S Gauge Survey Final Version

banjoflyer posted:

Rocco, thanks for all your efforts on this project. I do know that Dave Olson of Lionel reads this forum and he is very helpful on S gauge questions at times. Perhaps he'll forward your results to the product development group.

I'd really like to see that center beam flatcar. That's what I voted for and they are seen daily in RR yards near me. A FlyerChief  SD40  (MKT) wouldn't be too shabby either!

Mark

 

Mark,

Although I was a big fan of scale autoracks, I would equally like the Centerbeam car.  If tooled properly I could see several alternative cars coming from that tooling making this a cost effective addition to the American Flyer line for Lionel.

 

--Rocco--

Francine posted:

Hi Rocco,

Your efforts are appreciated, but I have some questions regarding the validity of the survey:

1)  how were the engines and other items selected?

2) how many participated in the survey?  As stated above a small response from overall S Gaugers would produce a very skewed result. 

I am concerned as the final conclusion does not represent anything I would be interested in, or most of those in our S Club (approximately 30 members)

I hate to see the tail wag the dog.

Francine

The items listed were based on open responses on this forum regarding what they would like to see made in the future to 3 categories, Cars, Engines and Accessories.  I then took the top items in each group (I tried to limit it to 5 but there were some ties) and used those items in the survey.  This was all documented here in an earlier thread.

As for the number of people responding...I have been told by some that is not relevant.  I have opened this up to clubs to send me their results and If you can gather your clubs results and send them to me I will update the totals.

--Rocco--

Roundhouse Bill posted:

When I interviewed Lionel at York they were considering an SD40 and still a Legacy Berk.  My feeling is that they will never do a Daylight GS4 because of tooling costs.  The new MTH catalog should be here soon and any locomotives will be remakes of S Helper.

A sample size of 18 is too small anyway to draw any meaningful conclusions. 

Bill,

MTH will get me to buy their S product when they make something new not just reissued tooling.  I am ready to give them my money but they don't seem to want it.  They should try at least one new item and then look at sales compared to the SHS reissues.

The response size both this year and last were over 3 digits not 18 as you have said.  I am looking for trends of interest that is why I asked this forum, other internet sites and clubs to respond to give it a diverse set of potential customers.

Is this perfect no.  But until Lionel, MTH, American Models etc. try to reach a broader customer base I figured I would try to do something to at least give those companies an idea as to what they should consider. 

I would strongly encourage a company like Lionel to list what they are considering and then ask us what we would buy if they made the product.  We are a passionate group of dedicated customers who are more than happy to let them know what we want.

--Rocco--

It is interesting that they have tooled up to produce complicated articulated engines yet consider that something as relatively simple as an SP Daylight is "too expensive to do."

NYC J3a Hudson - as long as it is the Henry Dreyfuss streamlined 20th Century version.  I don't care which year in terms of paint scheme - just detailed nicely and with scale proportions, fan driven smoke, authentic whistle, and a bell.  You pick the operating system.  I'd even venture into FC at this point to (finally) have one of these done that way or even just conventional AC/DC if it helps with market reach and affordability.  If Legacy or DCC, then load it up - drive wheel illumination and control, smoking whistle, addressable working marker lights, New York accent crew talk, etc.  That's my vote - and hope.