No More Opening Doors?!

All I can say is WOW.  I want one!

I watched Nicole's video, and the doors on the coaches worked very nicely with remote control.  Why can't O gauge do something like that?  

Regarding steam locos, being able to open the roof hatches & cab doors, and slide the cab windows open adds a lot to the realism.  I worked on steam  and believe me, when it was warm everything was open!

Opening doors, may be running water next.

Location is most important.

I totally agree with Chris.

Gerry

Now I'm going to have to look at all my engines to see if the doors open. Another tough assignment for me. Actually I was totally unaware of this feature so I can't say that I like or dislike. If this was a poll originated by one of the manufacturers to see if they should continue/discontinue the feature I would probably vote discontinue but seeing that it isn't, I just enjoy reading what other Forumites think about it. I am against moveable fan blades on the roof of diesels because you can't see the rotation when the diesel is rumbling down the tracks. Each one of us has likes/dislikes concerning features. The Forum is the place to let others know your feelings and it makes some good reading most of the time!

I'll have to place my vote on the side of keep opening doors and all other existing operating features on my trains.  I think they offer potential to modelers who like to do dioramas or showcase their features however they like.  It prevents having to kluge up such features. 

The Roco HO video was simply awesome!  I'm not where my trains are right now, but I believe on the Lionel GE ES-44 the cab front opening dooor reveals some added interior detail.  I'm thinking it was a door mounted first aid kit. 

My caboose operating doors do likeways (reveal more detail). 

On current modeled trains, I don't notice oversized hinges on things, even if hatches don't have prototypical hinges, I like the ease of functionality they provide.  Atlas engine doors using an actual operating handle are way cool. 

I give kudos to the manufacturers because I believe they have improved how opening doors work, and improved the scale size of these components.  Think how much would be taken away if Atlas advertising box cars did not have opening doors.  Tough to load a pallet of hams.

If you don't use your opening doors, don't use your likes to deprive other modelers from features whose cost is already amatorized. 

As modelers, we should always be in a position to ask for ever increasing levels of realism and action features on our trains.  To NOT have these features is toy like to me, whereas to have these is a better sense of true scale. 

Perhaps an example of operating features is Lionel's operating Legacy or TMCC controlled crane car.  Many of you do not use this car, but when I did train demos for Lionel, it was ALWAYS the HIT of the show, and the most frequently requested item to be demoed.

I hadn’t thought about the oversize hinges until I started reading this topic. The oversize thickness of the plastic door sticking out was the main reason I dislike the opening doors on MTH Premier models of modern diesel locomotives with North American safety cab / wide-cab. For just these models, I have to agree with many of the members who dislike these opening doors, are worried about their durability, believe that they look toy-like & would rather not have them.

But if were into buying models like box cars or subway trains, these opening doors would enhance the realism & would be a required feature.

These are just my opinion.

Naveen Rajan

I have a few sets of MTH subway cars without opening doors. They suit me just fine. For me, opening doors just weren't worth the added expense.

Apologies to Gordon Lightfoot....

There was a time in this great land when model trains were fun.

A train, some track, a power pack,

set on the floor to run.

Long before more features and realistic flair,

we used our minds to imagine all the things that weren't there.

Rusty

Lessee.....

The doors scale as thick as a bank vault's?

The window 'glass'...ditto?

Spring-loaded doors...on the 1:1's?

Oversized hinges? (Well, 'em bank vault doors ARE scaled heavy, for sure!!!)

About 1/3 of my early Premier pinky-poke doors now don't close completely...and no 'handle' to assist?

etc.

etc.

etc.

.

.

.

Then there's that ubiquitous 3rd rail!....sort of sets the stage for 'why-worry-about-a-rivet-when-the-track-tells-it-all'?

Forget the doors.  Silly, silly, silly.

KD

Happy, happy, happy!

I am all for animation. If they can do it in HO its should be a piece of cake in O. I didn't see oversize hinges in Nicole's video. I would replace the solenoids/piezo motors with DC motors and lead screws to make the effect more convincing.

Offer passenger cars in the Vision line and I'll bet you would get takers.

