Always inspect or open up your new purchases as soon as possible just in case

I think it is a wise idea to always open and test new equipment especially if it's a gift such as a starter set or a new engine.  Nothing stinks more on Christmas morning than having a non operative new item.  It takes less than 15 minutes, even less if you already have a layout, to pull out the engine and just give it a quick test run. 

It also avoids warranty issues if it's something you bought and it will sit for a time.

I also highly recommend this practice to others as well. In some circumstances, a unit may require complete replacement and if the dealer cannot acquire one and the manufacture doesn’t have a replacement or parts that would justify a replacement, then members would be out of luck and only subjected to a refund.

This played out twice for me this year with the Aberdeen Carolina & Western E8s and the matching 18 inch passenger cars.

The locomotives both had paint defects in multiple locations. The manufacturer couldn’t facilitate a repair simply due to they made no spare shells for these models. Luckily, Legacy Station made it a priority to make this correct by sourcing a replacement set, inspecting the new engines at the store, and sending them to me to inspect prior to completing my return.

The big driver in this circumstance was being in the process of obtaining the matching passenger cars and potential disappointment of not having an engine for them or having to pay additional money above the preorder price to obtain a set from another dealer.

Detailing was almost broken on two of the trucks from the passenger cars. Luckily, the manufacturer provided me with new trucks so I could make those repairs myself.

I too can say this is a good idea.  I bought my first BTO Lionel product from the 2023 catalog for a Christmas present.  It came at the end of October.  My wife thought she would wrap it for me for Christmas day.  She was quite upset when I told her I had to take it out and run it to make sure it was okay (it was great).  I had a bad incident with one of the forums major sponsors.  I bought some NOS accessories (some military trucks), and when it came I gave it a cursory glance and it seemed fine.  When I took it out of the plastic wrapper about 2 months later, a wheel was missing.  I contacted the vendor and their immediate reply was 'it was out of warranty'.  I let them know what I thought about their response, so they tried to help (maybe).  Their answer was they didn't have anything to fix it, but they never offered a refund.  I haven't bought anything from them since.

I cannot count that high to the number of idiots in the old car hobby that complain about this! They'll buy something and it sits for months before they get around to using/installing said parts, only to find that they won't work, or the wrong part and they can't exchange or return it because they waited so long. Then they have the audacity to complain about it on an open forum and give the merchant a bad name all because of their stupidity! It's common sense to check to make sure something is right from the get-go!

I just realized, the lionel warranty is for 1 year from purchase date and not older than 3 years from date of manufacturer. So if a new in box item sits on the shelf for 3 years plus 1 day its out of lionel warranty. Opening with o ne year should be easily done. Youtube videos sometimes complicate things because sometimes, even for my future self to look at, its hard to open it right away but certainly its a prudent thing. I try to fix small things that need repair myself, like most of us train guys.

All good advice.

One other consideration is, if you're buying something expensive on-line (like a new command engine) that you ask the dealer to take it out of the box and run it on their test track before they ship it to you to make sure it operates correctly - lights, sound, smoke, etc. and that there are no broken/missing parts.

That can eliminate a lot of frustration and back and forth with dealers and manufacturers.

@Richie C. posted:

All good advice.

One other consideration is, if you're buying something expensive on-line (like a new command engine) that you ask the dealer to take it out of the box and run it on their test track before they ship it to you to make sure it operates correctly - lights, sound, smoke, etc. and that there are no broken/missing parts.

That can eliminate a lot of frustration and back and forth with dealers and manufacturers.

My thought would be that a proactive dealer, not wanting to deal with the headache of a potential return, would make a road test on new product their default posture, unless the customer declines that service.

That being said, my understanding is that there is no longer a repair process for current Lionel production, except to return to Lionel HQ. That would take a lot of pressure off the dealer, as it removes him (or her) from the equation.

@Richie C. posted:

All good advice.

One other consideration is, if you're buying something expensive on-line (like a new command engine) that you ask the dealer to take it out of the box and run it on their test track before they ship it to you to make sure it operates correctly - lights, sound, smoke, etc. and that there are no broken/missing parts.

That can eliminate a lot of frustration and back and forth with dealers and manufacturers.

It can also create a lot of frustration too when said merchant just gives you a bunch of lip service that everything is good because they don't want to do an ops check on said unit!

@The TrainBoard,

Yep, found that out when I bought a NIB TMCC Chessie Crane car.  It stopped working after an hour, probably a bad board.  I had to send it off for repairs.  Still waiting to get it back.

Not an issue for me. I usually have the box halfway open before it leaves the UPS drivers hands lol!😄