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As an ex-HO modeller and now an ardent HiRailer (that is full scale O scale models on three rail track) I am really upset by the recent lawsuits by MTH. I met Mike Wolf earlier this spring when he was touring local hobby shops in the area. There were no other customers in the shop so I got to spend almost an hour one on one with Mike Wolf. He is very personable and good humored. He demonstrated DCS on the hobby shop layout for me. He ran a Lionel diesel (UP by the way) and a MTH diesel. At first he wasn't sure if the UP diesel was MTH or Lionel until we inspected it. He pointed out that MTH locomotives were set up to increase speed at one mph increments,and that it was possible to clock the speed of a MTH engine with a stopwatch to verify that it was going at the rate shown on the control. The subject turned to the lawsuits especially in regard to my BLI On30 2-8-0. He said his only beef was that it also increased speed at one mph increments. I asked if that was all."That's it", he replied. I asked if he would complain if the speed would increase by something other than one mph increments (one kilometer per hour for example) and he said that would be OK. I asked him if he was suing Lionel et al about their speed controls and he said no, Lionel was OK with him. I thought about asking him how he could patent a rate of acceleration but I didn't want to be argumentative. He seems like such a nice man it makes one wonder if when he is alone he turns into some Gollum-like monster who looks at the model railroading hobby and says, "Preciouss-ssss! It's mine...all mine...", Maybe he doesn't care what we O gaugers think, but my collection of 25 brass HO steam engines allows me to speak as an HO gauger and say that he is killing himself in his attempt to enter the HO market especially when he is planning to market DCS adapted for HO. He is making himself hated by a large segment of the model railroading hobby. Sad because he has much to offer but will find that he can't jam things down our throats. Too bad. Odd-d
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