders. If Mike and company can shoehorn that fun-expanding stuff into HO, surely there is little limitation to the electronic bells, whistles, and operational features they can fit into the larger confines of S!
MTH has the financial horsepower to expand the S Helper line with locos and rolling stock that would never have been possible had SH remained a small niche outfit. For S scale guys, this has to be a marriage made in Heaven! I can't imagine that the market is large enough (yet) to demand the kind of variety and diversity of product that MTH has been able to produce in O gauge, but the product line will certainly be refined and expanded beyond anything S scalers could have hoped for in the past.
So, this will undoubtedly be fun to watch what MTH will do for and with S scale if their efforts in HO are any indication of what might be accomplished. Perhaps if MTH builds it, they will come!
CongratulatoryBear
