It has been said that HO racing has not stirred the same enthusiasm that 1/32 scale has in the new found popularity of slot cars.

I fully agree. We race both scales and the offers in HO pale to that of the larger scale. Today's Life Likes track selections can barely make a four lane!

Now, would appear to be a good time for the hobby to adopt a track standard. With Mattel doing so little, and Life Like (now under control of hobby giant Walthers) offering such limited track pieces standardization could take place.

Before Walthers invests in any new track segments they should look into gaining permission to manufacture Tomy's track or better yet, just include Tomy track in future sets.

Such standardization would help the hobby grow as it would be easier to combine and build bigger and more interesting tracks in neighborhoods across the nation.

Model train track has been standardized for 50 years now.


Jim Norton
Huntsville, Alabama

Jim,
Wouldn't standardization be great? Don't think it will happen though.
First of all, I think you can forget about Lifelike/Walthers designing another piece of track. Their track selection has been the same since the beginning of time. It probably wouldn't be a bad idea if they just bit the bullet and went with either Tyco or Tomy. And produced lots of adapters you could buy in bulk.
Probably the closest you'll get to a standard would be Tomy, but even there you will find people who prefer the even lane spacing of Tyco. Some like the tightness of the Tomy lanes, others don't.
You are probably down to two main "standards" right now in plastic track - Tomy and Tyco/Mattel. To ask either camp to give up their stock of track to switch to the other just isn't going to happen.
It's too bad the Tyco slot is not as deep as the Tomy slot, otherwise all cars would run on all tracks without exception.
By the way, that brings up an interesting point. Which guide pins are too long for Tyco?

Thanks...Joe

I think you can forget about Lifelike/Walthers designing another piece of track.

Walthers may actually Surprise you...........they are trend creators & Have the manufacturing & design capability. Also, the grandson who now runs the company has shown a willingness to STEP UP & produce a Quality product.

They produce their own line of Trains & Model Building Kits........with this in Mind , IF they were to do anything I would think to see them Lean towards the 1/87 scale like aurora of old.
1/64th scale is not something they manufacture in while they Do manufacture heavily in 1/87 MODERN............Create a 1/87 Slot track and they have all the buildings to create an Urban layout

Champ Cars Running in Detroit...Can do!!!
It takes time to develop any plan and even longer to implement it, but be assured they bought Life Like for a reason, part of which I am sure was to Increase their own manufacturing capabilities..........ah to be a mouse in the corner and know just exactly what they are planning......... that would be Very :cool:

Walthers may actually Surprise you...........they are trend creators & Have the manufacturing & design capability. Also, the grandson who now runs the company has shown a willingness to STEP UP & produce a Quality product.

If they produce more variations of track, I would indeed be very surprised. I also think track would be a money losing proposition UNLESS they create such a presence in retail stores like TRU, with not just sets but replacement parts and loose track, that they introduce slots to a whole new customer base which otherwise wouldn't know that slots existed.

Joe