Jordan, please help me to understand this world of non-Western / non-Hyrdaulic / non-Chromatic things. What makes something (over here) qualify for the Dark Side? If the simple answer is "American" - and I doubt that life is that simple ......
The short answer is that way back when most UK mainstream modellers thought Lima diesels were the last word in realism, some of us who remained less than impressed were introduced, through various means, to American model trains, which had all-axle, flywheel drives, magnetic couplers, quite fine wheel flanges (well anything looks fine next to old Lima wheels!!), and were very much cheaper than UK stuff for much higher quality. Magazines such as "Model Trains" by Chris Ellis also blew the lid off the usual American "myths" - that all trains were miles long with 5 locos up front, that you need a basement to do a US layout, etc, and also introduced us to the US "Short Line" concept - smaller, independent Railroad Companies, something that we simply have nothing like in the UK, even in this Privatised Era when it would be much easier than under BR.
Such smooth running on RTR stuff, along with 'hands free' uncoupling simply mystified some dyed-in-the-wool "If it isn't British I don't want to know" modellers - I saw it for myself firsthand at Exhibitions - I once saw a group of 'older' punters utterly amazed when the US loco in front of them uncoupled (over a hidden magnet) "all by itself", then pushed the train into a siding and left it there. They had absolutely no idea how it was done.
Such good qualities seemed to be some kind of Dark Art to many, but the term Dark Side has only relatively recently come into general use, fueled by increasing popularity of Internet Forums, I think! These days "Dark Side" might be more widely used - it can be about DCC for example, and on this Forum, it refers to almost anything beyond what you list - non-Western, non-Hydraulic...
Nowadays UK outline has caught up in terms of quality drives, and 'kadees' are more common, and also the price gap has closed up, so there isn't likely to ever again be a 'mass conversion' to US outline based solely on the quality of the models available.
The long answer is.... well just read this back slower.....
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