Good gosh! This thread had degenerated nicely! 
Another thought I had about what's surprising about this hobby is in spite of all the negativity about the train hobby slowly dying, the manufacturers of O gauge items continue to make more and newer items. Especially in built-up buildings and kits. Not to mention much higher details in locomotives and rolling stock.
True, there's not nearly as much product as in HO and N scale, but it seems a lot more O stuff is available in the last five or ten years. It's a bit slower than the rest of the world's progress, but I never thought back in the 1980's and 90's that we'd see what we have today. It's kept me from wandering into the smaller scales.
