At the Amherst Train Show, I had the opportunity to speak with Ryan Kunkle of Lionel shortly after the Show opened this morning, and I have some great news to report. Ryan informed me that Lionel is developing new tooling and will be manufacturing the PS-1 Freightsounds Boxcars with hidden uncoupling tabs, not thumb tack couplers. So the pictures in the new Lionel catalogue are accurate. For now, however, the trucks will continue to be non-sprung, but Lionel is also seriously considering going back to installing die-cast sprung couplers, as they recognize that they track better and are desired by a large number of their customers. From our discussion, it was also clear that Lionel is aware that die-cast sprung couplers are provided by MTH and Atlas on their scale freight cars, thereby placing Lionel at a competitive disadvantage. So while this is not a total win, it is clearly a step in the right direction, and I applaud Lionel for this decision. Thanks to all of my Forum colleagues who have advocated for Lionel returning to its die-cast sprung trucks and couplers with hidden uncoupling tabs, as our voices have been heard.
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