Thoughts On The New Lionel Product Line

[IDM1991]

Although I consider myself to be little more than an armchair railway enthusiast who happens to play with O Gauge trains in his spare time on a primitive, "suburban 1950s basement" layout, I enjoy looking through the new Lionel catalogue when it is released online each year.  This year, its release happened to fall on my 25th birthday!

Here are a few musings on the new catalogue, their look, and their products:

1) I'm beginning to tire of the "misty black" hue which has been dominating the look of Signature Line catalogues for at least a couple of years now, sometimes with the ghostly outline of a locomotive blueprint in the background.  Frankly, it makes the hobby of playing with, collecting, and opearting Lionel trains look like a very dark and forboding experience, which takes place only after the sun goes down and the lights turned off.  As uninspiring as they sometimes were, the glossy white background of the last decade or so was more welcoming and refreshing.

While we're on the topic, is it not possible for Lionel's graphic designers to incorporate the photographed products into a digitally-enhanced landscape drawing, as was the case in the first few pages of the 2002 Vol. 2 and 2004 Vol. 1 catalogues?  Surely, the technology exists which can put a photographed train into a realistic-looking setting, reminiscent of the old Robert Sherman paintings, without them looking too tacky.

2) The 2016 Signature Edition is very heavy on locomotives which have been produced ad nauseam over the last few years.  Is Lionel simply reproducing leftover inventory, or is its design and engineering department simply running out of ideas?  

I live in Canada, as I'm sure many other train hobbyists do as well.  Yet, Lionel's Canadian-oriented product line for the last couple of years seems to be limited to a few massive auto-rack wagons, and the occasional diesel locomotive (this year, the highlight is a new SD90MAC, which looks almost idential to the one realsed sixteen years ago in Lionel's centennial catalogue.

Lionel should do a few traditional and/or Standard O steam locomotives based on the following Canadian prototypes: CPR F1/F2 "Jubilee" 4-4-4; CPR G3g semi-streamlined Pacific; CPR P2g semi-streamlined Mikado; CPR H1c "Royal Hudson;" CPR T-1-b 2-10-4 semi-streamlined "Selkirk;" CPR D4g Ten-Wheeler; CNR E-10-a Mogul, CNR U-Class 4-8-4 Northern, etc.

These locomotives are no more or less obscure than are the 2-6-6-6 Alleghany, 4-6-4 NYC Hudson, or Southern Pacific 4-8-4 GS4, all of which Lionel can't seem to produce enough of.  Don't get me wrong; these are beautiful machines, but as Mr. Neal Schorr wrote in a CTT "Point of View" column several years ago, manufacturers need to expand their thinking.  Really, anything other than the seemingly random application of Canadian roadnames to semi-scale steam locomotives with no basis in Canadian railway history would probably suit Lionel's many Canadian fans.

(I should add that Lionel could also expand its Canadian-themed diesel roster by producing some traditionally-sized or Standard O models of CPR and CNR motive power from the steam-to-disel transition era, particularly in the CNR's lovely green and gold scheme.

3) A look at Lionel starter sets reveals a perceptible decline in quality, what with all of that garish plastic, two-axle freight cars, and odd-looking 0-4-0 switchers which trace their lineage to the early 1970s.  Here are a few suggestions for Lionel, re: starter sets:

a) Make up trains consisting of four gondolas and a van (caboose); four flatcars and a van; two gondolas, two boxcars, and a van; or two flatcars, two boxcars, and a van.  Emphasize gondolas and flatcars; their play value cannot be overestimated.  I spent much of my spare time this past Christmas running trains loaded with candy canes, miniature trees, and miniature snowmen around the tree.  Occasionally, I would place a camera in an open gondola and have it take a short film of the tree as the train circled the latter's base.

b) Try to limit the motive power for steam sets to 2-8-4 Berkshires, 2-8-2 Mikados, 4-6-2 Pacifics, and 4-6-4 Hudsons.  Most mainline freights were not headed up by 0-4-0 switchers with balloon chimneys or the equivalent 0-8-0.  If Lionel must use the old 4-4-2 "Atlantic" in some of its more inexpensive starter sets, it should reduce the diametre of the external gear on the brakeman's side of the locomotive (thus hopefully reducing the aesthetically-awkward gap between the drivers), and install a die-cast side frame on the trailing truck.  This would make what is otherwise a lovely little engine (I regularly run my 8800 4-4-2!) look more "complete."

Appropriate diesel power for stater sets would include the NW2, the GP38-2, and even a 3GS21B "Genset."

All of these locomotives should make good use of die-cast or stamped-steel components, and utilize postwar-inspired tooling to a great extent.  The amount of plastic in the new Ready To Run catalogue is eerily reminscent of Lionel's manufacturing philosophy from about 1959-1969.

c) I feel that the play value of an electric train is enhanced when the train has something of a destination, even as it travels around an oval.  Thus, it might be a good idea to include a station or set of station platforms in each outfit.

4) A few years ago, Lionel touted a line of what it called "Postwar Scale," these being Standard O locomotives and rolling stock with postwar-era paint schemes applied to carbodies.  Why not bring this clever concept back and repackage entire outfits from the 1945-1969 period in the form of Standard O locomotives and rolling stock?  A Standard O operating milk car? A Standard O "Girl's Train?"  Why not?  I'm sure hi-railers wouldn't mind!

Ian D. McKechnie, Lindsay, Ontario 

 

[fifedog]

I'm just glad they are producing the Hogwarts Express in LionChief.  Middle Princess is a big Harry Potter fan.

TAKE THAT you ebay gouge artists!

[sir james I]

No toy train company will please everyone with their offerings. With that many issues you should send your post to Lionel. Two fat catalogs of product. There should be something for you.

[IDM1991]

Oh, I'm not complaining.  The CPR SD90MAC looks great, and the range of accessories is amazing.  But do we really need a huge articulated locomotive every year?  Or rolling stock advertising the same railways year after year?  Methinks that it's time for something different. 

[sir james I]

Those big engines always sell out. I do agree we could use some new road names on rolling stock.

[robmcc]

As a fellow Canadian who collects and operates Lionel trains, I too usually look to see what the new Canadian roadname offerings are as well.  There has been a decent assortment of Canadian roadname themed product of the past few years. It certainly helps that both CP and CN operate an extensive network on both sides of the border, making them appealing to American hobbyists as well. I'm curious what the big shout out is about the SD90MAC fuel tank. I have the original CP SD90MAC from 2000 and the tank looks pretty darn close to scale to me. I know they had to shorten the height a bit in order to clear some switches. It is difficult for some manufactures to make certain models if they only have a limited manufacturing run. For instance, I've wanted an O gauge (non-brass) CP SD40-2F for years. CP was the only user of that model and they only ordered 25. So, Lionel or MTH would not get a decent return on investment in tooling to make such a model. Unfortunately, my biggest issue right now is our dollar exchange rate. It may be a lean year for any purchases. :(

[jwse30]

A few years ago I e-mailed Lionel about your idea of including a station with their starter sets. I suggested using a cardstock one like they did in a few sets in the 1970's. I mentioned it wouldn't cost much, it wouldn't take up much space in the set box, it wouldn't likely compete with existing stations in their product line, and if anything, would encourage a future purchase of a better station later when the cardboard station got dog eared.

 

I got a nice form letter email thanking me for my valued input. 

 

J White