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Thinking about preordering:

Aberdeen Carolina & Western (not sure whether the color will come out correctly, based on a couple of recent color errors from Lionel)

I put in a preorder despite a few concerns; I hope it gets made.

My concern is less with the precise shade (it's hard to pin down what that is) but with the pearl topcoat, I really want them to get that right.

Seeing that these were painted so recently, and from my experience the guys at ACWR are pretty nice, I'm hoping that Lionel was able to just get the paint formula/code.  Maybe I'm putting a little too much hope out there, but we'll see.

@CAPPilot posted:

The prices in the catalog have increased.  Maybe Lionel did well to keep the prices as low as they did, as inflation as a whole has made making toys more expensive.  The Producer Price Index (PPI) for construction for the 12 months ending October 2021 showed increases in price of:

Fabricated metal products: 38.8%

Iron and steel: 101.5%

Steel mill products: 141.6%

Nonferrous wire and cable: 31.3%

Crude petroleum: 116.9%

Natural gas: 231.3%

These increases might be lower overseas, but then you would need to add in the increased transportation cost.

If the price increases in this catalog do keep folks from buying, then Lionel will go bankrupt like 1,000s of other businesses.

Thanks for pointing this out @CAPPilot. We have been hit with tremendous increases in shipping costs in our business to the point where the ocean freight costs can be almost as high as the value of the merchandise in the container being shipped. Lionel is facing this expense the same as all other industries and companies can not afford to absorb these increases in shipping costs.

Last edited by jrstengel

I have never pre-ordered from Lionel in the past, but I must say I am tempted to order the six car set of the Amtrak Phase III Heritage cars.  Combined with my GGD scale Amfleet cars and Phase III Slumbercoach I have on order and I am close to completing a long-time goal of creating a Broadway Limited circa 1989.  If I do, I could do without the dome car and I refuse to pay for a diner with sounds I have no interest in, but the K-Line Amtrak diner comes up on that auction site pretty often and it would be an easy repaint.  The only car I'd be missing then would be a section sleeper and a baggage dorm.  I have some 1960's vintage aluminum extruded cars to make additional coaches as well as a heritage lounge, but the train I rode on often had a mixture of Amfleet and Heritage cars.

Tempting .... oh so tempting.   

Furthermore, although out of my budget, the Lionel F40PH is vastly superior to the MTH version while it is only somewhat superior to my K-Line ones.  Those are tempting as well, but with my current orders for 3rd Rail and GGD items the F40PH will likely be a pass.  I have 7 in Amtrak already.

Last edited by GG1 4877

I've yet to ever pre-order anything from Lionel, but there were definitely some pieces from this catalog I was interested in. At the very least I was thinking about the Ford and Amtrak 44-Tonners, and part of that is because they are among the cheaper options in the catalog. I also would like the Phase III F40PH as well, and the Union Pacific F7's and the Conrail SW1. I like a lot of the things that were shown in this catalog, even those purple and yellow Aberdeen, Carolina and Western F9's are pretty cool, but the items I mentioned above are ones I would pre-order if I could.

Last edited by carnerd3000
@MartyE posted:

The more and more I think about it the Class A maybe a purchase as well. WW2 scheme.

Class A

I think that would be the one I'd be ordering too Marty. I did manage to get the Ryan & Dave show in, took 3 days but I did it. Stomach bug sidelined me all weekend long, so no work for me today. I still want to look a bit more at the other non-shiny versions and which have the Y3 tender with the doghouse. Most likely 1210 is the one for me. Probably order the BR&W S1 Diesel set since the real deal is not but 5 minutes away from me. Probably also pick up the N&W as well as the PRR coal hoppers and that will probably be it. Still waiting to hear if Mr. Muffin is going to do a B&A Berkshire in green paint, that would be the only other thing I'd get.

Okay, now I am more on the fence on which Class A I was thinking about getting. Why, well, I am sort of interested in what the heck "Commonwealth Trucks" are, and notably "cast pilot without after-cooler".

After cooler

I guess that is the "after-cooler"? Sorry that is a little blurry. I am also guessing that the art work for all the Class A tenders are show with the extensions as they all look alike to me, even though some say extensions, others say commonwealth trucks. I'm curious, what does a Class A tender look like without extensions? Or is that just some more fiction going on there? Anyone care to educate me please or correct what Lionel is offering?

