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Reply to "MTH enters S scale market"

LIRR Steamer:

 

Maybe I was too hasty in my comment about Lionel neglecting their American Flyer line.  Your profile doesn't say, but it looks like you're an S gauge guy, so I'll defer to your opinion on that one.  I confess that I don't follow S that closely, just admire the items and lines I see at train meets, particularly at York.

 

I agree with those that said on this thread that robust competition can only benefit the S gauge/S scale hobby, which compared to O and HO has been in the doldrums for far too long.  I also forgot to mention that aspect of Gilbert AF vs Lionel that was always guaranteed to start a fight on the school yard, two rail vs three rail track, might give a vital advantage to a vibrant S marketplace appealing to newcomers!  A high rail type of a semiscale track system in S like Atlas 21st Century Track or MTH Scaletrax which are already available in O could also increase the appeal of S over three rail O for consumers not already committed to O and loaded up with stuff.

 

If Mike Wolf did in fact say that O was "flat" he's probably right.  Mike is a marketing genius and nobody knows the numbers better than he does.  Competition in O gauge has been intense and the supply of product for the past decade or so has been prodigious.  So S could be a fertile field for MTH to sow some seeds in, especially with PS/DCS-equipped locomotives.  If Mike Wolf and team didn't think the market were there, they wouldn't have bought out S Helper! 

 

Somebody said earlier in the thread that he was skeptical about the appeal of high tech electronic sound and control systems in the S gauge hobby.  I predict that for most operators, once they see and hear what PS or TMCC/Legacy can do, they'll be hooked too.  The serious S gauge modeler who cares about operations and previous to DCC, had to wire his/her layout with all those blocks and use plug-in throttles etc. to operate down line prototypically will love the freedom that the DCS handheld or CAB 2 remote gives them.  And both systems are a lot more user friendly than DCC from what I've read and seen.

 

This promises to be an exciting, even revolutionary time in the history of S gauge.

 

Bear

Last edited by Bearlead

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