Lionel Ho The Texas Special

I have a Lionel Ho 14054 Train Set. I can not find out anything about this set in any books. Most say it is beyond the scope of the books. I think from some searching I believe it is 1957 year. Why do all the lionel books leave out Ho scales trains? What is wrong with Ho by Lionel?

Thanks

ctrain123

Lionel’s attempts at HO in the 50s and 60s were usually rather poor, although they did have a couple better quality things made by Athearn for a while. Lionel’s mostly just experimented in HO through the years, and the only truly high quality products they’ve sold are the recent 4-6-6-4 Challenger and Veranda Turbine (now owned and sold by MTH).