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After years of encouraging Lionel to keep a public-facing document up-to-date and relevant... I just ignore it nowadays, as it's become perpetually meaningless.  

Sounds like Lionel Stateside is gonna have their hands full for awhile with Mogul repairs and managing dealer returns of problem passenger cars.  Yes... production of new stuff will undoubtedly still go onward 8,000 miles away.  But keep in mind we're now in early March, so 1Q2018 is pretty much gone already (in terms of product deliveries).  Stuff that IS due for Spring 2018 really has to already be in production NOW for a Spring delivery -- given the normal 6- to 7-week shipping time from China to NC to dealer/distributors.  If stuff leaves China at the end of this month (and hopefully Lionel at least has SOME semblance of what that might be -- although the misinformation surrounding passenger car shipments recently doesn't hold out much hope for that ), then dealers won't be seeing those items until mid- to late-May.

Funny how we're already looking at potential mid-year deliveries (at the earliest) for items that were catalog'd in 2017 Vol2 like the Berks, F3/F7's, TankTrains, E6's, etc... just to name a few goodies.  And Lord knows where the Romanian Milk Cars are in the production queue?  They've been MIA for quite some time now, so most folks have forgotten if they even pre-ordered them... or which ones they pre-ordered. 

David

Last edited by Rocky Mountaineer

The new policy at Lionel seems to favor "build to order" selling.  If this is the trend then the seller is relegated to the role of a broker.  This may make perfect sense in one regard while it ignores the majority "buy off the shelf"  hobbyist. Could be wrong about this but I'll venture to say that MOST of the model railroad market does not order in advance. As one who has never done business this way;  seeing the item( and reading user reports) is important.

I'm at a point in this hobby where I can very easily enjoy what I have,  I pre-ordered a few items in the latest catalog (Chessie switcher) and when it it arrives, that will be soon enough.  Lionel has has made me a "don't care anymore customer".  The Amtrak F40's were a fiasco.  I waited so long and then it took another 6 months to get both of them fixed and running right.

We're working on updating the schedule now. It always kind of slips to the bottom of the priority list.. lots of work to do with not many hands to do it.

The LionScale stuff is doing well! The big reefers are being done now. We've been building up the team and improving our processes. Very excited about how well it's growing.

And for the record, we haven't had any issues with ships or containers. It's a bummer to see other companies that do!

Dave Olson posted:

We're working on updating the schedule now. It always kind of slips to the bottom of the priority list.. lots of work to do with not many hands to do it.

The LionScale stuff is doing well! The big reefers are being done now. We've been building up the team and improving our processes. Very excited about how well it's growing.

And for the record, we haven't had any issues with ships or containers. It's a bummer to see other companies that do!

@Dave Olson, the shipping schedule on the website went from text to an image sometime in the last year or so. Would it be possible to get a text-based version (even if it is a PDF) that is searchable?

I can't search this format.  Scrolling and reading every line is time consuming.  I like to take my pre-order list and search your shipping schedule and update/set my expectations.  I know my LHS (Henning's Trains) will call me when something comes in.  I just like to self-serve as much as possible.

For the record, I'm using this site.  If there's a better place to look, please teach me!

Dave Olson posted:

We're working on updating the schedule now. It always kind of slips to the bottom of the priority list.. lots of work to do with not many hands to do it.

The LionScale stuff is doing well! The big reefers are being done now. We've been building up the team and improving our processes. Very excited about how well it's growing.

And for the record, we haven't had any issues with ships or containers. It's a bummer to see other companies that do!

Any update on the Milk cars, some of which are over two years late?

John D. posted:
Dave Olson posted:

We're working on updating the schedule now. It always kind of slips to the bottom of the priority list.. lots of work to do with not many hands to do it.

The LionScale stuff is doing well! The big reefers are being done now. We've been building up the team and improving our processes. Very excited about how well it's growing.

And for the record, we haven't had any issues with ships or containers. It's a bummer to see other companies that do!

@Dave Olson, the shipping schedule on the website went from text to an image sometime in the last year or so. Would it be possible to get a text-based version (even if it is a PDF) that is searchable?

I can't search this format.  Scrolling and reading every line is time consuming.  I like to take my pre-order list and search your shipping schedule and update/set my expectations.  I know my LHS (Henning's Trains) will call me when something comes in.  I just like to self-serve as much as possible.

For the record, I'm using this site.  If there's a better place to look, please teach me!

Here you go, I converted it to excel for you.

Attachments

John D. posted:
Davety posted:
John D. posted:
Dave Olson posted:

We're working on updating the schedule now.o!

.  If there's a better place to look, please teach me!

Here you go, I converted it to excel for you.

Thanks @Davety.  How did you do that?  Teach me to fish?

First I printed the screen into a pdf, had to use some advanced printing to print what was on the screen to not get distorted in the file. I then used Adobe Pro text recognition to scan the file and then saved it to an Excel file.

Davety posted:

First I printed the screen into a pdf, had to use some advanced printing to print what was on the screen to not get distorted in the file. I then used Adobe Pro text recognition to scan the file and then saved it to an Excel file.

Well, I don't have Adobe Pro, so I'm guessing I'll be relying on kind souls like you until Lionel goes back to a searchable version.  I still wonder why the change and if we could convince them to change back.

RickO posted:
superwarp1 posted:
Richie C. posted:

Gary,

Wrong thread - I know - but do you know where we are on the Moguls - are the parts in and are they accepting returns now ?

 

All I can say is Dave is working his you know what off to make it right.

Ohh come on Gary.

You left out the part that Lionel received the replacement parts a few weeks ago.......and they didn't work.

Yes, and Dave is working hard to figure out why.

Arthur posted:

Am I missing seeing them, Milk Cars, listed in this update ?

While it's not my place to comment, when I ask about them at the Amherst show in Jan.  Ryan gave me the explanation on the chaos concerning the milk cars.   

Lets just say I wish Lionel would do more assembly in the US and these issues with the Mogul and the Milk cars would not happen.

I guess I don't understand Lionel's logic in posting this in shipping order when it isn't readily searchable.  If that's going to be the case, why not post it in item number order so as long as you know the item number, you can see when it's supposed to ship?  Most people are looking for a specific item I would think, rather than just wondering what ships in the next month....

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