Overwhelmed By Current Releases

As others have said, this is the new "Golden Age of O-Gauge"!  Boy, am I glad to be able to participate (at a modest level) in the new locos and technologies.

It sure is an exciting time.

 

With all the stuff you listed, we still have the Heavy Mikes and other cab-forwards to look forward too!

 

It's going to be a great Christmas for many!

And not to far out..... The El Capitan and the 3rd Rail F7s :-)

El Capitan? By Lionel?

 

 

NOPE.  Scott Mann's crew at Golden Gate Depot.

You have that right!

My gratuitous train buying habit(s) has limited my weekend money dance sessions....

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interesting how perspectives vary. I'm certainly aware of all this stuff that is available, but precisely none of it excites me. I'm picking up the odd die-cast auto or layout item here and there, but it's been quite a while since I've seen a new locomotive or set that made me want to rush out and order it. Probably the last new item I found exciting was the Lionel Milwaukee Road Northern, and before that the MTH Orient Express with the French 241A. What little I've been buying lately has been second-hand, and often several years old (i.e. a K-Line Midnight Chief set). To each his own. 

I totally agree, Jim, and you can add this one to the list.

 

"Jim, you can add this one to the list."

Brian. You just did.

I have been totally overwhelmed by the selections available in O gauge since re-entering the hobby 3 years or so ago. Still have to pinch myself occasionally to see if I'm awake. With each new catalog, I have a terrible time whittling my want list down to something I can afford. It's a great time to be in O-gauge!

Not to rain on the parade, but I am with SW Hiawatha, and generally underwhelmed.

While what is now offered is not interesting,  that may run in peaks and valleys,and there has been a whole lot offered through the K-Line period to now...which means older offereings are sought.

There seems to be plenty of exciting new stuff all the time.  I agree, this is the best possible time for O-gauge.

Of all the above, I only recently purchased the Polar Express.  However, I am sharing in the excitement as the deliveries draw closer.  It truly is a great time to be in this wonderful hobby.

Back in July I had convinced myself I had ordered my last new engine.  As it turns out, my major purchase of this year will probably be here at the beginning of 2015.  Somehow thinking I cleaned the plate, I now have a ridiculous number of engines on order (for me).  I wouldn't have ordered them, except for the fact that you are right Jim, it is truly a wonderful time to be in the hobby.  

 

I'm really looking forward to this bad boy.  A few years back, nobody would have given this engine a chance to be produced.  Thanks Scott!

 

I guess I'd be overwhelmed if I had crazy big money to spend. My son & I look at catalogs & laugh. We have to do hobbies on a budget & any of this new stuff coming out the last few years is well beyond our reach. I'm only interested in older items. The newest O gauge I own is from 1991. I can't get too excited by all the latest wiz bang trains if I'll just be dissapointed that I can't afford it. The hobby is starting to price itself out of reach for people of a modest income & we have to do more with less so older items & fixer uppers are all that I can do. With that said, I have to say, these days, the detail level & the scale realism is the best ever, but I worry about parts support & repair for all the electronics down the road in the future. I'm not so sure the newest trains coming out will still be operating 50 years from now like the ones from 50 years ago still do today.

I am in the underwhelmed party.  I am into modern trains and there is a not a lot of new items being made, just a lot of the same items with more details and features.

I love all the new stuff coming out but I just cannot afford it anymore. 

 

I had some medical issues this past year which cost me dearly that nearly ruined me. But hey I have more trains that I can still run but my days of buying the new stuff is over.

 

Still having fun though.

Since getting back into the hobby and in particular O scale, I have seriously given this allot of thought. The conclusion is I made the right decision. There are so many cool and neat looking trains/locomotives out there in O scale that one could line all the boxes they come in and walk from the US to Europe and back. There are literally that many. Which translates to having really nice choices.

 

 

Welcome to the cereal isle.......LOL

 

 

Pete

marker - I'd be in for a Rio Grande Challenger, in case anybody cares.

=======

Now, these are the Rio Grande-designed 4-6-6-4's (class L-105, I believe), not the

UP-design class L-97's that have been available often in the past, and maybe currently.

 

The L-105's were bigger and more powerful than the UP-type (these wound up on the Clinchfield), and looked much like a 4-6-6-4 version of the 2-8-8-2 above - similar

lines, but with those handsome, symmetrical Challenger proportions.

 

I'm in, preferably from Lionel, but I'm open.

 

I've switched over to MTH but am beginning to wonder about that move with all the great Lionel offerings. C'mon MTH lets get going. Cab forward!!!!

Spence, I'm there with you but maybe not for the same reason.  I too have switched over to MTH recently - eight of the last nine locos I have bought and all the rolling stock in the last year os so have been MTH, and will be until my 3rd Rail ToT arrives.  

 

My "MTH only" buying has nothing to do with any dis-satisfaction with Lionel - I actually prefer to spend the 10-15%increment Legacy costs over Premier to get the slightly better sound and very-low speed smoothness.  But MTH has been shipped and selling things I want, while Lionel had next to nothing for a long time and now has stuff I don't need (passing on Vision BB since I have JLC) or don't want (in my world cabs don't belong on the front of a steamer).  I did get 765, which I love, but nothing else being shipped soon is on my list and what was, they delayed until i gave up.  

 

MTH did the AC-6 Cab Forward in 2008 - I have one and like it a lot. I don't know if it's time for a PS-3 reissue; they have to wait a while for demand to build up. Used ones occasionally turn up on the Bay. 

It has its up-side and downside - great selections but it can put a serious dent in the budget! 

And just imagine life if you're interested in Standard Gauge as well.    MTH just delivered a bunch of Standard Gauge IVES passenger sets in the last week!  

 

So between a few Polar Express goodies, a Daylight Cab-Forward, and a Standard Gauge National Limited... I'm glad the importers delivered virtually nothing else earlier in the year -- although it sure would have been nicer if the delivery of theses gems had been better distributed throughout the year.  Thank goodness I had absolutely no inclination whatsoever to order the Big Boy!     That's one I'm just gonna watch from the sidelines.

 

And not for anything... but all these goodies converging into December this year seems to have also caused an unprecedented preponderance of threads obsessed with whether or not stuff will arrive for "under the Christmas tree".  I know we're all kids-at-heart -- especially when it comes to toy trains.  But I'm just happy that any of this stuff gets here it all... whenever it arrives.  I wouldn't be too concerned about a Christmas arrival, unless it were specifically for a child.    But I honestly don't know any young kids today who had the stuff we're talking about here on Santa's Christmas list.

 

David

 

 

Personally I had more "fun" with new releases back in the mid-late 90's and early 2000's as in those days most everything was new never ever before being made! Challengers, Big Boys, Yellowstone, Dreyfuss Hudson's, FEF's, Dash's, E8's etc...Nowadays it seems the same stuff just updated. 

I find it simple just send Shani at 3rd Rail, GGD, all my extra money all the time!!!!!!!

Rocky, the problem with the new Standard Gauge is that it is making the old Standard Gauge more affordable at Auction!!!  I used to buy the NEW, thinking I could never afford the OLD...WRONG!!!

I really like the tinplate stuff, both standard and O gauge. I can certainly imagine it, but my wallet can't! I'm struggling with what few O gauge pre-orders I am able to place after having to whittle the list down to make the wallet happy. And it's still usually pretty grumpy. I hope to get caught up someday and be able to get one of the recently released O gauge boys and girls sets. Standard gauge sets would be better, but space is also a restriction, then there is the track, and other stuff that all adds up.