I'm not going to throw in the towel on vertical motors until I see how they operate.
I'll agree the mixed signals coming out of Lionel regarding scale wheels is disturbing. It seems like every other day the rumor mill comes out with yes, no, maybe, don't know.
When I checked yesterday, the UP SD70's and U33C's from the dedicated Flyer catalog are still available with scale wheels, it's apparently too late in the process to change their minds on those, but the current back of the O gauge catalog doesn't mention scale wheels, except for the confusing descriptions on the cylindrical hoppers. I'm hoping that will be corrected in the next dedicated Flyer catalog.
I just submitted this blunt, point blank question to Lionel: "Is Lionel abandoning scale profile wheels on new American Flyer product?" Maybe others so interested should do the same.
We'll see what they say, but I'm expecting a stock answer indicating they are unable to know at this time.
Lionel's Mike Regan seems to follow the 3 rail side, but doesn't peek over here, so all the chatter here seems to just fuel speculation.
Rusty
