Mike Wolf is retiring

[J. S. Bach]

QSI also makes/made the circuit boards for the Twin Vision headsigns that were used in our buses.

[HONDO74]

Interesting observation about advertising from the boys on the OGF

https://o-gaugeforum.com/thread/2018/cl ... ifications.

[healey36]

Interesting observation about advertising from the boys on the OGF

https://o-gaugeforum.com/thread/2018/cl ... ifications.

Not hard to figure...take out 35-40% of the supply and the market-place needs to rebalance. I doubt there's a lot of gloating in Concord, North Carolina.

[Neil]

The boys at OGF are a bit clueless. MTH hasn't been advertising hardly at all the last 10-15 years. Part of their trying to make a profit. In CTT and OGR they have at most a quarter page ad, often only an eighth of a page. In CTT Lionel doesn't advertise thanks to Neil Besougloff's moronic comments on the lawsuit many years ago that they didn't publicly apologize for. Boy was he wrong .

In OGR, Lionel usually has had two full pages, about 8-16 times as much revenue for OGR as from MTH. MTH is a sponsor of the OGR Forum, but so are about 50 other vendors.

The main impact of MTH's disappearance will be on their dealers. The ones who didn't do Lionel will disappear. The ones who do Lionel will survive and Lionel will sell more stuff because of MTH's disappearance. Those who are resolute MTH only people won't buy Lionel, but they are a minority of the hobby. The others will buy more Lionel if they've been buying some before. I'm sure the Lionel people aren't celebrating, but I doubt they are worrying. Only those who must have MTH's DCS (unbelievable ) or MTH's this that or the other are worrying, and there is remarkable optimism amongst that group. Totally misplaced. MTH is almost certainly disappearing and this company that is supposed to take over DCS will last about as long as it takes me to write this paragraph is my guess.

The changes at CTT have been occurring with MTH still in the industry. One less issue a year. No 100 or 200 page issues as once occurred. OGR is doing better, probably because their forum makes people aware of the magazine. The future of print media is obviously uncertain, but with the web, the absence of print won't have much effect on the market. There are now several on-line only publications with lots of advertising. The hobby isn't disappearing, it's changing. MTH is disappearing, and Mike Wolf will vanish from the hobby as he has other things he wants to do, apparently.

[healey36]

I find it humorous that Lionel touts itself as a 115 year-old company...it's not. It's a 115 year-old brand. Lionel the independent company, died in 1969 (under the tutelage of one Roy Cohn, a guy Trump credits as his mentor).

Without a strong competitor, I suspect Lionel will devolve back into something that looks like the early Kughn era - $1500 locomotives and $75 boxcars.

[Neil]

I think Lionel has enough internal momentum and talent to do just fine. Everyone says that without MTH Lionel would have stagnated. But under Kughn and with help from Neil Young, before Mike Wolf had made much of note, they were developing TMCC.

The long honored claim that you always need competition for excellence is more ideologic rant than truth. Our group has done work that has changed how medicine is practiced and made multiple new discoveries. We had virtually no competition. Just critics .

Sometimes people do innovative and powerful things just because they are motivated to do so. Make the world a better place and make a living. Hopefully Lionel will be the same, as they were under Kughn. Moving forward, innovating, charging a premium price no doubt.

[healey36]

Lionel has nice stuff made for them, and likely will continue to do so. Innovation can certainly happen in a vacuum, as folks are always looking to develop/invent "the next big thing". However, when it comes to pricing, there can be no doubt that competition works to keep it inline (barring collusion among suppliers, government regulation, or a marketplace in general decline).

[Neil]

I think over the long term, competition does make a difference. If you lack competition or other motivation in the business world, over many years or decades things do tend to stagnate. But over the short term, it's more about personalities and the individuals involved, who determine what they spend time and resources on. There is an advantage to having young ambitious people like Olsen and Kunkle at Lionel rather than the relatively older crew at MTH. MTH hasn't done much innovating this century. DCS was, if you call it an innovation, almost 20 years ago. Lionel has introduced many minor innovations (whistle steam, quillable whistle) and major innovations (LionChief) over that time. MTH, nada.

[healey36]

LionChief is huge for them. If they can keep it fresh and the bits hold up over time, they should be able to ride that horse for quite a long time.

[robert.]

Mth got me back into the hobby. When i saw their stuff. It looked nicer then lionel. I had no clue about fine brass or money to buy it. At the time local hobby shops had lionel or mth. Side by side Mth looked real to me. I think the guy picked perfect timing to get out.

[ScaleCraft]

and yet.....what we grew up with. To me, the most realistic 3-rail steam is a 225E. The valve gear fascinated me as a kid. 226E is right there with it, 726/736 is close.

Of course the 226E had the stack in the right place, they screwed it up on the first 726 and there is sat.
225E became the 675/2025 postwar, no comparison on the rest of the engine. Did away with the feedwaer heater, added Belpaire, moved the headlight up, most have fixed bell. Just couldn't get excited about those.

Older Lionel works for me. Won't buy new, Lionel or retired boy genius.

[Roy]

To me, the most realistic 3-rail steam is a 225E.

I think it's too bad Lionel didn't make an O27 version of the 225, with the 1666 mechanism. The 224 and 225 drivers look too large, for my taste. The same drivers look OK, on the 226.

My favorite from the time is the 1947 model 1666. The main reason is that the trailing truck was moved back a bit. Also, I prefer the number stamped right on the cab, rather than on a lithographed plate. But, it had the fixed bell. And, they bailed on the die-cast pilot truck. And, they riveted the steam chest. And, it had a God damned slot in the boiler, for the e-unit lever...

When I've fixed some of these things, I am left with guilt feelings, for having violated the sanctity of factory production. Even having a die-cast 675 style trailing truck on my 2035, which is completely reversible, makes me feel like that.

[ScaleCraft]

I've got a couple of 225E/675 conversions with no e-unit slot. Of course, they have no feedwater heater either. Or bell in stock location.

QSI ACRU's or Dallee fixes the slot issue. Then I think all of my various 225E/675's have functional front couplers, too. And cab backs. And cab handrails. And 225E center headlight boiler fronts.

And I don't care. Purists go nutz, thread them. The only one I am concerned about is my original 225E, been in the family since Christmas 1940. The parts modified are different parts, all the originals in a marked box, but that's the only one!

And it's not like I found a NIB original on Trainz for $500 and cut it up. These are all (except the original) rescues. Or built up from parts.

[healey36]

While I like to put things back as they were, I feel no regret for modifying/repainting/refurbishing any of the pre- or postwar stuff (unless it's something really rare, which on my budget, is laughable). My sensibilities on this have sharply diminished as I've come to the realization that few in the follow-on generations give a hoot for this stuff in any regard. Paint-stripper has been a good friend over the years, lol.

[robert.]

I believe there is so much inventory. That nobody needs to make another piece for a long time. So much pops up on the secondary market also. I can say. " I will not be in the market for a new toy railroad item in the near future. Second i might buy. With brick and mortar stores going away. Lionel will have a harder time selling.