@Bob Bubeck posted:There is a "back and forth" that crops up on the OGR board from time to time. When it comes to new tinplate, there are those that prefer to have the innards faithfully reproduced as well as the exterior. Can motors do not have the growl and the whiff of ozone of traditional tinplate and some prefer air whistles to electronic sounds. The contemporary tinplate appears to some as soulless appliances -- modern trains dressed up as old ones -- compared to the character intrinsic to the traditionally powered trains with open frame three pole motors.
Fair enough, if you're going for that nostalgic sound and smell, a modern can motored unit probably won't cut it. When I want that that sort of thing, I pull out my Gilbert Flyer stuff so I get where you're coming from. However, IIRC there was a lot of ire from tinplate collectors when MTH started making tinplate reproductions though, as it reduced the value of the older original items. Or so I've been told, as while I appreciate tinplate (old and new) it's not something that I've collected and a lot of that part of the hobby predates my entry into the 3-rail side of things.
Maybe switching from open frame motors to command controlled can motors was a way of separating the two so the really original stuff would retain it's value.
As for repairs, if one wishes to restore failed DCS PS2/PS3 functions, the sourcing of parts is and will be a challenge. The conventional trains can almost always be repaired. Let's see where we are with this in 5 to 10 years.
I agree, time will only tell but as we're getting 100 years on from the originals and close to 20 years from more recent offerings, I think the open frame parts will continue to be harder to come by.
