H1000 posted:Lionel is the only company that is licensed to make Polar Express o gauge trains, there are no alternatives. They do an excellent job at marketing and publishing a catalog that shows their products in a very grand view, however the end result in this case was disappointing.
They obviously do an excellent job of brain-washing--er, marketing--if people continue to plop down big bucks for more trains when they are so often disappointed by the ones they have already bought.
Now understand: I am very much a Lionel fan. Almost all my trains are Lionel. But the time has come for me to rethink that loyalty. My own experience is less than stellar, and I am capable of learning from other people's experiences. I am not willing to send good money after bad or take chances with scarce funds and chase endlessly after return authorizations and repair parts made of Unobtainium. I am not obligated to enrich Lionel (or the Post Office, either). If Lionel cannot provide working product most of the time (note, I didn't say ALL), then they SHOULD go out of business. Or at least find owners/managers who can do the job. And do the job HERE, not in Asia.
I have already abandoned a multi-generation family loyalty to Sears; Lionel could be next.
All that said, however, a significant fraction of the problem is the consumer demand for gizmos, gee-whiz-widgets, and imported Italian fragilees. That ANY of those things survive the trip here and work at all is a minor miracle. The problem is not all Lionel's fault. Too many buyers demand the NEWEST, GREATEST, Whizz-Bangest every year, or they will not buy. And then they complain because the NEWEST, GREATEST, Whizz-Bangest isn't perfect when it manages to survive long-distance, multimode transportation AND the baggage-crushers at FedUP Postal Service.
This hobby is supposed to be fun, right?
So give me my MPC and LTI and my old Marx: they run, they run reliably, and they don't cost four mortgage payments and a dentist visit to buy.
