Any New Lionel N&W J Sightings?

There was a Facebook video by Derek from Notch 6 who unboxed one.

I saw one on my layout just this morning.

Scott Smith

OK Scott, come clean. What Cab#s of Scale Js are you missing? Glad to see you got the 600.

Gilly@N&W posted:

OK Scott, come clean. What Cab#s of Scale Js are you missing? Glad to see you got the 600.

Ohhhhh this is a $64,000 question!!

I’m guessing 601, 603 and 610. We are letting him include  J1s right??

I'd personally like to see the 611 excursion versions. Anyone able to share a video? I'm very curious as to how the custom crew talk sounds came out.

Looks nice Scott, hope you enjoy it.

What color is the stripe?

M J Breen posted:

Gilly@N&W posted:

OK Scott, come clean. What Cab#s of Scale Js are you missing? Glad to see you got the 600.

Ohhhhh this is a $64,000 question!!

I’m guessing 601, 603 and 610. We are letting him include  J1s right??

I'm pretty sure he has an unshrouded 610. 

Just did a MTH Cab# search. The only #s missing from the Premier line are 600, 606, 609. Since Lionel just did the 600 and I know Lionel did the 606, if Scott is missing any number, it's probably the 609.

Stripe looks too red to me. What do you think in person Scott?  

Brian at Legacy Station shipped my 2016 excursion version today. I bought this engine for authenticity. The stripe on the model is way too red compared to the prototype. I’m a little nervous already. I’ve got Lionel passenger cars that I plan to pull behind this. It looks like that Camera observation car red has been used on the engine too. I may have to send this back. Look at the N&W car behind Scott’s engine. It’s the authentic Tuscan color which is way off from the engine. Ouch!

MartyE posted:

Stripe looks too red to me. What do you think in person Scott?  

I thought so as well. It’s close to one of the Williams J from a few years back. It's close to the theater car red. If you look close I have a Tuscan red passenger car behind it. I have been told they will be offering a replacement shell with the correct color.

Scott Smith

I'm not sure how they ended up with that shade of red. The last batch of Lionel J's came out less than 6 years ago, and had accurate colored stripes...

I have one on one order, Spirit of Roanoke, when it comes out. I’ll have to evaluate it. 

I'm just curious...  Has Lionel explained to anyone why they can't seem to get the colors right?  The mistakes just keep happening...  A mistake on a piece here and there would be one thing and understandable.

I personally don't understand why they can't get a handle on this.  Howard needs to buy a couple Pantone books.

MichRR714 posted:

I'm just curious...  Has Lionel explained to anyone why they can't seem to get the colors right?  The mistakes just keep happening...  A mistake on a piece here and there would be one thing and understandable.

I personally don't understand why they can't get a handle on this.  Howard needs to buy a couple Pantone books.

Charlie, this is spot on. I don’t want to come off as a complainer, but how does this keep happening?  At some point, a corrective action plan has to be put in place, right?

The color doesn't look bad to me (same as the theater car). It was based off of photos from the 1940's & 50's. I'm more worried that it might end up with the Vision Line Big Boy whistle instead of 611's whistle.

M J Breen posted:

Well it didn’t take long for the usual crowd to show up.  

 

And for the record - I have 5 Js on order, And I have 6 of the baggage cars and RPOs, and the NS theater car too.  My 746 and 600 came in with the same issue.  I talked to Lionel at York about this, they acknowledged the mistake, they’re going to do right by me and at the end of the day I’ll be satisfied. 

Now can we keep this thread to just about the folks who only ordered the New Js and if they’ve shown up for them?  

The usual crowd?  I see folks who ordered the J, myself included a little concerned about it.

The thread so far, before you put up your cute picture was a very civil discussion with no one getting personal.  The thread as a whole has been fairly calm for this type of error.  My compliments to most of those who have so far posted.

Lionel has had a great many paint issues this year that has caused them to replace shells at their cost, they stood behind their product, but nonetheless it has been happening a lot.  Ryan acknowledged that and said they are putting procedures in place to help prevent that. The Polar RPO cars were part of that, which I have sitting at my dealer.  Ryan said this would be corrected.

