QUOTE (ashleyh @ 1 Sep 2008, 21:30)
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>Probably far too late to save this thread, but.........
Thinking back 8 years or so, hands up how many people feel that there was a missed opportunity to move to HO when Hornby moved production to China and started producung Super detail models.
I guess it was too much of a commercial risk, and Hornby saw their main competitors, Bachmann, still producing in OO.
Probably never even considered HO. Given that most pre-1999 models are now considered obsolete, Britain could have at last joined the world stage with HO.
There would have been no need for a new track system then would there (runs for cover...)
*** I sincerely doubt UK prototype HO ever entered Hornbys head. Their sole motivation would have been, very sensibly, commercial - make a better OO model at a lower cost to them, and have a more successful business because of it, and I can't argue with that, its common sense...
As to the other comment re Peco track and accuracy, which are two mutually exclusive words - No need to run for cover at all....
To celebrate the world shaking move of Hornby and other UK models to HO, and in order to save Peco the task of doing the research and for once doing it properly....
The EU would have mandated that the entirity of all UK and European railway systems must immediately redesign all their turnouts and relay every mile of track to match Peco's fanciful idea of what track should look like, therby in a brilliant coup ending the "peco track is inacurate" for current era modellers.... but sadly, still leaving all the rest with a nagging need for something better.
Of course the Eurostar and TGV etc would then have been speed limited to between 25 and 50kph - but that would have been no problem as real railways would then become too dangerous to ride on due to the poor Peco turnout design and geometry....
Cars and horses would have inherited the earth and all rail preservation limited to a 100 acre trackmat in the South East England.
but heck, at least the models would have looked better for some!
Richard