That is one of my biggest gripes that MTH could of done but wanted there own system.As I recall, MTH found Lionel's licensing terms for the Lionel control system to be distasteful, and therefore decided to create their own. Nuff said.
H O brands all work on one system. 3 rail could have except for one stuburn man that refused to go along because he was mad at Lionel. So even though MTH has made and sold many nice engines I believe they would have enjoyed a bigger market had their engines been compatible with all the other brands in the remote mode.
"IT's GOOD TO BE THE KING",by Mel Brooks
Charter Member- Tardis Train Crew (TTC) - Detroit3railers- Detroit Historical society Glancy Modular trains- Charter member BTTS
H O brands all work on one system. 3 rail could have except for one stuburn man that refused to go along because he was mad at Lionel.
Or Lionel could have come up with a licensing agreement that was more palatable. All HO works with DCC because it was developed by the NMRA and therefore is effectively open source. Here is it's history: http://www.dccwiki.com/DCC_HistoryBoth the Lionel and MTH systems are proprietary. Lionel choose to license their system, but as I wrote earlier, MTH did not care for the terms. The terms were discussed on whichever boards were around at the time. Naturally the Lionel fans thought they were fine, and the MTH fans thought they were unacceptable. Objectively, the truth lies somewhere inbetween. I don't think MTH ever offered to license their system.
As I stated everyone agreed to Lionel's terms except one stuburn man.
History could also be interpreted to say that Joshua Lionel Cowen did the same thing.
Trains, trains, wonderful trains. The more you get, the more you toot!
I know that at least, Atlas, K Line and Weaver (maybe others, that I haven't thought of?) found Lionel's licensing terms acceptable, so I don't imagine that they were that onerous.
Just sayin.....
Doug
May your flanges always stay BETWEEN the rails
As I recall, there were points the terms that were rather bad for the licensee. Are you guys looking to dredge up ancient history?K Line and Weaver never were big players and are gone. Atlas was not a big player in "O" gauge back then, and probably isn't today either. So its likely they didn't have the will, resources or committed customer base to go out on their own. MTH did.
To early can't think but the company that ready made joined with or what ever they did back then for a bit came out with there own system also I thought but they where never really much of a player either . they closed down about a year later something about retiring.
Life's hard, even harder if your stupid John Wayne
http://rtssite.shutterfly.com/
Whats the matter CW has OGR been boring you lately?
What's that supposed to mean?
Locked at request of original poster.
Bob Keller
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