Attachments

Images (1)
  • After cooler

I’ll most likely get the Base 3 since I have some LC engines. And I’m planning on getting an 0-4-0. But otherwise this catalog didn’t have too much for me (thankfully, the last two killed my wallet).

If @MrMuffin'sTrains is able to arrange for a custom run of an Atlantic and 0-6-0 in Nickel Plate Road, I’ll be getting both of them as well. His custom runs, along with ones from Stockyard Express, represent most of my engine and rolling stock roster.

I‘m debating getting a F40PH. I preordered the Atlas/MTH version because of the issues from the last release. But could be swayed to grab Lionel’s version if there was a compelling reason.

Here's my take on the 2022 pricing and Lionel Catalog:

I've recently returned to the hobby after a few decades away.  I'll be building a new layout this year and I know almost nothing about the new technology (TMCC, Legacy, etc..).  Although I'm interested in the new Class A Vision steam engines I still need to back fill some things on my wish list ie Big Boy.  I will probably wait until I have my new layout up and running to purchase anything big.

I'm looking at getting a few things to get started:

  • Lionel Base 3
  • Cab3 App
  • BN SW1
  • BNSF and/or BC Rail ES44AC
  • BN SD-40
  • CP Veterans SD90
  • Miller High Life box car
  • 1776 box car
  • Polar Express

Okay, now I am more on the fence on which Class A I was thinking about getting. Why, well, I am sort of interested in what the heck "Commonwealth Trucks" are, and notably "cast pilot without after-cooler".

After cooler

I guess that is the "after-cooler"? Sorry that is a little blurry. I am also guessing that the art work for all the Class A tenders are show with the extensions as they all look alike to me, even though some say extensions, others say commonwealth trucks. I'm curious, what does a Class A tender look like without extensions? Or is that just some more fiction going on there? Anyone care to educate me please or correct what Lionel is offering?

Yes, that is the "after-cooler". Later A's had them.

If you will look at the "Pilot" model photo, look at the very top of the coal bunker of the tender and those pieces sticking up are the extentions in order for the tender to hold more coal. No "fiction"!

The "Commonwealth" trucks will be the same trucks found on the Class J tender. The Y6b model has "Buckeye" trucks. Very different. Sorry, I don't have pictures here on my tablet to show the difference, but, you can look them yourself.

Last edited by Big Jim
@Big Jim posted:

Yes, that is the "after-cooler". Later A's had them.

If you will look at the "Pilot" model photo, look at the very top of the coal bunker of the tender and those pieces sticking up are the extentions in order for the tender to hold more coal. No "fiction"!

The "Commonwealth" trucks will be the same trucks found on the Class J tender. The Y6b model has "Buckeye" trucks. Very different. Sorry, I don't have pictures here on my tablet to show the difference, but, you can look them yourself.

Yeah, on the "Which Class A are you getting?" topic, I popped the pictures of the coal bunker as well as the dog houses on the tenders. The artist filled in the windows black on some of the models on the catalog, this making it hard to see what is going on. I forget all of what else I had posted over there, but someone else had also commented on the commonwealth trucks and buckeye trucks stated exactly what you said above Jim. Also, during the Train World video, Ryan credited those(in general) who took the time to point out differences like the cover over the turrets, as well as a few other things with the models. They remarked on this on the Class A part of the catalog which helped me decide that I will be getting 1211 model.

I ended up ordering the Louisville and Nashville vision horse car, the Amtrak veteran's NPCU, Amtrak station sounds diner, N&W hopper two pack (can't believe they didn't offer a six pack to go with the A), and the chapel car.

In a perfect world I would've liked a Class A, the Ski Train set, and the rocket train. The heritage ES44s are disappointing because it makes me think we're still at least a couple years out from having real ET44AC tooling in O scale and I'm sure everyone on this site is tired of hearing me beg for it.

@B rad posted:

Do you all think the cab3 bases will be available without having to preorder? I'm thinking I'd like one but not too sure enough at the moment to preorder. Sounds like they are a year out as it is.

Brad

I think if you want to hold off they'll be around.  Train World made it sound like they are ordering plenty.  I think once the dealers see the demand they'll order accordingly.

Last edited by MartyE
@B rad posted:

Tons of places. Legacy station preorder $400. Trainworld $439. Charles Ro $439. Marios Trains $459. Retail $499. Many many others offering preorder discounts as well.

Brad

Correct.  Doesn't take too much of a search to find discounts. 

All of the above are great dealers ... plus note that Nassau Hobbies has the CAB3 for $399 pre-order.

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