"That is pure speculation and likely wrong. "
Perhaps I should have been more specific, but this is, after all, primarily a three rail O gauge forum. And Lionel and MTH make almost exclusively three rail O gauge trains. I was, of course, referring to three rail O gauge, not model railroading overall, so I'm not speculating and clearly correct in that realm 
. For all of our lives, Lionel has sold the largest number of three rail O gauge starter sets, and now are essentially the only such providers, unless Menards really gears up. If Lionel goes away, this niche part of model railroading probably goes away with it, as you point out.
Lots of folks who use three rails seem in denial about the central role of Lionel, the centrality of the toy train aspect of the hobby, and Lionel's role in innovation during the last 30 or so years, and during the middle decades of the 20th century. Without Lionel, there never would have been an MTH. Without Neil Young and Dick Kughn working to develop TMCC and Railsounds, MTH would not have developed DCS/PS2 in all likelihood. That does not diminish the contribution of MTH to the hobby from 1995 to present in any way. Just history. Not really debatable.
