I'd rather be ice fishing posted: Learning a bunch from this site anyways...and yes i got all the usual "stick to n scale or quit the hobby if you dont like it" answers that i knew i would get. I guess its a tough hobby.
Well, that's the thing: people who respond like that are doing NO ONE any favors, least of all themselves. I don't see the point in that.
I have a couple of HO scale John English steamers from the 1960s(?) that show that rot issue; fortunately, they were made at a time when you were expected to know how to fix things yourself, and parts were available to do so; very much like PW Lionel and Flyer. Thanks to the web, and resources like eBay, you can always find the parts you need if you look long enough.
Will the same be true of modern releases? Only time will tell, but these very sophisticated electronic systems we see now (to say nothing about the rot issue) seem hard enough to trouble shoot and repair when "new"; a quick glance at recent posts on this site bear that out.
10, 15, 20 years from now will these trains still be "user-friendly"? Guess we'll have to wait and see...
Mark in Oregon
