----- Original Message -----
From: David Halfpenny [mailto:dh16mm@...]

I'm not sure I've got your drift, Michael.

Is your emphasis on "minor" or "offence"?

ie are you for it?
or agin it?

That's a difficult question!

I model in On30, and I guess the more that is available, the more interests covered, the more people will model On30, and the more likely it is products I would like to see will be produced. So from a purely selfish point of view the more the better.

There is an argument that prototypes are best modelled with the correct scale gauge for that prototype, and I have some sympathy for that. On the other hand there are practical considerations, and On30 is, as you have observed, a practical scale/gauge. The practical arguments can run from the difficulty of hand-building turnouts, as would be required in On3 for instance, to by choosing On30 I can run my equipment on my mates layout, and visa versa. There is also the very practical argument for the manufacturer that by choosing On30 he stands some chance of selling enough models to make the enterprise worthwhile.

Since coming back into the hobby 5 or more years ago I have become somewhat fascinated with 2'6" gauge railways in particular. I have collected quite a lot of information on 2'6" gauge railways and their equipment. One thing I note is that with industrial locomotives and the lines they ran on, choice of gauge is often a whim of their owner. That is there is no reason the Powelltown line could not have been built in 2'6" gauge, and operate very similar equipment. The question would Baldwin have built Little Yarra with outside frames for this gauge is an interesting one. Probably, but there is enough leeway there to give any modeller the benefit of the doubt. One interesting scenario for a freelance modeller would be to imagine the Warburton line was built to 2'6" gauge as planned, and the Powelltown interchanged with it.

I am a freelance modeller, but I hope that my scenario retains a high degree of plausibility. I probably won't buy a Little Yarra model, because it is too small and too modern for my scenario. And because I am modelling a 2'6" gauge railway (even if fictitious) I think I would also be worried about the frames issue as well.

I better become a politician, because I think I've managed to say a lot without answering you question!

My apologies to the moderators if this post has strayed too far off topic.

Cheers

Michael






------------------------------------

Material posted on this group may be adapted by the editors of LRRSA publications for use in those publications, including Light Railways and the LRRSA web-site www.lrrsa.org.au

This group is for members who share common interests with the members of the LRRSA, but the contents of postings are those of their authors and opinions expressed do not necessarily conform with those of any LRRSA member nor of the LRRSA Council of Management"
Yahoo!7 Groups Links





--
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.24.0/1462 - Release Date: 23/05/2008 7:20 AM