Kudos, thanks to Lionel on new starter set cars

[brianel027]

I see via Lionel's e-mail newsletter that there are 6 new $24.95 starter set cars that were not announced in the last catalog... a GN flat with bulk ends, a Railbox HiCube (hooray!), a New Haven box car, a NYC tanker, a Santa Fe Hopper and a Pennsy tank car.

I'm very happy to see Lionel expanding the selection of these more affordable cars. I for one though (and feel free to comment on this) wi***here were some more current road names offered for these kind of cars. Granted, there aren't as many railroads operating today as in the past. But seems to me these types of cars are geared for newcomers and lower budget operators. And what better way to grow their interest in the hobby than by making cars in road names that they have a chance of seeing today... Conrail, Norfolk Southern, BNSF, CSX, CP Rail, Soo Line, BN, Canadian Pacific... yes, even some of these have now merged, but I still see many cars in trains today with these roads.

Well, aside from that, it's good to see some more cars available that parents could consider adding on to a child's layout.

brianel

[Anonymous]

I definetly agree with you that this is good. I'm not into modern era myself, but I have always been in support of the manufacturers offering more affordable trains so that newcomers (especially kids!) can get into this hobby and aren't scared off by the prices. I do agree that more current roadnames should be made available so that people can have trains like the ones you see now. I'm actually a big fallen flag fan and love the old ones, but the new ones should definetly be more prevelant.

[brianel027]

Well, yeah me too! I certainly buy the New Haven box car... I love the New Haven! But I also consider myself an official ambassador of the hobby. Everytime I get the chance, I never fail to have kids over to see my layout. The other day, some neighbor kids were over. Now I have lots of fallen flag roads, but the engine the kids wanted to see was my custom painted NORFOLK SOUTHERN 027 Alco FA and 027 S-2! I also have the Lionel NYC Flyer Set 4-4-2 steam engine. I put it on the track, but then the boy noticed I had an identical coal tender painted for Norfolk Southern with the horse logo. He wanted me to run that one! You see, we older guys like the fallen flags because those were OUR railroads. But the youth of today want to see the railroads of today.
Look, I'm sure there will be happy kids who get the current GN RS-3 diesel set from Lionel. But imagine if it was the BNSF RS-3 set! Geez, it's virtually the same paint scheme. But kids will recognize those big letters "BNSF" when they chance to see a real train and they'll say "Hey that's my train right there!!" I've found the differences in diesel models don't matter as much to kids as do the colors and the words. I mean, the Norfolk Southern is as boring as a paint scheme as it gets. BUT kids really do take notice of the horse logo (especially girls! - there's an idea for an updated girl's set). And they like that because it's what they see today. Since 1993 Lionel has yet to offer even one starter set in Conrail, NS, BNSF, CP, CPR, or CSX... one would think these would be the majority of the new items offered? The only way kids will know what the NYC or the PRR is, is by asking Grandpa - who probably got them the set. There within lies the problem as I see it. Sets aren't being made to attract the kids... they're being made to attract the grandpa who is buying the set. And I'd be willing to bet good money that grandparents account for a great deal of the train sets being purchased for kids today.

brianel

[Anonymous]

You made some more good points there. Kids tend to have that attachment to trains that represent the kind they normally see, rather than older ones that aren't familiar to them (not that they wouldn't still enjoy them too). And I do suppose there still are cars that carry old roadnames on today's trains. Industrial rail makes good rolling stock that's realatively low in cost and has current roadnames. The one thing I've always said is that manufacturers like Lionel, K-Line and MTH should have their trains at places where kids will actually be exposed to them, like Wal-Mart, K-Mart or Toys R Us. These manufacturers may be doing good, but they need to try much harder to get young people involved so that they can keep on doing good in the future.

But there are young people in the hobby. I can say that for a fact because right now I'm 17 years old. When you say that fallen flags were "our" roads, I'm not included there. I guess I'm just the type that's nostalgic and has a love for things of the past because even though I was born long after many of those old roads were gone I really love them. Of course, I still love all the new trains of today as well. I suppose I've loved trains all my life since I was a kid. My first trains were actually HO. I was very careful with my toys and still have all those trains in excellent, running condition, but for many kids HO is just too fragile and even if they can handle HO, it's still no comparison to the fun you can have with O gauge. I myself am a collector and operator of prewar and postwar O and S gauge trains of all manufacturers and I always take great pride in shwoing my layout and collection to others, especially kids. The kids love the trains. There are also some other teenagers here on the forums, so there is hope. The World's Greatest Hobby Program is doing a lot of good, but there still needs to be more done.

Also, your custom painted NS engines sound really neat! They'd make the rivet counters go nuts, but they're definetly something that's quite original. I bet they'd be great sellers if they were mass-produced.

[yellowducky]

Some very good points, everyone. I got my very first Lionel boxcar on sale at K-Mart as a closeout item. That was 30 or so years ago. I have how many now? Just a few single purchase items like box cars with real doors could go a long way in furthering this hobby. Or how about a Lionel, K-Line, Atlas, or MTH catalog for sale (at the $2 price) at Wal-Mart or some such store where gobs of common folk shop. You can tell I'm from Indiana, huh? FDM
Garrett High School won their football regional.[:)] Roll on Big Train!

[clinchfieldfan]

I agree with all of you on this issue. Getting the "chain" toy stores to stock O gauge sets must be tough for the manfacturers. All I ever see in them are the cheap HO sets. Some of the Toy stores in malls have a limited amount of Lionel products but the HO overwhelms the O. I would like to see a picture of the NS Alco ,brianel027.

[brianel027]

LATE NEWS
Those of you who get the Lionel e-mail newsletter, saw these 6 new cars were announced on the most recent mailing. My dealer had no info on these cars, so I checked with Lionel. Their web had indicated the cars were shipping. I just heard from Lionel today and the cars are not scheduled to be out until July 2004.
I assumed by announcing the cars in the newsletter that they were recent (as of yet uncataloged) new cars. Also with a November announcement to the consumer, one could also assume that Lionel was promoting the cars for the holiday season. I guess I don't understand announcing the cars 8 months before release. Even the Book 2 Lionel 2004 starter cars were out on shelves at least a couple of months ago - just shortly after the catalog appeared. Recently I've been impressed with Lionel new cataloged product and how quickly it arrives to the dealers. This is one time I'm bummed... I was looking forward to the Railbox Hi-Cube and the orange New Haven box car. They could have waited until the 2004 catalog came out in February/March to announce the cars. Oh well.

brianel