# A train set for small wallets



## lotsasteam (Jan 3, 2008)

http://www.hammondtoy.com/shop/agor...%20FACTORY

Manfred Diel


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## smcgill (Jan 2, 2008)

So is this the new LGB?


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

There was a HUGE row over on the GSM site over these very items...


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## Les (Feb 11, 2008)

Posted By vsmith on 21 Jul 2009 09:12 PM 
There was a HUGE row over on the GSM site over these very items... 

*Why?* the huge row? Patent infringements? Lack of fidelity to someone's notion of 'fair'?

(Slaps own face....) Duh. I posted asking about the demise of LGB in a thumbnail sketch from Someone As Was There... And Gregg warned me that that was a hot topic to some. I didn't have a clue.

Prob'ly shouldn't have asked. But hey, if it's a new entry on a lower $ level (something this hobby needs worse than affordable track) what could possibly be the contention? 

I don't go to any other site than this one and the microlayout one, and lurk only there, so I'm asking out of genuine ignorance, not in order to import a war.


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Les on 22 Jul 2009 08:30 AM 
Posted By vsmith on 21 Jul 2009 09:12 PM 
There was a HUGE row over on the GSM site over these very items... 

*Why?* the huge row? Patent infringements? Lack of fidelity to someone's notion of 'fair'?

(Slaps own face....) Duh. I posted asking about the demise of LGB in a thumbnail sketch from Someone As Was There... And Gregg warned me that that was a hot topic to some. I didn't have a clue.

Prob'ly shouldn't have asked. But hey, if it's a new entry on a lower $ level (something this hobby needs worse than affordable track) what could possibly be the contention? 

I don't go to any other site than this one and the microlayout one, and lurk only there, so I'm asking out of genuine ignorance, not in order to import a war.











All the above! 

While some were happy to have such an afforable option, others just shrugged and said "Eh" and moved on, but a small but very vocal minority decried that these were absolutly illegal contraband and should be burned at the stake along with anyone who dared import them or dared buy them, all this despite the small fact that they were being imported legally into this country, into Italy and elsewhere and were about to be imported into England until this same minority made a ruckus and got them stopped temporaliy, and despite that anyone in Britain and Europe could buy them here and ship them there without any ruckus. These products were investigated over here as well as over there and the consensus was that these were not contraband models made from absconded LGB molds, they were in fact from entirely new molds but that while they had several things that appeared to mimic or replicate things on the LGB molds that doesnt necessarily make these products illegal, stuff like this happens in the plastics manufacturing business. 

To me it was the worst case of sour grapes I've ever seen, a small group of collectors getting there knickers in a twist some how convinced the very existsnce of these products was the harbinger of the end of days (or at least the devaluation of their collections) which is ludicrous as these products are clearly NOT marked LGB or EPL anywhere on them, and would be clear to anyone with half a brain that they are a different and seperate product line that just happens to be selling the same car models that LGB once offered, only at 20% the LGB tribute price. How many almost identical products are offered in N HO or O even. LGB will always be top shelf price wise, its like saying in O back in the 40's that the mere existance of Lionel-silimar Marx products would cause the devaluation af all Lionel products, just ludicrous, alot of "smoke and fury signifying nothing" if you ask me. I find this so funny because these are not widespread items, I can only find 3 places where they are being sold worldwide, so its not like the barbarians are at the gates. From what I've read, the british importer will be trying again to import them there. Good for him.


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## Les (Feb 11, 2008)

Okay, thanks. I didn't include the collectors in my thinking.

Ah well. My big hope, oft expressed, is that HLW will wake up and smell the coffee and expand its offerings for the RTR folk.


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## Great Western (Jan 2, 2008)

Vic has portrayed the ruckus quite well.

I don't think that this range of rolling stock would sit well with my American 1:29 stock so it doesn't feature on my wish list







but, having said that, I was sorry to see the range of very low cost models (as shewn on the Hammonds web site) barred for sale in the UK.

It seemed to me to stem from one very outspoken complaint and a knee jerk reaction by UK bureaucratic officialdom.