Pete

I like the doors that open. Rolling stock is a must but engines are a maybe. All that said, what is the extra cost of the doors on an engine? $5 each, $10 each? With engines going for more than $300 and up the $2000 is $10 or $20 going to really make the differnce? For my opinion I say "Let the doors swing"

Dan

Let's nuke the opening doors!   As in everywhere!   Madison cars, and GGD Heavyweights too.  Waaaaay  too much compromise !   Still OK on 6464 copies, but that's it, Ft. Pitt !

Looks most of the posters have no use for operating doors. Me too.

Just curious, how many that are thumbs down on opening doors are in for operating tender coal loads? 

Pete

Allow me to post perhaps a final response to this thread.

Do you in a state of your own selfishness, really wish to deprive other modelers of their style of enjoymenent in this hobby?

Do you really think the manufacturers would cut price even if they cut features?  MTH has already showed you this is not the case.  Prices were raised.

Don't be deceived, let those that enjoy progress and the future have their way.  Perhaps we should do away with a GPS fitted in a car and resort to a map.

Deprived?  I had no idea this was such a quality of life issue.  And here I thought it was the manufactures who decided what feature to include.  Silly me.  Perhaps we need a telethon then.

Prices rise because of increased costs, regardless of adding or deleting features.

GPS has nothing to do with it.  But, a good map can be just as valuable and I still know how to read one.

Rusty

One thing I will note is that I do not see oversize hinges - I don't see hinges at all, on the doors on my E9s, Shark, etc.: they seem to hinge from the inside, whether they should or not.  On those tiny little doors at the front of the cab on the Vison CC2, the hinges look fine (they are metal). I am okay with all these doors but as i said earlier, they just aren't important to me. 

You need to put figures in the open doors.

Andrew

Atlas O's Berwick hi cube and Evans boxcars in their Master Line don't have opening doors.  Never did.

Would anyone not buy something because the doors or windows could be opened?

Part of my disdain for these prototypical features is that that any given level of detail never seems to be good enough. Perhaps it is a function of a hobby that feeds off a certain level of addiction to start with. New features continue to be added, whether due to competition or customer requests, and the cost keeps climbing incrementally. Several posters have asked how much such a minor feature could add to the cost of the engine. No one feature will put the cost through the roof but when you have several dozen detail parts that have to be manually installed the labor cost will indeed be a factor. My own experience with most of the prototypical details is that the novelty wears off after a while and they merely serve to impress the occasional non-train visitors to the layout with the "Gee, look at that" effect.

If a car or loco already has working doors, why would be cheaper to offer them without working doors? Wouldn't new dies have to be made? They can run 5 or 6 figures. I suspect that would cover many, many hours of labor cost to assemble working doors.

Pete

It would be cheaper because that means less parts to assemble.   New dies wouldn't have to be made, the existing boxcar or engine dies would just be modified so it would be a single casting.  Still a lot cheaper than investing in new dies.

To be clear, I don't have issues with operating doors per se.  What I don't like is having oversized hinges, door guides, or doors that are too narrow that were designed that way to compensate for the oversized hinges. 

That's why I prefer the Weaver 57' mechanical refrigerator cars with non-functional doors over Lionel's version as one example.  The door guides on the Lionel model are so grossly oversized in order to accommodate the plug door feature that it detracts from the appearance of the model.

If they can make the doors operating minus those other issues, then I have no problem with it.

There is a comment above about HO scale not having open inning doors until recently and that is not exactly true. In 1993 Life-Like made thier first Proto2000 engine,the BL2 and it had opening doors,moving fans , adjustable sunscreens Etc.

1993 was over 20 years ago. 

I dont want want my all my engines to have this but sometimes it's OK. 

Count me as one that actually would pass on the opening doors.

Me too! I rather MTH focus on the paint detail and marking detail and cab interior details rather than opening doors.

The detailing on a MARK Commodor Vanderbilt is enough to keep me happy.

That said, I would prefer a crew member standing in an open door, over details in a closed cabs interior. (I have nether). Or even over crew talk, or elaborate sounds (own few) With the exception of cabs with lots of glass, my eye isn't drawn to the cabs interior unless there is a face in the window. I've frosted and/or silhouetted most of the trains where it really bothered me being able to see the motor in the windows. (mostly Lionel diesel switchers).

A well printed insert for the cab would be good enough for me interior wise.