Keeping track and wheels clean enough to transmit power to rolling stock sucks. what we need is "self powered": https://hackaday.com/2022/09/21/3d-print-yourse

Keeping track and wheels clean enough to transmit power to rolling stock sucks. what we need is "self powered": https://hackaday.com/2022/09/21/3d-print-yourself-a-tiny-steam-train-complete-with-smoke-effects/ https://hackaday.com/2022/09/21/3d-print-yourself-a-tiny-ste... Now we've got plenty of battery to make that viable; and the radio technology to control the engines remotely cheap. once the industry works that change out and grovelling over you contact path is eliminated; they'll have a boom. People will want to buy bare chassis units and 3d print their own model shells to put on them. A couple of industry standards about sizes and battery connectors and they could get somewhere, kick off a hobbyist reseller market, like people painting figurines for tabletop games. More likely "private equity" will buy up the existing market it; milk it til it dies; then sell the shell to some litigious patent shark vulture outfit. "The community" will have to invent new standards on its own; which i believe may be underway.