‘i want this, i want that, my kids arent interested, what will happen to our hobby’…i see/hear this all the time…while reading a recent poll on what “we” would like to see next, it occurred to me that with the vast majority of ‘LS’ participents are of the ‘progressive years’ stage (trying to remain PC here! ;^) ) and are familiar with either ‘early’ steam, ‘late’ steam or ‘1st production’ type diesels…nobody really seems to want MODERN, TODAY type stuff ('cept me)…and are content with ‘early’ equipment…well, lets put this in perspective then…the bulk want ‘early’ because that is the equipment they are familiar with because chances are that is what they themselves have seen…first hand even (1:1)…well, while IMO that is fine, it is also my opinion that we really need to dispense with the new ‘early’ equipment for awhile…the market is already, literally, flooded with enough of that stuff…we need ‘modern’ equipment…the stuff we see on the rails TODAY…what is it that got you in the hobby, for the most part??? i would venture to say it was either after you saw the magnificance of the real thing and you wanted something like it yourself, OR you saw just how magnificent the real thing was AFTER somebody else had introduced you to the hobby (uncle, dad, etc…)…the point being you were somehow introduced or encouraged to cotinue, by what YOU have seen on the rails (1:1)…now what about todays generation??? the one that needs to get into this hobby so it doesnt die out…do they see all this ‘early’ stuff on the rails (1:1) to get excited about??? or do they see ‘modern’, today type stuff on the rails??? why of course they see ‘modern’ stuff…something new…that is what excites and encourages people…IMO, it is the manufactuers lack of ‘modern’ products, that are ultimatly killing off the hobby…now i am not sayng to halt all ‘early’ production…just that we have enough…the molds have been made and can be reused again…hell, some of those molds have even been updated…but how many variations of hudsons, and mikados, and mallets do we need??? and the differences in appearence between different manufactuers are minimal with the exception of the electronics…to my eyes anyway…aristo is making an attemp to produce both ‘early’ and ‘modern’ simutaniously, but primarily motive power, while keeping even their version of ‘modern’ rolling stock in the ‘early’ department (tho more recent prototypes, it is still considered ‘early’ and not really ‘modern’ at all)…look at the ‘O’ scale guys…or ‘HO’ scale guys for that matter…a glutten of BOTH ‘early’ and ‘modern’…and people wonder why so many people are in those scales…it is’nt the price of LS that keeps people away…it is the limited choices that are available in LS that are keeping the ‘newcomers’ out of LS…LS manufactuers wont make something unless there is a demand for it…i understand…but if you know your stuff, why cant you make a few pieces, as an investment, see what happens??? how are people going to know what to want/need unless they have the products to choose from in the first place??? worst case scenario is the money is written off as a loss, which is highly unlikely because it will be new…and new creates motivated buyers…