@Trinity River Bottoms Boomer posted:Rusty: Excommunicated? That was tough man, really tough!
It's too early to tell what ScaleTrains intends to do with S scale at this time. Afterall, the ink on the sales contract with MTH hasn't even dried yet.
Pretty much what I've been saying...
To insure that they enter the S scale market properly they might consider consulting with the NASG and their members (a survey perhaps?) to determine which products would be best to offer modelers first so the profits made off of the initial sales can be used expand the line without suffering any financial burdon.
Surveys tend to go off into the weeds pretty quickly. Even if they were limited to what tooling they have. It is the nature of things. These guys used to work for Athearn before striking out on their own. I'm sure they've heard plenty of suggestions over the years on what would be the greatest thing since sliced bread.
Afterall, it will take a substantial amount of $$$ to set up production and see that it properly promoted and be placed on the market ASAP so modelers will be able to take advantage of all the new offerings.
Like all the rest of us, I just have to wait and see. One thing to their advantage: Competition is S is nowhere near to what it is in HO. However, my personal hope is that Scale Trains first releases cars that MTH had not gotten around to. The 3-bay PS-2 covered hopper particularly opens up many possibilities for both railroad and industry decorations. Back in the day, AHM had at least 15 different HO 3-bay PS-2 covered hopper decorations.
Talk is cheap. Thus I intend to join the NASG and show my full support in S scale and also do my part to see that ScaleTrains doesn't loose interest in producing S scale products as they begin the S scale adventure. Hope you guys will also consider the same. ScaleTrains needs us NOW!
And Scale Trains needs us more later! They're not going to make this stuff just to decorate the office. There is an advantage to the 18-24 month scheduling issue. It creates by default a pent-up demand. Like everything else nowadays, it's a pre-order world. Based on what I see on their website, ST will probably announce about 8-10 months before an anticipated delivery.
Rusty
Note to Tom Stoltz: I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it appears that some angry S scale rivet counter has "removed" the brakewheel off your American Flyer 642. Time to call the Railroad Police and have them issue an all points bulletin!
Joe
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