I do not see this as our failure. Lionel failed. The S Scale world will keep on turning. I am disappointed that Lionel gave up so quickly without doing much homework or sales effort. But its not the first marketing failure we have seen. But their learning curve is steep. A model railroad company that spends money to make a brand new dining car and then forgets to put a kitchen door in it has a lot to learn. Even worse, they placed silhouettes of diners at tables that can be seen in the kitchen windows. That is pretty bad even for the toy train market. - Earl Henry, Nashville In a message dated 10/23/2012 2:51:04 P.M. Central Daylight Time, [email protected] writes:
> Back in March, I wrote to JonĀ at Lionel, using my most persuasive arguments to convince them to produce scale items. > Roger Nulton Hi Roger.... Jon works 20 minutes down the road from my home. We have a very friendly relationship. I can assure you that Jon, Chief Technical Officer of Lionel Electric Trains, is quite enthused about doing genuine S scale products. He fully understands and accepts all the needs and desires of the scale folks. However, he can only design what is first approved by the marketing folks. The problem is that the marketing folks do not understand the scale environment. They simply put out a "feeler" in their catalog and wait to see how the numbers roll in. It is just about that simple. No numbers, no product. Stuff gets cancelled. No serious investigative analysis at all. Perhaps a short conversation with a few of their O 3-rail dealers. 'Tis a shame to put it mildly. The problem we face is trying to convince the marketing folks at Lionel that we exist, exist in reasonable numbers, want things slightly differently from the AF folks and are willing to pay for it. In a sense, we have collectively failed to do that. Just as much as they have failed to educate themselves about us. The fingers can point in both directions. Roger, I am glad you wrote to Lionel. I wonder how many others took the time? Try the marketing department if you write. Engineering is already on board with us. Back to the workbench.....Ed L.
