http://www.lionel.com/products/ho-union-pacific-mikado-2538-2062100/
i'm not sure yet if this re-entry into HO by Lionel is going to be a worth while attempt in order for the company to compete with the high level engines & rolling stock being produced today.
Lionel's web site shows a Bekshire Set that looks more a childs toy for Christmas, but the Mikado engine pre order description list a Die Cast body, Bluetooth remote operation, DCC & uncoupling at the push of a button? Some of the HO rolling stock is also die cast metal with metal knuckle couplers.
Maybe time will tell? Bayway Terminal
There's $250 worth of electronics being put into an engine you can probably find at any train show for $40.
Lionel re-entering the HO scale (better toy train) market has been discussed ad nauseum previously. I don´t think they are intended to compete with the likes of BLI, Bachmann or others, they are meant to address the toy train market for people who want a rugged, reliable, but not so delicate engine with fragile detail. Whether Lionel can keep the price level up to be par with much more detailed models, well, I don´t know and I don´t care.
Happy times!
Ulrich (aka The Tin Man)
"You´re never too old for a happy childhood!"
I think Lionel has a soft spot with older model railroaders like myself (I’m 83) and the older guys are almost gone. I really don’t think the high priced trains for kids will sell in today’s market place. Great Grandpa might buy one for the kiddos but when he’s gone the sales will be gone too. Mel My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
That sure looks like the old Mantua/Tyco Mike mechanism and tender with the M/T Pacific boiler on top. Just an expensive rehash of something easily obtainable on feebay. Lionel is toy train stuff and doesn't generally appeal to anyone more advanced in the hobby. Lionel is like bad weather.....they come and they go and have been in and out of HO many times over the years.
oldline1
That is what it is, Lionel got the tooling from Model Power, who got it from Mantua.
I see they just used a regular LED left protruding from the headlight casting the way the incandescent bulb did in the old Mantua ones.
They also have the history wrong, the locos for the Nippon Railway that gave the wheel arrangement the Mikado name were build by Baldwin. And weren't the first 2-8-2 wheel arrangement locos built, merely the ones that the Mikado name was first applied to and stuck (except during WWII).
But scale modelers who really care about such things aren;t the target market - at least, I hope after multiple tries, Lionel has figured out that the people who buy BLI, Bachmann, P2K, etc are NOT generally the same people that their products appeal to.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
I see also that Lionel has announced some HO buildings which I assume are also selected from their Model Power acquisitions. Some of the old Model Power kit buildings were very good candidates for kit-mingling/kit-bashing. But then, that was at Model Power prices, not Lionel prices.
Each of us has his (or her) own threshhold for this sort of thing but I am more than happy to take out the razor saw and attack a structure kit that cost me, oh, up to $25 or so but above that I start factoring in my failure rate and get nervous and look around for other projects.
Dave Nelson