Trains.com

Next Stop, Hogwarts! ( in G! )

5133 views
33 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    September 2006
  • From: Hurricane Alley, Florida
  • 469 posts
Posted by EMPIRE II LINE on Thursday, May 1, 2008 5:48 PM

 OH..OH !!!!

 

He Wore Arrow Shirts Too
  • Member since
    November 2006
  • From: Dacula, GA USA
  • 188 posts
Posted by Coogler Rail Line on Thursday, May 1, 2008 7:33 AM

Harry Plopper?

Image Preview

  • Member since
    April 2003
  • 305,205 posts
Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, April 30, 2008 3:40 PM
  • Member since
    January 2002
  • From: Loudonville, NY
  • 776 posts
Posted by Benjamin Maggi on Wednesday, April 30, 2008 7:50 AM

Two possible conversions come to mind for me with this set:

1. Mount the engine body on a Big-Haulers mechanism, with some adjustment for the pilot truck wheel spacing and such, or...

2. Mount an Aristocraft or USA Trains 3-axle diesel truck block in the tender, under the tender body shell. 

Both should be pretty cheap and would probably make it run better too. 

Modeling the D&H in 1984: http://dandhcoloniemain.blogspot.com/

  • Member since
    November 2006
  • From: Dacula, GA USA
  • 188 posts
Posted by Coogler Rail Line on Wednesday, April 30, 2008 7:16 AM

Well....I have to admit that the books and movies were enjoyable for a kids book and I thought it was pretty cool that they had a train in the movie. 

 

Look...everybody is coming out of the closet!

  • Member since
    December 2001
  • From: Smoggy L.A.
  • 10,743 posts
Posted by vsmith on Tuesday, April 29, 2008 9:15 PM

Hmm....so many are clearly irritated by this, I might just have to get me one now.Wink [;)]

Dont know why I'm always drawn to things that irritate other people...Mischief [:-,]

   Have fun with your trains

  • Member since
    April 2003
  • 305,205 posts
Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, April 29, 2008 8:50 PM

 Mr_Ash wrote:
I read the first few books back years back when I was still with my ex, she was obsessed... I never really got it though the books arnt even that good

Unlike most series where the sequels are formulaic and just cranked out to make more money,the later Potter books were actually better written .... probably simply because the writer herself improved at her craft with experience (or maybe she just had more money to hire a better editor?).

  • Member since
    October 2007
  • From: SW Chicago Suburbs
  • 788 posts
Posted by Mr_Ash on Tuesday, April 29, 2008 8:45 PM
lol closet potter fans! I read the first few books back years back when I was still with my ex, she was obsessed... I never really got it though the books arnt even that good
  • Member since
    September 2006
  • From: Hurricane Alley, Florida
  • 469 posts
Posted by EMPIRE II LINE on Tuesday, April 29, 2008 7:30 PM

 Coogler Rail Line wrote:
Toad is just a closet Potter fan.  He probally has already bought the set.

 

An he sure won't admit what he's gonn'a do to it.......CHOP...CHOP....

He Wore Arrow Shirts Too
  • Member since
    November 2006
  • From: Dacula, GA USA
  • 188 posts
Posted by Coogler Rail Line on Tuesday, April 29, 2008 6:32 PM
Toad is just a closet Potter fan.  He probally has already bought the set.
  • Member since
    December 2001
  • From: Smoggy L.A.
  • 10,743 posts
Posted by vsmith on Tuesday, April 29, 2008 6:07 PM

user="ToadFrog&WhiteLightn"]

 

Nah! Its just getting interestingWink [;)]

But save that pic, thats a handy one to have around!Laugh [(-D]

   Have fun with your trains

  • Member since
    April 2003
  • 305,205 posts
Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, April 29, 2008 5:45 PM
  • Member since
    January 2002
  • From: Loudonville, NY
  • 776 posts
Posted by Benjamin Maggi on Tuesday, April 29, 2008 4:30 PM

Now wait a minute guys. I will admit that the set isn't as nice as many Lionel sets made today (but even some of their more expensive sets aren't all that great, value wise.) However, with an internet price of just over $100 it has a lot going for it. True, it is battery powered, which is a real downer. But, if it was electical powered just like their G scale Christmas train (and $250 or more to buy it) then we would complain about that too. There are many good things about this set:

1. Price: For a Lionel set, a company known to charge more for less, a street market price of around $100 isn't too bad.

2. British outline trains: I model British outline trains in large scale (16mm = foot) and in America, finding any British outline trains is impossible. Even in Britain it is tough, but not impossible there. However, once you import the things over here, the price is crazy. Like $100 for a short 2-axle coach. 

3. Provisions already built in for battery control. For some people, this might not be a bad deal. It comes with the transmitter and receiver, and it means that for someone like me I won't have to purchase those things to convert this train to battery control. For new kids getting into trains, it might be a load of fun to wave a magic "train control wand" and have the train go.

