Lionel's Hallmark Toymaker Santa Express set available again this year

Does anyone have a pic of the Hallmark October Lionel Colorway Ornament?

Going to pick mine up now.

Mrs. B&O2368 purchased these ornaments this morning.  Hallmark did a nice job on both the 773 and 2426.  The madison passenger car looks a little out of scale.  The car would look better if they painted the windows a different color.

B&O2368

ogaugeguy posted:

Anyone buying Hallmark 2016 Lionel train ornaments this weekend?

Wonder how many Hallmark stores will sell the Lionel o gauge Toymaker Santa Express set again this season and curious too if the sets are stock manufactured for Hallmark last year or if Lionel did a second manufacturing run of the set for the upcoming 2016 holiday season.

I just saw the set at my local Hallmark store in Plantation Fl.   $399.99 with 20 % off this weekend.  Nice set!   

B&O2368 posted:

..................The car would look better if they painted the windows a different color.

B&O2368

Fully agree.  I was hoping that was just a catalog pic (prototype, etc) and that they would have been black or something.  (I obviously understand they are not going to do silhouettes, or anything elaborate like that) . 

I was considering buying an extra car or two to assemble a small train, but I didn't buy more than one this morning due to the window panes being painted the same color as the body.

-Dave

LOL, I thought it was a baggage car!

Summer has passed since I began this thread and I'm curious whether anyone has bought this set over these past three months. If you have, what inspired you to buy it and if not, what's the reason for your reluctance?
Since this set is now available for the second consecutive year, I'm wondering whether that's because it was such a successful seller last year that Hallmark was motivated to have Lionel do a second production run of it for the 2016 holiday season, or did it prove such a poor seller during the 2015 holidays that not all of the 2015 production run was sold and so Hallmark is now attempting to sell those leftover sets during this 2016 holiday season.
Btw, those of you who have this set or know someone who does, and if you haven't already done so, please share your impressions of it and those of friends who've seen it. Looking forward to seeing all comments, opinions, and reviews.
Thanks.

As an FYI for everyone, visited the largest Hallmark Gold Crown store chain in S.E. PA and N.J. last weekend and was told their stores aren't stocking this set this year. Seems they had "leftovers" last year and took a hit selling them 50% off after Christmas and aren't risking a repeat of that this holiday season. They did mention it can be ordered online and shipped free to any store for pick-up.
So, I wonder just how many sets were manufactured and actually sold at msrp. last year. What are the stores in your area who carried this set last year doing this second time around? Are they displaying AND stocking it again this year? Only time will tell if 2016 sales will improve over those of 2015.