Subject:
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Re: All plastic track
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.trains
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Date:
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Tue, 16 Aug 2005 22:38:24 GMT
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Viewed:
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2293 times
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In lugnet.trains, Ted Michon wrote:
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For all the train folk who were reading the gloom and doom threads earlier
this month about a possible RC train, the news at BrickFest was: Sometimes
the sky really does fall. TLC announced it is going to focus on a new RC
(where RC = remote control, not Radio Control, BTW) train system to sell as a
“play train” for kids. The explanation is that electric rails are too
expensive to manufacture so TLC will switch to a battery powered, infrared
controlled, line-of-sight, all plastic rail system. They will create
trains will less detail and lower costs in order to be competitive in the kid
train market.
In making the announcement, Jake pointed out that the new track will snap
right into existing track, And that for the moment, TLC will continue to sell
the old “hobby train” track via lego.com.
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I didn’t attend that talk, but I did listen to it in MP3 form, and I didn’t get
that impression at all. I heard him say that they were introducing a new “play
train” line, that would be in addition to the existing 9V and Duplo train
lines. Indeed, the point of this new line is to bridge the gap between those
two.
The speakers were in fact quite emphatic that the 9V train line is not going
away. They didn’t say the metal track was too expensive for LEGO to
manufacture; they said it was too expensive for them for the youth market where
they are trying to push.
The play train line will be a “gateway” toy: a lower-cost investment for parents
of kids who may or may not be still interested in trains six months from now.
But fully compatible with the 9V trains, so as they grow up and want to do more,
they will almost certainly start buying metal track and the more complex hobby
train sets.
I seem to recall they also mentioned that there would be some sort of “Ultimate
Train Kit” of hobby train parts, as well as a LEGO Train Designer (hobby-train
inventory for the LEGO Designer program), which should result in a lot of cool
user-contributed train designs available for sale via LEGO.com.
So, maybe we should both listen to the speech again with an ear for detail, and
take notes, since you clearly have the impression they’re ending the 9V train
line, and I have the clear impression that they are not.
Best,
Joe
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: All plastic track
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| (...) Joe- I wrote that TLC announced that it is "focusing" on a new "play train" system that will be widely available and that the 9V "hobby train" will be relegated to lego.com and S@H sources, My "observations" were based on what what was said (...) (19 years ago, 16-Aug-05, to lugnet.trains, FTX)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | All plastic track
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| (Sometimes I think that if TLC announced it was closing down, the first post on LUGNET or elsewhere might be something like "Oh, no! That's really terrible! I've got to have 7 more 2x6 pink plates! Can't they wait until I find some on BrickLink?") (...) (19 years ago, 16-Aug-05, to lugnet.trains, FTX)
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