The stripe looks incorrect on an early video and now Scott's photo.  I also spoke with Ryan and he did acknowledge that there may be an issue but he hadn't seen the video I referenced to him but he did promise Lionel would make it right if it wasn't. That was good enough for me. He did say the Spirit of Roanoke might have been darker so I should wait until it's delivered.  Since I haven't seen it in person I was going to wait to post what I was told at York but since you accused folks of "whining" I thought I'd post this.

The tool car is definitely more on the pink / red as I also have one of those. 

So let's continue to discuss this like grownups which IMO we have.  We can bring these issues up, discuss them like adults, as long as we don't get personal and keep the thread civil.

I personally want to thank Ryan for listening to my concerns and assuring me Lionel will stand behind their products 100%.

Great news! Sounds like there’s gonna be a fix. Looking forward to getting my engine. Cool!

Anyone get the Freedom Train version? I might bite the bullet on it depending on how it looks. Thanks!

N&W 1218 posted:

Great news! Sounds like there’s gonna be a fix. Looking forward to getting my engine. Cool!

That is great news.  I was apprehensive after seeing Derek's video but after talking to Ryan about the J and the Polar items I'm satisfied Lionel will make them right if need be.  It shouldn't happen but it did, they'll make it right, so I'm moving on until or if something changes.

Maxrailroad posted:

Anyone get the Freedom Train version? I might bite the bullet on it depending on how it looks. Thanks!

Thats the one I have on order.  When it comes in I plan on taking my AFT T1 & GS4 and comparing them for paint and other details.   I will post pics.   

DaveSlie posted:

Maxrailroad posted:

Anyone get the Freedom Train version? I might bite the bullet on it depending on how it looks. Thanks!

Thats the one I have on order.  When it comes in I plan on taking my AFT T1 & GS4 and comparing them for paint and other details.   I will post pics.   

Thank you! Post a video too if you could, I'm interested in the sounds. 

The red looks absolutely perfect for the 746 version 👍🏼 - I was concerned that was going to be to maroon 

Thank you Lionel

dorfj2 posted:

The red looks absolutely perfect for the 746 version 👍🏼 - I was concerned that was going to be to maroon 

Thank you Lionel

Ryan mentioned the the Spirit of Roanoke would be a darker stripe so I'm waiting to see.  I'm glad you're happy with the version you ordered!  Have fun with it.

I'm not going to take sides or make ant judgements in this as I haven't seen a new one close up...yet. However, if you go to this thread N&W 611, you will see several different shades of red throughout depending on the lighting.

Scott,

I want that locomotive. I should have just taken it from you on Thursday night at Steak and Lube.

Erol

Mine is early Williams.  Perfect paint - very pleased.  I did have to bring the tender truck sideframes inboard about 1/8".

For what it’s worth - two pics of the 611 last Friday taken about 10 minutes apart - I was sitting in the fireman’s seat looking out the window then I walked around to the front and took a few more pics - looks like two different reds ???

Out of the direct sunlight - doesn’t look bright red to me 

I literally stepped across the track - I’d hate to have to make this call

The Tuscan paint color isn't the only error. Larger to me is the use of the Alligator vs Laird crosshead. N&W 600-604 had Laird, 605-613 had Alligator crossheads.

Gilly, I noticed that also. The tender trucks appear to be incorrect, too. I'm guessing it doesn't have a curved tender deck, either.

I think Lionel did a version of the early J where those details were correct at some time. I think they slapped 600 on a later version J here and put spoked pilot trucks on there.

I'm not a fan of the color choice there also.

Did they take down the Notch 6 video?

Based on some of their more recent releases, when the J-Classes were announced, I expected Lionel would mess something up, whether it be the colors, sounds, functions, or anything in between. This release has proven that theory true, however, there are things Lionel has improved upon from the previous run of J's. One of the things I'm noticing right off the bat is the fact that on the last run of J's, the stripe on the engine and tender are very noticeably misaligned, and that has been corrected on this run. Additionally, being able to fully determine the color of the stripe on the real 611 would require being able to see the engine in person, which is becoming increasingly harder to do anymore.

