Kudos to Lionel removed on new starter cars

[brianel027]

Those of you who receive the e-mail Lionel newsletter know from the most recent one, that 6 new traditional $25 stater cars were announced: A PRR tank car, ATSF hopper, GN flat car, NYC tank car, Railbox Hi-Cube and New Haven box car. Within a minute of getting that e-mail, I called my local dealer inquiring on these cars as I wanted the Railbox and the New Haven. And thus began several days of inquiring and fruitless searching. They didn't know about the cars. No the store manager never saw them. No, they not in our system.
I couldn't believe that Lionel would announce cars that weren't available. I checked Lionel's website and it stated the cars had been shipped. So I called the local dealer again with no luck.
So I e-mailed Lionel and was told the cars would not be available until July. Today, I called the local dealer to inquire on holiday hours and got the owner. So I asked him about the new cars and was told they were sold out. "But your store manager didn't know about the cars. They weren't even listed in your inventory or on your computer." He told me he only got a few and they were all pre-sold by mailorder.

Okay, so that's how the cookie crumbles. BUT of what use is it for Lionel to announce new cars that are obviously aimed at newcomers and budget modelers when the cars aren't even available. I would have rather not known about the cars until the 2004 Lionel catalog came out, than to know about them now, and have made an effort to buy them, only to find they are completely out of stock already!!
Of course, my dealer has tons and tons of cars for $60 that I can't even begin to afford. I'd love to buy the new NS and BNSF flat cars, but not for $60. Especially when I've bought near identical tractors that are on those cars for around $7 or $8. Of course, he does also have lots of the other starter cars in PRR and NYC. But I for one am beginning to hate the PRR and NYC because as far as Lionel seems to be concerned with budget trains, these were the ONLY 2 railroads that ever existed.
Which compounds my frustation all the more when one sees the glut of scale this and scale that, $600+ engines, $60-$100 cars - absolutely no shortage there! But the new affordable cars that the average Joe like me can afford are out-of-stock as soon as they're annouced.
Anyways, I made a resonable effort to find these cars and support my local dealer. I was certainly thinking of Lionel. But they certainly were not thinking of me. And obviously others who will look for these cars and be very disappointed that Christmas on those cars comes not in December, but July of next summer. Thanks for nothing Lionel.

brianel

[Anonymous]

brianel027, Well put!! I'm seeing alot of the same thing where I am and the only thing I can figure is Lionel is getting tired of dealing with the average Joe!,,,I hope this is not the case, But the thing that got me into the hobby back in the 60's and 70's is affordability!
Now I realize that things have changed since then, But I know that affordible stock and engines can be made and have a reasonable amount of quality.
unfourtionatly the day's of going to the hardware store and getting a boxcar or two and and operating crossing gate,,,Oh and I need a new knuckle and spring too!! for $22.00 is over ,But Like you ,,,,It would be a nice feeling to know that Lionel still has the 8 year old kid in mind who raked leaves for a couple of weeks to get that new Auto rack or flat car with the cool crane on it!!!!!!

[brianel027]

