New Lionel Blue Comet Passenger Cars

I just opened mine and I have no vestibules on any of the cars!!!!!!!! Just rubber diaphrams.  Charles Ro will be getting a call tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!VERY DISSAPOINTED

Do you mind telling me which cars had the vestibule? I can't read the names on the photos

I have 8 diaphragms and no vestibule. I think you should probably have 7

While its no excuse, and its not the dealers fault, its easy enough to send Lionel service an email letting them know your short diaphrams.  They have these in replacement stock  for other 18" heavyweights,  I would think they could drop some in an envelope and you'd have them next week.

I already called my hobby shop and they are giving me some from another set and will order them to replace those, no big deal.  I was just wondering what MikeMike was referring to when he said he had 8  diaphragms (which sounds right). But no vestibule.  Aren't the diaphragms the vestibules?

The Blue Comet is a mythic train with a lot of history, legend and majesty behind it. I would think that given Lionel's long history of the Blue Comet such mistakes would not be made. 

But both manufacturers have difficulties. I have 6 MTH engines at Leesburg Hobby getting repaired. Then I have a MTH Premier Milwaukee Road corrugated auto carrier set that had malfunctioning couplers on 5 of the 6 cars also back with them. And recently I purchased the BNSF Northern Pacific SD70 Ace Heritage which I ran for the first time at the B & O Show with the National Capital Trackers. The rear coupler kept opening and I couldn't pull a train. Great sound and Legacy...but I wish the coupler worked. 

I think many O Gauge modelers have tolerated too much in this area. 

No, they're different things. Vestibules are small enclosed rooms at the end of the passenger cars, a part of the car body under the roof. Usually this is the area that passengers first enter when they climb the steps to enter the car. On one end of the vestibule is the opening to which is attached the flexible diaphragm which is attached to the next car, and on the other end of the vestibule is the entrance door to the passenger car interior itself. The steps up to the car, and the outside doors, are on each side of the vestibule.

There are lots of variations in car designs, though, and location or even existence of vestibules varies. Often they are only on one end of the car. In any case, the vestibule and diaphragm are two different things.

My Blue Comet cars had 2 diaphragms in each box for a total of 8!  You only need 7. No people in my cars either like you have in one of the pictures.

Hi Sean,

Sorry to hear about the missing diaphragms.  I'm sure Mike R. will take care of you ASAP.

I noticed a nice touch that Lionel included on these cars.  The floor of the observation platform is painted with a parquet pattern.  The real Blue Comet rolling stock was also outfitted with white and black linoleum flooring tiles. The tile size is larger than the prototype and I'm not sure the tiles were used on the observation platform, but it is really cool that they painted the floor of the cars.  An excellent case of competition raising the bar.

We got 8 too. There were two in the observation. Our cars have people too. 

Right, there were 2 diaphragms packed in with the observation car which only needs one.  I probably have people but didn't notice since I was more concerned with examining the paint, lettering, and making sure nothing was broken...just didn't notice the people inside.  I'm sure I'll notice when I put the cars on the track for the first time. I wasn't expecting people to even take a careful look inside, so this is an added plus.

Right now, my curves  on the layout need to be enlarged, so the passenger cars are boxed up again waiting for some running room.  I believe the cars are rated for O54 curves and my widest are O48.  It's time for a layout upgrade anyway and this was the perfect catalyst.