I plan to purchase a set or two and see what I can make of it. I like to scratchbuild engines and cars, and I bet I could take the engine assembly and mount it on a quality mechanism and come up with someting presentable. It would certainly be cheaper than buying British kits for $300 plus and working on them ... and the results might make me just as happy.

The coaches will take some work, but for $25 each I cannot complain ($50 for engine, $25 for each coach as I divided it up in my mind). I will lower them, change out the wheels, and see what the result is.

Instead of looking at the set for what it is not, or what it could have been, you guys might want to at least be happy that for what IT ACTUALLY IS, it doesn't cost an arm and a leg. And, for someone like me who would have been happy with a nicer set but would have not been able to afford it at this point in my life, this is great news!

To each his own. 

Modeling the D&H in 1984: http://dandhcoloniemain.blogspot.com/

  • Member since
    April 2003
  • 305,205 posts
Posted by Anonymous on Monday, April 21, 2008 1:23 AM
  • Member since
    September 2006
  • From: Hurricane Alley, Florida
  • 469 posts
Posted by EMPIRE II LINE on Sunday, April 20, 2008 3:33 AM
 tangerine-jack wrote:

Yikes!  Hmm, let me guess-made in China?  Ah-so- Holgwuts- velly nice movie- so solly, no eletlicity- balterly only prease!

Crap, utter an total crap.  Lionel should be ashamed of themselves, and at $140 to boot!

No Shame left anymore on the commercial greed scene-----Gasoline 4 to 5 bucks a Gallon, MAYBE SOON.....

Byron C.

He Wore Arrow Shirts Too
  • Member since
    September 2006
  • From: Hurricane Alley, Florida
  • 469 posts
Posted by EMPIRE II LINE on Sunday, April 20, 2008 3:32 AM
 tangerine-jack wrote:

Yikes!  Hmm, let me guess-made in China?  Ah-so- Holgwuts- velly nice movie- so solly, no eletlicity- balterly only prease!

Crap, utter an total crap.  Lionel should be ashamed of themselves, and at $140 to boot!

No Shame left anymore on the commercial greed scene-----Gasoline 4 to 5 bucks MAYBE SOON.....

Byron C.

He Wore Arrow Shirts Too
  • Member since
    January 2005
  • From: Slower Lower Delaware
  • 1,266 posts
Posted by Capt Bob Johnson on Saturday, April 19, 2008 8:07 PM

ElMik, you got me!  I've been known to have a way with words but that is quite a polite way of putting it when you say servicing livestock!   I'm afraid when it comes to expressing that action the sailor in me comes to the fore!  

After seeing the junky Thomas they had, I'd be hard put to buy the new set!

  • Member since
    April 2003
  • 305,205 posts
Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, April 19, 2008 6:24 PM
Just thought I'd let everybody know that it has been a week since I sent my email to Lionel about this thing. So far NO RESPONSE, not even a "Thank you for writing" form letter. Helllooooo! Customer service and servicing livestock is NOT the same thing! SoapBox [soapbox]
  • Member since
    August 2004
  • From: Virginia Beach
  • 2,150 posts
Posted by tangerine-jack on Saturday, April 19, 2008 3:28 PM

Yikes!  Hmm, let me guess-made in China?  Ah-so- Holgwuts- velly nice movie- so solly, no eletlicity- balterly only prease!

Crap, utter an total crap.  Lionel should be ashamed of themselves, and at $140 to boot!

The Dixie D Short Line "Lux Lucet In Tenebris Nihil Igitur Mors Est Ad Nos 2001"

  • Member since
    February 2004
  • From: North, San Diego Co., CA
  • 3,092 posts
Posted by ttrigg on Saturday, April 19, 2008 2:26 PM
Or for die hard HP fans!  (and I don't mean the computer folks)  My wife and daughters are both die hard Harry Pottoer fans and the both want the blooming thing. 

Tom Trigg

  • Member since
    August 2006
  • 1,001 posts
Posted by jerryl on Saturday, April 19, 2008 10:16 AM
  Yeah, It's for 4 year olds around the Christmas Tree.
  • Member since
    April 2005
  • From: West Australia
  • 2,217 posts
Posted by John Busby on Saturday, April 19, 2008 8:37 AM

Hmm

No printable response possable going on the picture.

Should retail at 50c doesn't look worth any more than that definatly not done to any sort of modern standards.

