K-Line’s new 2005 catalog shows ) scale cars, trucks and trolleys on a new system of roads with inlaid tracks. About time.
No more HO scale slot cars for your trains.
Charlie
I don’t know if “Innovates” is the right word here. Lionel and MTH have done far more in the line of innovation than K-Line has.
That said, this product looks like a winning idea. K-Line would be smart to make road crossings that work for tubual 027, 0 track* as well as their current line of SnapTrack. This product has obvious appeal to folks who already have existing layouts as well as those who will build one in the future. I can also see this having appeal to both scale types of modelers as well as those with children and more toyish layouts… anyone with kids knows they love to mix in their cars and trucks with their trains. Depending on the price point, this could be a big hit. It’s not a totally new idea, but no one else is making anything like this.
But given the state of the current train competition, I wonder how long it will be before the other companies come out with their own version of this idea - and probably completely incompatible versions as well.
*I haven’t seen the actual catalog yet so I haven’t read the precise product features. Maybe it is adaptable to other types of track already.
Brianel,
To answer your question, I have the new catalog right in front of me. It shows both a grade crossing, or crossover, as well as an O gauge transition piece. The pictures for both of these show them as being attached to Supersnap track, however given the fact that Supersnap is really just O gauge tubular with a locking roadbed and no pins, standard O should fit right on. Both the transition piece and the crossover are shown as ramping up to match the height of the O gauge track, so they could probably be shortened and matched to the height of O27 with a little bit of work.
I would not say “out inovates” just “inovate”. It looks like a good system.
Lionel did this in the early 1960’s with HO track streets and HO cars that ran on them just so we know who the real inovater is.
Actually, ETS has had an O gauge street rail system for two-rail for several years. We reviewed it in the January 05 issue.