@GrandpaChooChoo posted:We have a responsibility to preserve the past for future generations- Made in America by Americans- the best that ever was. Made to last- simple, sturdy stuff. Not high tech, expensive, finicky junk- that will not endure into the future (no circuit boards). Gotcha!
How about a car from that time period - say a 1955, 56 or 57 Chevy BelAir ? Same principles apply..
I am glad to be a 'baby boomer'- and posterity of the 'greatest generation' that ever lived - who went thru the Depression with nothing, started to recover from it, only to go off to WWII at great sacrifice again. Wow.
GrandpaChooChoo,
Quite happy for you. Very, very nice work. Thanks for your comments as well.
Please take the following as constructive criticism, meant to be received with only the best of intentions.
Not to cause an issue, because we like to be neighborly on the forum, but just one question: What does 'Gotcha' mean?
(I too am a Baby Boomer, and also a proud son of the Greatest Generation. Unfortunately your diatribe on newer stuff is a direct smack in the nose to many, many, many of us who've designed and built that apparent crap that you have a problem with. And not being retired yet I still work at it every single day.
Did your '55-6-7 get 40 MPG? Did it keep you safe in a crash? Was it friendly to the environment? Did it last an average of 13 years on the road in everyday use, and climbing, like modern cars do, even with all their "high tech" gadgets? If I recall, and I was about 10 years old at the time, I didn't see more than a mere handful of '55-6-7's on the road in daily use by 1968, 69, or 70.
Yes, Post-War items were solidly built, but by 1969 Lionel was in sad shape because the world had passed it by. If you don't like the newer technology it needed to survive then don't buy it, and you obviously don't, but please don't berate it.
I think that you'll agree with me that, in addition to being play toys, Toy Trains taught the kids that played with them basic fundamental and technical skills that they could use their entire lives.
For toy trains to do that in today's world, and to have done so over the last 40 years to get here, they've needed to go forward, and thank goodness they have. Maybe not perfectly at times, but they have.
And from where we stand today even more new things are needed in today's world, to teach today's kids and grandkids their future, just like they did in the Post-War period, and in fact just like they did when Lionel began in 1900.
I fully support our hobby in providing those fundamentals. Not only the old, but the new as well. As difficult as it may be, can you?)
Mike