Thanks Penn Central! By the way, love your name! I've always dug the Penn Central - an innovative railroad that is very slowly gaining some overdue respect for the things they attempted to do.
Now I have this theory I call the "Grandfather Effect." No kid today even has a clue what Lionel is, because Lionel has no exposure in any place a kid would logically be in tune to. BUT Lionel has had a very successful merchandising program with their name on everything from trinkets to keychains to decorative tins to clocks. Older adults see these items (which ironically are available EVERYWHERE) and it plants a seed... so Grandpa looks in the yellow pages to find the Lionel dealer. He goes to the shop and he sees a train set in a railroad from his youth... maybe one he even worked for. Nickle Plate Road, NYC, PRR, Wabash, C&O, Norfolk and Western, Great Northern, and of course Santa Fe... these are the lock and stock of starter set road names and related items. Outside of the Chessie, UP or Southern , there's nothing offered from any current rail lines (even there only UP is current). So Grandpa buys his grandson or nephew a train set based on HIS love and memories in a roadname HE remembers.
Now, I had a travelling layout I took to shows, and I'll tell you from first hand experience, all the above roads mean NOTHING to any kid today. I have a Norfolk Southern steam engine - a repainted NYC 4-4-2 from one of those current Lionel sets. The kids go ape over that! Prototype? Heck no! But the kids recognize the horse logo. As they do with many of my repaints in CSX, Conrail, etc. I remember one little girl calling the Conrail logo "a rainbow." Funny how that name stuck with me. If kids are going to have a connection to trains, there had better be a way they can make the connection. Is there still interest!! YES! I've seen it. Anyone who knows me knows I am a full time ambassador to promoting this hobby! I've had dealers approach me out of the blue and thank me for helping to sell train sets. One dealer went as far as to say I should be running K-Line or Lionel because I believe in the hobby and therefore am a convincing salesman. Hey, I love some of the fallen flags too - Lehigh Valley, CNJ, New Haven. But those roads mean nothing to kids today, other than being bright colors.
OF course, the parents have to be able to afford the train set too! Lionel, MTH and K-Line all CLAIM starter set sales are up. So why aren't there more affordable items being offered? And why are there still blowout prices on starter sets? If KB Toys is currently blowing out the Ballyhoo Set at $99 (2/3 off list!!!) that says to me it wasn't such a good seller.
My theory is that the ADULT SCALE operator market is KILLING the hobby, as far as budget operators and newcomers are concerned. There is no way that the various companies can recoop tooling and development costs on the vast, vast amount of new scale sized product that is being churned out on the first run. I have no doubts that the general upswing in prices overall is in no small way subsidizing the development of new scale product. For example, there is NO way $100 can cover the cost of those new K-Line engines being offered through their collector club. Sure, the price is an advertising ploy. But you can rest assured that the higher prices of other items are helping to cover the product development costs of these new scale pieces. Same is true with the rest of the companies. If UMD or Industrial Rail cars could have a $28 list, be wholesaled to dealers large and small at 50% off, then you know it CAN be done. But Industrial Rail didn't have a expansive line of scale sized engines to subsidize. That, and they were also a distributor - which helps.
And remember, the fussy, picky adult market that is now insisting on absolute prototypical accuracy, costs money. Take the same engine, and change markers lights and headlights and window arrangement - that's additional tooling costs. Seems the days of making a tool and die, and releasing it in a variety of roadnames is gone. Except for Williams. And thank goodness for Williams too. I hope they realize they have a winning formula already and don't mess with it! Now if Williams only had some better exposure!!
Anyways, Penn Central, I'm sure you and I are not alone. It's just the companies go to YORK and listen to folks there - who are all die-hard, converted, scale modelers mostly with money to burn. Unfortunately, these folks (important as they are) will not make the hobby grow and reach more younger modelers. And if you've ever been to YORK, you'll notice an overambundance of receeding hairlines. I think on the next Lionel catalog, instead of having an Angella Trott painting of kids dreaming about Lionel Trains, they should show some overweight old guys with gray hair dreaming about Lionel Trains - because that's the REAL market.
And as I said above, the great once in a while when Lionel make some affordable proudct that I want, it's unavailable as fast as Lionel bothered to let me know the product was being made in the first place. I'm not only PO-ed at Lionel, but I'm also annoyed with my dealer that he never bothered to even put some of the product on the shop shelves, or let the people who work for him know the status of the product. Product that is and was obviously geared at people like me and other newcomers.
I've writtten Lionel too, and asked to be removed from their mailings. I find it intolerable and inexcusable that they notify people of affordable product that ultimately they have NO chance of getting because it's sold out before Lionel even notifies people of the new product.
Of course there's no shortage of cars in the $60-$100 price range. Hmmmmm. I wonder why?
BRIANEL