AZL Releases Bettendorf Trucks!

been lurking here for a while. can't resist poking a stick in the hornets nest any longer.

so the world must always conform to anything pre-existing. that means we will never have anything better.

i call that stupid.

when a standard is not satisfactory, or too costly or otherwise impractical to adopt, you do something else. this has been going on for as long as model railroading has existed. but some people here seem to be acting as though it's something new.

look at ho couplers. they had horn-hooks practically forever. then along comes kadee. they introduce something new, something better. but incompatible with horn-hooks. some people were actually upset that kadee would dare do such a thing. but where would we be if kadee didn't do what they did?

now look at what azl has done. even though their couplers don't uncouple freehand, they still couple to micro-trains. right there i'd say azl has gone out of their way to accommodate z scalers. smart move. the z scale market is way too small for a lot of different coupler standards.

micro-trains upset the apple cart with their decision to drop oem trucks and couplers. personally i think that was a seriously stupid move, but what do i know. anyway, azl is taking a big financial risk trying to do their own thing. they ought to be granted some time to get their sea legs before people start to draw and quarter them.

besides, this is a hobby. peoples jobs or lives are not depending on whether a standard is being followed or not.

jim k

 

so what . . . I don't own single Marklin item, never will and I am not interested in the so called "standard" developed more than 30 years ago to suit manufacturing capabilities of the time

I am happy that some guys today are willing to push the envelope - let the market decide

it is not compulsory (well it might be in Germany :tb-biggrin
It is because of the so called "standards" we still have crapido couplers in N
And if one were to adopt your attitude we would never have anything else?
Alternatively - I guess you are still using abacus, because computer doesn't fit into existing standards for calculating machines :tb-tongue:

you might call him stupid . . . most of us can conduct the discussion in a more civilised manner :thumbs_down: