Subject:
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Re: 9V Train Motor Being Discontinued?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.trains
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Date:
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Mon, 27 Mar 2006 17:13:21 GMT
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Viewed:
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3351 times
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Ted Michon wrote:
> And now Jake, of course, is no longer with TLC and I've heard nothing
> from anyone else at TLC since to reassure us that we will be able to
> continue to buy 9V motors, track, wires, etc. Several items are vital
> just to maintain existing users: motors and track. More items are
> required to bring in new club members and more users in general:
> engines, cars, (hence wheels, bases, and couplers), voltage
> regulators and wires. It's not like it's a huge list.
>
> Like others have said, it would be crazy for LTCs to become operators
> of legacy systms telling all our excited visitors at shows that they
> cannot get this stutff except on eBay and BrickLink. (And since LEGO
> train motors all die sooner or later, motors are the absolute
> limiting factor.)
>
> In my dreams, I would like to imagine that TLC has the motors on sale
> because they have a new one ready for release. One that's more
> powerful, realiable, and more easily modified for DCC. That would
> justify a clearance sale!
The more and more I think about the whole LEGO train deal, the more I think
that we've set ourselves up for these let downs. Almost no other model
railroad sub-hobby limits itself to a single companies products. The
exceptions I am aware of are Lionel and American Flyer enthusiasts, with the
American Flyer folks collecting and operating trains that have been out of
production for many many years, and the same for the tinplate Lionel
enthusiasts. Of course there are 3rd party vendors who have offered products
to these folks, and those who are not quite purists have adopted these new
products. Many of the enthusiasts probably gain significant satisfaction
from the fact that they are collecting and operating out of production
collectors items.
If we are going to insist on purism, we are going to have to recognize that
we are in a sub-hobby doomed (or blessed depending on your interests) with
the eventuality of the products we use being out of production. To the
extent that we have fun building and operating layouts with what we have in
our collections (or can find on eBay), we have a sustainable hobby. To the
extent that we can excite folks to search eBay or their own attics, we have
a viable hobby. On the other hand, if our goal is to get people excited
about LEGO's current products, then we have to embrace whatever products
they come out with.
Now we can certainly complain about those new products. And we can try and
educate LEGO about how unsuitable those products are for our hobby. But LEGO
is first a business, and second a toy producer. They will produce products
they believe make business sense, and cater to their primary market of
children. To the extent that those toys are fun for us to play with also,
cool. But when we demand LEGO cater to our (nearly insignificant) hobby
needs, I don't think we have much of a leg to stand on.
One thought on our buying power: Almost no LEGO toys have had stores setting
"one to a customer" limits the way action figures, Hot Wheels, and other
collectable toys have done. I would think that if we really were a
significant percentage of the market, we would be seeing such limits.
Instead of course, we almost never see LEGO trains in the big box stores (in
fact, one might note that model trains and the almost model toy trains, have
been disappearing from the big box stores).
So my thought is that either we have to accept that we are destined to
become a niche collector hobby, or we have to convince 3rd party
manufacturers that LEGO compatible L-Guage trains are a viable product. If
we did that, I'm sure that we would see new track geomety very quickly. We
would probably also see an improved, DCC ready, train motor, US style wheel
sets, better couplers (Kaydee, or something more economical but with better
characteristics than the LEGO magnets), and more. The other option is some
manufacturer makes a few pieces that make it easier to build O guage and/or
G guage LEGO trains (or we do that ourselves).
Frank
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: 9V Train Motor Being Discontinued?
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| (...) Frank- I see two signficant differences between LEGO train enthusiasts and fans of defunct products from defunct companies: 1. TLC is not defunct and although it's had problems, we all expect it to recover and thrive. 2. While many (most?) of (...) (18 years ago, 27-Mar-06, to lugnet.trains, FTX)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: 9V Train Motor Being Discontinued?
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| (...) Bert- This certainly doesn't look good. I couldn't see anything good when Jake announced at BrickFest the introdution of the new "play train" system and the reclassification of the 9V train as the "hobby train". So far, there has not been a (...) (18 years ago, 27-Mar-06, to lugnet.trains, FTX)
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