Check your new Lionel Great Northern Dome Coaches: 2427080 & 2427090. Dome Seats are Backwards from Main Floor Seats

After reading this thread I pulled the dome seats from one of my cars. This one was already decorated so I didn’t get too aggressive trying to remove one but tried using some plastic solvent cement to break the bond. No luck as I think they used RF to melt the plastic. If this was a problem on my cars (not on my UP cars) I would use a a razor saw to cut them all off and then glue them in the proper direction.

Not a big deal on a few cars but can see it would be a PITA on a CZ set with a half dozen or more dome cars.

Pete

April 2, 2024   2:37 P.M.

I heard from one of my Dealers who said Lionel would try to get parts for replacing the Domes Seats that are backwards, but there are no guarantees.  They offered to take all the items back.  Now I have to check with the other Dealer who sold me some of the cars and engines.

This answer just adds to the uncertainty that the issue will or will not be corrected.

I apologize if this thread is making people feel uncomfortable.  You can imagine how I feel.

Sincerely, John Rowlen

It is not making me feel uncomfortable, I am enjoying it. I have also learned a couple of things; always a great thing.

"I apologize if this thread is making people feel uncomfortable.  You can imagine how I feel."

No need to apologize. I think anyone who has been in the hobby a while,  or knows human nature, realizes that each of us is focused on different things regarding the products we buy. Some folks get upset if the color isn't exactly what they expected.  Some get upset if the coupler is too long or too short.  No one likes a locomotive that doesn't work.  Your priorities may be different from mine, but I respect your desire to have a product look and function as you wish, regardless of whether the issue would be of concern to me.  I do hope you get satisfaction one way or the other, and I'm sure your dealer and Lionel wish the same.  Unfortunately, sometimes the only recourse is to return a product for credit,  that another customer will hopefully be happy to get a good deal on, despite the issues that caused your dissatisfaction.

Just a note regarding the Great Northern Dome car issue with the dome seating assembly being backwards as when I became aware of the issue, I simply contacted my train store to make them aware and since they still had some cars that were not picked up by customers, they had their service folks look at the cars which of course were incorrect as reported.

Fortunately, their service techs are Lionel certified (from the old Mike Reagan days) and very experienced so as an "interim" fix they simply took the cars apart and rotated the seat assembly and now the seats are in the correct direction.

So is it a "perfect solution "NO" as now you cannot see the staircase as it is blocked by the end of the seat assembly although you have to look really close to see it.

In respect to the "interim" repair it's about a 5 minute fix as you simply remove 4 screws from the bottom of the car, disconnect the lighting harness and the 4 screws holding the dome seat assembly in place, rotate the seat assembly and now it's facing correctly.

So once Lionel comes up with a solution to correct the problem the above would get you by and as John mentioned the set was pretty expensive and it need to be corrected.

I also have a set of the American Orient Express cars on order as it appears the dome car has the same issue and have instructed the train store service folks to take a look at the dome car and if possible, do the same to it until Lionel has come out with a fix.

The solution above is most likely not for everyone just wanted to share what I experienced and decided to do for myself as an interim solution.

Landsteiner,

Great reply and how so true as we are all in this hobby to have fun with our trains and as with many things in life it is not all perfect.  The forum is a great way to share all those experiences and we have some great people to share it with although I miss Marty Fritzhenry.

The dome cars seem to be Lionel’s Union Pacific ACF dome coaches, painted as Great Northern cars.  The prototype Great Northern domes were made by Budd, and look quite a bit different.  That having been said, the Lionel Union Pacific dome parts might work, but those are probably not available.

While I agree that this is a pretty stupid mistake on Lionel’s part.  In the  end this is actually a good mistake because unless you really know, no one is going to walk into your layout. Look at the car and say those seats are wrong. On the other hand, the issues that really get me upset is when the manufacturer goes all out of detail and then puts the wrong font or a blatantly, wrong color, such as on the new Lionel jersey central diesel. The Jersey Central colors are not yellow. That’s what upsets me.