Francine posted:Jonathan,
I beg to differ with you, but the new Berks are scale, without separate handrails. Not everyone wants scale wheels and all the associated problems with switches and derailments. I have friends that have S Scale layouts and their work is exquisite with hand laid track and switches, although not many people have that much time and talent.
Once again, if you are going to grow this hobby, you need to make things:
1) affordable (FlyerChief - runs on AC, DC or DCC with remote)
2) available (Not presently a great variety of engines, track and accessories no matter which manufacturer)
3) reliable (runs without constant problems, including derailments, shorts etc)
4) as true as affordably possible to prototype. (taking short cuts to lower price to allow sales to larger market)
If the base of people using S grows, you'll probably get your S Scale with everything scale on it, if not - oh well.
Francine
That's ok Francine, because I disagree with you too. If you think that the fact that the Berk is scale in dimensions makes it a scale model then when are not even having the same discussion. It is a toy, not a scale model. You are missing the BIGGEST point of all which is the real #1... Make compelling products that consumers want to buy.
Since the majority of consumers across all scales want scale models in lieu of toy trains wouldn't it make sense to build scale trains? If you do it well you could very well pull existing modelers from N, HO, and O. That's what happened to me when Lionel started making S scale models like the Challenger, Y3, U33, SD70, and ES44. As Rusty points out, it is possible to make models that cater to everyone in S. See AM and SHS. Lionel is limiting their audience.
They've made their decision and I'm sure they've done the research. They must feel it is easier and more profitable to cater to an aging, declining AF segment then try to establish S scale going forward. I don't necessarily blame them, but they way they have gone about it sucks.
Also, code 100 S scale track with code 110 scale wheels happens to run fantastically well. In fact it is the best running track/wheel combination I have ever run. I've run everything from code 55 N scale to Lionel and MTH 3 rail O and everything in between. You don't have to hand-lay track unless you want to. There are plenty of commercially available options. There are actually far more code 100 turnouts available than there are for Hi-Rail or Flyer.