Thats just looking at the picture, I certanly will not order one had it looked better I might have done for the coaches.

regards John Busby

  • Member since
    December 2006
  • From: Florissant, Missouri
  • 493 posts
Posted by hoofe116 on Sunday, April 13, 2008 3:48 PM
 Mr_Ash wrote:

Older lego trains were alot more interesting than the new ones they have out now My 2 cents [2c]

I did get 1 set after they switched to track power and that was somthing along the lines of an amtrak train with superliner coaches... I mean it was cool and all but it just wasnt a Lego steam engine with a red battery boxcar with tracks you have to lay your self Black Eye [B)]

All the cool lego trains are from 20+ years ago

I came within a gnat's whisker of buying a Lego starter set when I went to the local Trains Around the World (or whatever) show. It was close: if I hadn't, about half an hour previously, bought 3 HLW dump cars, I think I would've. (There were just TWO G Gauge sellers in the whole show). The attraction was overpowering: interesting combinations, no real thinking needed, just lay down your $$ and take it home and snap it together. With directions for the truly feebleminded. Like me. Lotsa different doodads to set alongside the track--those guys had their act together: a huge, huge layout, lots of things going on, colorful ... and simple--the guy(s) would talk to you as long as necessary--they traded off with me twice. Blush [:I] The non-customer-engaged guy was shovelling 'kits' across the counter and stuffing money in a sack. A third guy ran the layout with the help of a fourth. They were raking it in.

Les W.

  • Member since
    October 2007
  • From: SW Chicago Suburbs
  • 788 posts
Posted by Mr_Ash on Sunday, April 13, 2008 3:19 PM

Older lego trains were alot more interesting than the new ones they have out now My 2 cents [2c]

I did get 1 set after they switched to track power and that was somthing along the lines of an amtrak train with superliner coaches... I mean it was cool and all but it just wasnt a Lego steam engine with a red battery boxcar with tracks you have to lay your self Black Eye [B)]

All the cool lego trains are from 20+ years ago

  • Member since
    December 2006
  • From: Florissant, Missouri
  • 493 posts
Posted by hoofe116 on Saturday, April 12, 2008 5:56 PM
 ElMik wrote:

I really HOPE that they reconsider, but since there are people will buy because of the "Harry Potter" name no matter how crappy the product, I doubt it......

The coaches have too small, and seriously truncated bodies perched a million miles in the air. Shades of 0-27! (We really need a puking emoticon)

Ah, c'mon Mik, tell us what you really think. You apparently missed Vic's critique of my innocent little Lionel 0-6-0T (sans tanks). (Snicker). Tongue [:P]

The loco also sits too high and the proportions are so far off it barely qualifies as even a caricature.

Yeah, but would I grab for those big, spoked drivers! Why, oh why, aren't there 6-foot drivers offered anywhere? Confused [%-)]

 Would somebody PLEASE send the people at Lionel large scale a CLUE? They don't seem to have one.

Weelll... I think they do, and it's called 'imagination'. You gotta admit, given the prices Thomas & Pals are bringing on Ebay, someone must like the non-rigorous approach. I have to confess a secret passion for Leggo trains: just look how easy you can build a fairly complex setup, and be sure everything will fit. No cutting, no calculations of scale.... sigh.

 For $140 people should have the right to expect something a bit better than what is found in a $25 New Brite set.

That's right! My Echo locos have working smoke generators! Cheap New Brites don't. Even if the smoke smells like an electrical short in old underwear, there's plenty of it. Wink [;)] 

The Lionel badge USED to stand for something. I guess it doesn't anymore...sad.

Yeah: It stands for treachery. Like when they started reissuing the 'limited edition' sets in the '80s.  Not to mention selling them in cheap venues in the late fifties, instead of in high-class department stores like Sears, Roebuck.

 

Les W.

  • Member since
    April 2003
  • 305,205 posts
Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, April 12, 2008 3:59 PM

I sent Lionel's sales people an email voicing my displeasure, and the fact that I WON'T be purchasing the (at least) 2 units I might otherwise have ... had it been even half decent looking. Probably won't mean anything unless about a million others do the same.

 

http://lionel.com/ContactUs/email.cfm 

  • Member since
    October 2007
  • From: SW Chicago Suburbs
  • 788 posts
Posted by Mr_Ash on Saturday, April 12, 2008 2:59 PM

My guess is the Polar Express set sales are going down sense christmas is past so they gotta come up with somthing to sell in the meantime, maybe they will come out with a new set for the new Indiana Jones movie coming out next month theres a train in that movie Big Smile [:D]

 Just need some more movies with trains, wish someone would start making Thomas stuff in G again my sisters kid loves thows shows

  • Member since
    April 2003
  • 305,205 posts
Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, April 12, 2008 11:50 AM

Hog, what? We have hogs here and we trap them! Good eating Cowboy [C):-)]

Toad

  • Member since
    November 2006
  • From: Dacula, GA USA
  • 188 posts
Posted by Coogler Rail Line on Saturday, April 12, 2008 11:44 AM

How bad was the Polar Express operational wise?  My wife's boss bought a set for her husband for Christmas and haven't run it much.  She bought it after seeing my layout on a whim.

The Polar Express didn't appeal to me, but maybe it end the Harry Pothead train will be a entry into G scale for the uneducated masses. 

 

Search the Community

FREE EMAIL NEWSLETTER

Get the Garden Railways newsletter delivered to your inbox twice a month

By signing up you may also receive occasional reader surveys and special offers from Garden Railways magazine. Please view our privacy policy