Peter Araujo posted:

 I'm more worried that it might end up with the Vision Line Big Boy whistle instead of 611's whistle.

 |FWIW.Technically this whistle is correct for any of the "present day' versions of the 611 i.e " Spirit of Roanoke" for example as she is currently wearing a Hancock 3 chime whistle as is 844,4014, as well as. the mothballed 3985.

I believe it has been mention previously, 611's original whislte is still on Mr. Claytors mantle. 

( Sure wish he would return it, its the true voice of 611 IMO)

The video is still up and will remain up on our Facebook page.

TrainMan1225 posted:

 Additionally, being able to fully determine the color of the stripe on the real 611 would require being able to see the engine in person, which is becoming increasingly harder to do anymore.

Never mind the fact it just spent over a month on public display at Strasburg...

ES44AC posted:

TrainMan1225 posted:

 Additionally, being able to fully determine the color of the stripe on the real 611 would require being able to see the engine in person, which is becoming increasingly harder to do anymore.

Never mind the fact it just spent over a month on public display at Strasburg...

True, and then she's going to Spencer, N.C. after that for events in November and in Spring of next year. But after that, where will she be next? A volunteer at Strasburg was only able to tell me that after these events, the engine will be, in her words, "tucked away". Therefore, only time will tell.

RickO posted

 I believe it has been mention previously, 611's original whislte is still on Mr. Claytors mantle. 

( Sure wish he would return it, its the true voice of 611 IMO)

From what I understand, the whistle that the 611 used back in the 80s was not it's original. That supposedly disappeared while it was in Wasena Transportation Museum (Roanoke). In 1971 NKP 759 pulled the last Pocahontas train out of Roanoke. I have a book that mentions that it was using the 611's whistle that was removed from the 611 while it was on display at Wasena.  I have strong suspicions that the 759 may still be wearing the 611's original whistle.

As for Mr Claytor's whistle, for everything he and his brother did for the steam program they deserve to keep it. It probably came off of another J.

Let's take a moment to appreciate what it takes to get 611 over the road to these different locations. First and foremost, a HUGE debt of gratitude should be given to Norfolk Southern. Since 611 was restored in 2015 it had always been the plan to keep 611 within two crew districts of Roanoke. Strasburg is SIX crew districts from Roanoke. It is only because of the generosity of NS that 611 can hit the road these days. 

Also, it is nearly impossible to predict where and what the locomotive will be able to do on a year to year basis. It was strongly hinted at in 2017 that the tea leaves suggested that mainline trips would be out for 2018. We strongly encouraged people during our 611 podcast in 2017 to take advantage of the mainline trips while they could. Mainline steam railroading changes on a dime these days and with the upheaval of PSR coupled with sweeping changes at Amtrak, it's just hard to get locomotives out and about. 

The events in Strasburg have been nearly two and a half years in the planning stage and it was only once all the I's dotted and T's crossed that it was announced. If something happens for 2020, I doubt we'll know until the Spring. 

That all being said, the group and the VMT is always looking for opportunities to get the locomotive out on the road and I highly doubt they will stop looking for those opportunities. 

Has anyone noticed the way too bright marker lights? In the Notch6 video they were just screaming at me while I was trying to focus on the rest of the engine. Just an observation. 

Gilly@N&W posted:

RickO posted

 I believe it has been mention previously, 611's original whislte is still on Mr. Claytors mantle. 

( Sure wish he would return it, its the true voice of 611 IMO)

From what I understand, the whistle that the 611 used back in the 80s was not it's original. That supposedly disappeared while it was in Wasena Transportation Museum (Roanoke). In 1971 NKP 759 pulled the last Pocahontas train out of Roanoke. I have a book that mentions that it was using the 611's whistle that was removed from the 611 while it was on display at Wasena.  I have strong suspicions that the 759 may still be wearing the 611's original whistle.

As for Mr Claytor's whistle, for everything he and his brother did for the steam program they deserve to keep it. It probably came off of another J.

Thanks for the history lesson Gilly!  So many rumors or legends sometimes its hard to know what the truth is.