To my mind it deprived many of a low cost alternative where kitbashers, young children and of course the many who are feeling their wallets squeezed in present times, have been denied a choice: quite unnecessarily in my opinion. Let us hope, as Vic comments, that they may be available once more in the UK. In the meantime I hope many UK modelers who want these cars will avail themselves of Hammonds remarkably low prices (by UK standards anyway) - I guess some are but just keeping quiet about it in order to avoid any recriminations and animosity.


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## SE18 (Feb 21, 2008)

What's GSM site?

(BTW, nice to see radio RTR at such low price. Kudos! Hope this expands the hobby and the R/C element of it)


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Dave

GSM = *G Scale Mad*


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## Mike Toney (Feb 25, 2009)

I will second the motion for HLW to wake up and produce some new items. I would love to see them make a V&T/ICRR 4-6-0 from the turn of the century era, or just some more of thier nice quality engines. I have the 4-4-0 and love it, just the right size for a smaller line that cannot handle the scale Bachmann 4-4-0.


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## ThinkerT (Jan 2, 2008)

To me, this seems to be exactly what the hobby needs at this point: a return of affordable (hopefully) durable, ready to run trains. *This* is the sort of thing you give to the eight or ten year old kid who seems to have an interest in trains and model railroading. If they are interested enough, you go for a couple of the track expander kits and bring out sufficient lumber to build a 5x10 or 12 layout in the spare room or back of the garage or some such. I can also see it appealing to some adults considering getting into the whole 'G' scale thing and also setting up 'spare room' layouts. Yes, the scale and detail crowd might have some serious issues - but it is a place to start. 

That said...I wonder if the plastic track 'Lionel' stuff I see floating around on EBAY would be compatable with this, or if it could be made to be so?


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## Les (Feb 11, 2008)

Posted By ThinkerT on 07 Aug 2009 09:28 PM 
To me, this seems to be exactly what the hobby needs at this point: a return of affordable (hopefully) durable, ready to run trains. *This* is the sort of thing you give to the eight or ten year old kid who seems to have an interest in trains and model railroading. If they are interested enough, you go for a couple of the track expander kits and bring out sufficient lumber to build a 5x10 or 12 layout in the spare room or back of the garage or some such. I can also see it appealing to some adults considering getting into the whole 'G' scale thing and also setting up 'spare room' layouts. Yes, the scale and detail crowd might have some serious issues - but it is a place to start. 

That said...I wonder if the plastic track 'Lionel' stuff I see floating around on EBAY would be compatable with this, or if it could be made to be so? 








As for affordable RTR needed in this hobby, I couldn't agree more. As for the 'scale and detail' crowd, I don't see much of that around here, possibly since I don't have anything running yet, I'm under the radar. This board seems pretty tolerant of deviations along scale lines. _Anywhere_ inexpensive (relatively) is a good place to start, if G gauge as a distinct segment wants to expand its influence. I'm a member of a minority inside a small world: I want to 'bash 'n scratchbuild. I happened on the gauge totally by accident. If there's going to be friction, it'll be at the point of price disguised under detail, quality and suchlike issues. And it may not happen. But consider this: rarely does anyone admit to owning Echo, New Bright, or Scientific Toys equipment, let alone running it, though insofar as I'm able to determine all of it as well as Aristo, Accucraft & Bachmann is made in China. Probably by financially interlocked companies. So, who's buying all that 'cheap junk' on Ebay? To me, it's like arguing over the merits and demerits of Lionel Standard vs Lionel 0 ga tinplate. They are what they are. The 'expensive' stuff is more highly detailed and has manfacturer's backup, but 'highly detailed' is still a relative term. Relative to the dollar amount paid for the item.

As for making the Topic items work with O gauge Lionel, I don't know because I don't have any idea of the 'scale' they're offered in. The mechanical problems wouldn't be insurmountable, from the standpoint of indoor running. It does strike me that O ga has a narrower 'footprint' re body length and width, but I'm guessing.


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