Agree that following the updates and trying to read the tea leaves on the Lionel Shipping Schedule is a real nails-on-the-blackboard exercise. I had a few items from 2012 that I was following and finally gave up. They arrived when they arrived.
What’s interesting about the current schedule is the large number of items from the 2013 catalog that have May-August deliveries. Given that the Signature Catalog was just released in April (York week), they obviously had stuff already produced, or close to it. Of course, that’s if you believe the dates. 
