banjoflyer posted:Quick Casey posted:I mean the Ye Olde Flyer switches. Look at that huge square of plastic. The SSA well car just clears it. I bet the 2X4 would contact it. It is because of these switches that manufacturers have tiptoed around the fact because some vocal traditionalists say these have to be negotiated by any new product.
Nearly 3/4 of a century old products is still being accommodated to this day. Maybe it's time to move on?
No the car would definitely hit the switch stand on Gilbert switches. But 89' cars were still in the future when AF gave up the ghost.
But even Gilbert didn't adhere to the rear-looking compatibility of all their products i.e. Pike master track. I don't think you could make an AF Northern run on pike master curves at about r15.5".
So the beat goes on. SD70's and ES44's supplant the "Franklin" steamer in all it's glory.
Lionel makes switch stands for it's S Fastrack switches but it doesn't need them to make the switch function. They are really there for looks and a visual notice of how the switch is lined. But a pair of nearly flush mounted red and green LED's could accomplish the same thing.
I believe that to not move forward with new product that reflects the state of railroading today is pretty short sighted. I'd like to never have to run my modern locos with wet cell batteries either. But model railroaders used to.
I believe it's always easier to find ways that an invention or new model of an old idea won't work. The hard part is to figure out how to make new product work with the most inclusive means of operation. I myself found out that a car such as the 89' car could work on Flyonel Fastrack with it's tight r20 curves. Now it's up to the real engineers to further refine it so it can accomodate turnouts. Could it mean sacrificing some "scale realism" like Railking O gauge engines with their shortened proportions? I think many S gaugers would buy a "shortened" Autorack just to have a modern appearing car.
I just recently purchased some O gauge K-Line 18" passenger cars. They were rated for O42 (or O45?) operation. But the K-line engineers knew people would try to run them on O36 (like I do). And they made it work by "hingeing" the skirts on the car so the coupler could swing wider on tighter curves. Seeing this car do this looks strange. But it works and allowed me to run a beautiful car on some tight curves.
Mark
The switchstand could be removed from SHS switches, too. But the illuminated ones on the powered switches are just too neat...
Heck, with early Voltamp, you had to screw and unscrew light bulbs to adjust speed.
Gennerally, we've been running shortened passenger cars anyway. Gilbert's are about 60' long, AM's Budds are about 75' long I think. A few of us have some of the old AM 85' streamline cars and 85' heavyweights. Guess what, I hardly ever run them.
Even the Lionel/Flyer heavyweights aren't full scale length:
Ironically, the short AM heavyweights (RPO, Baggage, Combine, Coach and Observation) are full scale length because of the cars they are based off of.
So, would selectively compressed 80'+ freight cars satisfy the market? If done right, maybe. I'm pretty sure the scale crowd would hoot and holler about them, put on their sackcloth's and proclaim the end of days...
...Just like some did with AM's Budd cars.
Gimme the AM Budd's any day. (Remember, I'm primarily a scale guy.) I've been enjoying mine for 15-16 years now while some are still holding out for full scale length streamliners.
Rusty
