I can't say what happened with the lionel parts page, but it looks familiar to me.
I have been working with software companies for 40 years and this is the best way I can explain what happens to some.
- Get something made, hurry. No time for documentation, hack and wack to get it going. We will fix it up later.
- Success, keep building and try to patch the structure and fill in documentation when you can.
- After a few years, no one, not even the one that wrote it can figure out the mess.
- Before full collapse, start over with new and improved version.
Companies that follow the Einstein axium, tend to do better and software works better. "If I had 1 hour to save the world I would take 55 minutes to define the problem." During the internet explosion, the creator of Amazon took 6 months testing and building the system. Can anyone even remeber the original competitors to Amazon today?