@phrankenstign posted:I disagree. Maury D. Klein helped change the landscape of O gauge railroading also. Although his company, MDK Inc. initially offered only track and plastic accessories under the K-Line brand, it wasn't long before they started offering cheap freight cars and later engines. Yes, the quality was low compared to Lionel, but K-Line took steps to improve the quality in all of their products. In time, K-Line's offerings in the market raised the bar for quality and value at a lower price compared to Lionel's products. Not only did they improve the quality by adding separate pieces like brake wheels, under-carriage detailing, and ladders, but their prices were consistently lower across the board. K-Line introduced StreamLighting and fully-detailed interiors for their passenger cars. K-Line also started to produce scale-sized & scale-detailed products as the company grew. Even their K-Line Collectors Club offered good values. They had low club dues that at first offered as premiums two high-quality freight cars w/die-cast trucks for a low price in addition to a subscription to their newsletter, "The K-Line Connection". K-Line even produced two distinct types of track designs, Super "K" & SuperSnap, that many O gauge enthusiasts still like and prefer over other brands due to their look and versatility.
All of the products K-Line released impacted the market beginning in the 1970s and continuing into the early 2000s. Both Lionel AND MTH felt it and they had to deal with the additional challenges over the years.I'm not negating anything Mike and his company did, but I think it's unfair to make it seem he was the only one issuing innovative products.
Up until about six or seven months ago I admit that I paid no attention to K-Line trains. I bought his book detailing the entire production history up to 1999 I believe. It made me curious so I started buying some K-Line trains. It seems to me that K-Line's real strength was in producing introductory train sets. The ones with company logos appear to be his bread and butter. I think he owned that market from the late 80's through the mid 2000's. He, as several before him, made good use of the Kusan dies upgrading them and adding refinements.
K-Line scale passenger cars carry a good rep and a hefty price tag. The scale freight cars he developed I personally am not that fond of but to each his own. I thought they did a great job with the 6400 series box cars(kusan). There were a lot of road names (Lionel could have learned something from them in the postwar period). Also liked the refinements they made to the Kusan tank car.
I believe he ultimately produced about 20 scale engines and several more non scale. Bottom line. I am not sure it was a good idea to try and move up to scale product where the market was already over populated.
As an aside, my wife has never been interested when I opened up a thousand dollar Williams, Weaver or MTH engine. "They all look the same". She is always interested when I open up a $150.00 K-Line set. She likes the colors and the products pictured.
Opps, sorry, there is an MTH starter set in the last picture. I put it there to compare quality. Much better quality but she is correct, by comparison, boring.
