When brianel, Agent 027, said a few months ago that Lionel needs to produce more Traditional O Gauge diesel locomotives and rolling stock in Modern Northeastern paint schemes, it makes me wonder what would a complete set contain?
This modern train set and the expansion pack would have to fall into a limited group of roads?
Which roads should the people at Lionel choose, regional lines or major carriers?
For regional lines would there be a mix of roads like Guilford/Maine Central, Boston & Maine, Vermont Railway?
Would the Northeastern Railways Set be defined like this?
Vermont Railway GP38-2 Diesel-Electric Locomotive
Guilford/Maine Central White Waffle-Side Boxcar
Boston & Maine Blue 4-Bay Covered Hopper
Pan-Am Railways Blue & White Hi-Cube Boxcar
Vermont Railway Trailers on 2-Unit TTUX Spine Flat Car
Vermont Railway Center Cupola Caboose
O-31 Expansion Pack 1:
Guilford/Boston & Maine Gray Auto Carrier on Trailer Train TTBX Flat Car
MEC Orange Bulkhead Flatcar with Pulpwood Load. Last made in the 1990's.
MASSACHUSETTES CENTRAL Red 2-Unit Maxi-Stack Intermodal Container Car with 4 Containers
O-31 Expansion Pack 2:
Vermont Railway 3560 Cu Ft. ACF Center Flow 3-Bay Covered Hopper. Plastic body car.
Maine Central Standard O 40' Gondola. 1970's Tooling.
Pan-Am Railways Black & Blue Modern 50' Boxcar
There has to be some definition to the concept of Modern Northeastern Train Sets.
Andrew
Watch my videos on-line at https://www.youtube.com/user/AndrewNeilFalconer
Thanks for your thoughts Andrew. Of course, my thinking is because of my location - the northeast. But also the northeast US has traditionally (and stil is) the strongest most supportative train buying section of the country.
In the past couple weeks though I have seen Santa Fe, BNSF, UP, CPR, Soo, CSX, NS and Conrail locomotives all running on the NS main though town. With todays track rights and useage fees, railroads once only seen in certain sections of the nation are now seen all over the place.
Which begs to ask why Lionel isn't taking advantage of this in the starter set and products arena with post merger sets and add-on packs. The possiblilities are extensive. You have a Santa Fe set in the warbonnet scheme with BNSF on the loco with rolling stock reflecting the current and past merger buildup of these lines. Or a Norfolk Southern starter set with a NS loco, but a Conrail caboose. An add-on pack could include a NS or CSX work caboose or bunk car. MOW trains are colorful affairs and I have personally photographed Conrail MOW cars done in orange, red, black, brown, yellow, gray, greenish-grey, and CR blue... talk about a brightly colored train that would have both play and color appeal!!!
As far as forced compression of smaller trains, I always like to remind folks that the original postwar Lionel Corp. did an outstanding job of this. I have read countless times that even scale enthusiasts prefer the shrunken Lionel postwar sized GG1 versus the newer more scale proportioned ones.... Lionel did a fabulous job capturing the feel, look and appearance of the GG1 while shrinking it in size to be able to run on more people's layouts.
The engineer at Kusan/AMT who did the work on the BEEP also did a fabulous job in creating a small switcher locomotive that looks like it "could" be real, even if it wasn't. The undeniable fact that the RMT BEEP has become so popular and is available in so many roadnames is an absolute testament to what I have been saying for ages: this hobby NEEDS MORE non-scale smaller shrunk down locomotives in a variety of roads including MODERN current ones.
As a final thought, I have never once actually seen the K-Line Train-19 Conrail box car. Every time I was ever in a train shop I was told they had sold out, or were on reorder. There were always other Train-19 cars in stock: NYC, PRR, Rutland, C & O, but never the Conrail or the CSX flat car with truck and figures. More than once I was told by store owners those two cars were the first ones to go out the door and be sold out. Of course, those dealers always tried to interest me in some motheaten Pennsy or NYC car instead. No thanks. Unless they're giving it away, so that my cost to have to repaint it will be worth it.
Which is why I buy so much junk as far as trains go. I'm not paying a premium price for some NYC or Pennsy car that I don't want, so that I can repaint it into something I actually do want. but that does little to help the folks who don't have the repainting and decal skills I do. I foolish sold my 027-ized Dash-8 locomotive to a guy at a show and that was my biggest train mistake. I should have never done that. But the guy was pretty excited about it and told me he'd been waiting for Lionel to FINALLY make a modern 027 sized Dash-type loco in Conrail.
Unfortunately a decade later, we're still waiting. And this is something that could be a fabulous money maker for Lionel, unlike many of the other scale locomotive they've made that cost so much to make, have limited sales appeal and limited runs because of that.
You know, as foolish as it might seem (and this has been bantered around on the forums) even at this time, if I had the money I'd absolutely start a new train company a give Lionel an incredible run for their money. I believe I could take a huge chunk out of their sales because they are not doing the kinds of things that I hear average hobbiests say they want.
Instead, Lionel is foolish (in my opinion) pouring millions of dollars into a new control system that doesn't even work yet (meaing the cost of Legacy is continuing to rise even more) and that the vast majority of 3-rail modelers will never use. How can this system be fun for everyone, if everyone cannot afford it???? How can Legacy revolutionize the hobby if it fails to help reach the new young potential modelers that NEED to be reached. Higher prices across the board will not do it.
Yet we will all pay for Legacy with continuing increases in list prices of ordinary starter trains made from tooling and dies that have long been paid for. Take a look a the new Lionel catalog... $54.99 list for a 2-bay CHRISTmas Ice Breaker Hopper. You buy that overpriced car, you're not only paying for a train car, but you're buying some of the development costs of scale tooling and Legacy. The same car minus the die-cast trucks and plastic ice breaker insert is $29.99. $25 for upgraded trucks and a piece of plastic? That's good profit. But with that list price, the car defeats the purpose and discourages the intended buyer it was meant for.
brianel, Agent 027
"Praise the Lord. I may not have everything I desire, but the Lord has come through for what I need."
I agree, there could be a lot of interesting options for sets including a MetroNorth set (it would be nice to see someone offer an FL-9), a freight trainset for the Housatonic, etc. A few years ago, K-Line offered an LIRR "scoot" set with their streamliner passenger cars, an ALCO Dummy FA unit and an MP-15. When I commuted from the Jersey Shore into New York, we sometimes had an EMD E along with an ex-CNJ GP40 on the point in New Jersey Transit colors which might also make an interesting consist.
At the low end, all you need is rusty track and some Plasticville factory buildings without roofs (sorry, couldn't resist that).
Regarding the LIONEL O27 Ice Breaker Two-Bay Hopper.
To everybody else the outside of Lionel the Ice Breaker on O27 Two-Bay Hopper with Die-Cast Trucks has been overpriced and was never offered in enough roadnames.
Why did those staffs at Lionel not make Canadian Pacific, Canadian National, Maine Central, Central Vermont, Pennsylvannia, Norfolk & Western, Clinchfield, Southern, Great Northern, Milwaukee Road, Northern Pacific, Southern Pacific in the first two years of the introduction of the Ice Breaker Two-Bay Hopper? More roadnames would have allowed a greater return on the small investment of a new injection molded part.
The price of that O27 Hopper is the same as newly introduced, highly-detailed O Scale Freight Cars.
Too much for not enough.
Central Vermont would be saved for a seperate sets of O Scale Locomotives and Cars since the CV has not been in operation.
The New England Central is interesting. It would be a change of pace at Lionel if the O Gauge Locomotive line was only shortlines and regional lines for the next few years.
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