I recived a survey card with my MTH CAtalog and as one of the scales of intrest was S gauge… I have bugged MTH a few times to do something in S and the answer was allways the same that they might do it some time in the future. This survey is the first time I have ever seen MTH make any mention of S gauge so maybe they are realy thinking of giving S a Try.
We ran an interview I did with Mike a few years back and he said then that he’d get into S when he could fit the sound and control system into an S gauge product.
If it fits in an HO product, it will fit in an S gauge product.
Huh, that is intresting, I might look into S scale. Provided they ever make it.
S gauge already has two high-quality manufacturers - American Models and S helper Service, so you might not want to wait …
You can also get the units pre-equipped with DCC or you can retrofit non command with TMCC. There is a lot of nice S gauge stuff out there, not as much as HO/O, but a pretty nice selection. If I hadn’t had a fair amount of PostWar stuff from when I was a kid, I’d probably have switched over to S when I got back into the hobby back in the early 90’s. Trains are sized large enough to see/handle but small enough to build a decent sized layout without requiring major real estate commitments like O/HO.
It is Good to see CTT mention S gauge in a positive light :^)
there just never seems to be enough flyer articles maybe because us S gaugers do not submit the material as there are quite a few good layouts and collections out there. I have an american models Pacific and really enjoy it a lot. New blood in the market is allways good. Atlas is planning on two steamers in O so why not MTH in S it may bring a new set of modelers into the world of S.
This comes from a diehard, dedicated, lifelong S gauge and major A.C. Gilbert American Flyer devotee – collector AND operator.
I see S as “The gauge that just wouldn’t die.” Somehow, thanks to others who share my passion, the gauge/scale continued to survive despite any major manufacturers issuing any new products. Heck, the last decent Flyer came out of the factory in 1959 and 1960. And even though Lionel resusitated the brand starting in 1979 with four “reissue” cars to test the waters, there really wasn’t any serious effort to do products that would entice beginners to start in S. For so many years to follow, Lionel only punched out reissues of known-successes (Gilbert products), targeting the collectors market rather than beginners. Lionel also didn’t do itself any favors between 1979 through the mid-1990s when it failed to produce some promised products, while others came out months and years later than advertised.
Once Lionel started to reissue American Flyer sets in the early 1980s, they didn’t include track or transformers so beginners had to look to other gauges. To run these sets when they first came out, the only option was to find someplace to buy used American Flyer track because no one was making affordable, quick-setup S track. That inconvenient necessity pushed beginners to other scales.
In the mid-1980s, American Models and later S-Helper Service started making original products geared toward the S operator. Their issues were much more detailed (“scale”) than the original Gilbert Flyer and were marketed more toward Baby Boomers and not kids. Frankly, even the starter sets were too fragile (and expensive) to give to a 5-year-old for Christmas.
Through all this, Mike Wolf waited in the wings letting American Models, S-Helper Service, Lionel and a bunch of small-but-very-dedicated cottage manufacturers build S gauge up
WARNING[:-,] Humor Follows! Do NOT take seriously! MTH fans with high blood pressure of other ailments might wish to STOP reading here!
Get into S Gauge BEFORE Mikey “invents” it and sues American Models, S Helper Service, and Lionel for infringing on his territory.
[(-D]
That is more serious than you think. [;)]