Legacy - Any Update on Availability

I think someone posted that Lionel's website lists a 6/14 ship date.  I have not checked it myself but if that information is accurate it ties in nicely with the shipping date shown on FlyerRich's brick purchase.  A June ship date would be nice but its a shame consumers have to piece together tidbits of information like this in order to ascertain a distribution date especially since the updated 990 is in excess of a year overdue. 

 

I agree with your statement that many consumers and retailers are very frustrated with the lack of communication on the part of Lionel on this issue.  I have mentioned several times before on the forum that Lionel should provide a clear and definitive statement as to why there has been such a long delay in shipping.  They owe at least that much to their consumer base.  However, there are those who are willing to give Lionel a pass on this problem and as long there are a lot of train enthusiasts who are willing to do this Lionel can just shrug off the criticisms and remain in stately silence.  

The ship date indicated in the packing slip is simply predicated on Lionel's shipping schedule having a 990 shipping ETA of May '14.  Now that's very different from the information at York, which was pushing well into 3Q at the earliest.    

 

So here's where I lose patience with Lionel PR.  If these items are really gonna ship in May 2014 and it's now already May 10th, one would think these jewels have been on a boat due in port any day now -- meaning they shipped from the far east a couple of months ago.  Or perhaps they'll get express service and go via air -- still time this month yet.

 

Whatever the case... someone at Lionel should know authoritatively what's going on with these things at this point and say something... at least to dealers/distributors/LHS's and ideally to  toy train enthusiasts as well.  But with reps at York suggesting 3Q with a frustrated or blank look on their faces, that tells me they just don't have any confidence in the real status of the 990 kits.

 

I hope for the sake of those waiting that Lionel can prove me wrong.

 

David

 

P.S.  Just a point of clarification on dates:  when I do pre-order Lionel O-Gauge, 9 out of 10 times it's from Charlie Ro.  And their invoices and website tend to show anticipated ship dates being the 10th day of the month FOLLOWING what's indicated on Lionel's published shipping schedule.  Things get a bit chaotic during year-end when Lionel may ship more frequently, but typically stuff shipping from Lionel seems to leave Lionel's warehouse around month-end during most times of the year.  So expect to see those gems at your door step the following month.

 

 

Me too! (I'm one of the waiters)   FWIW, yesterday my LHS told me May 20th, but then added they would believe it when they see it.

       
       

I preordered in feb and he told me the earliest june. Which seems like its going to be way past it thou.

Ive got one 990 set left sitting on the shelf at my store

Matt, I saw that a few months back and can't beleive it's still there.

The June date would be about right with May 20th as the arrival at Lionel, we can only hope.

 

 

Thanks Matt, but I went ahead and paid my LHS for mine a couple months ago so I was freed up to try and order some things from the recently released catalogs without still owing for that item too.  I ordered it in Sept. 2013.  It will now probably be gone as soon as someone sees this thread.

 

 

Mill city, I cant believe it is either, the funny thing is that ive brought it up on numerous threads that I have one and everybody gets all bent out of shape because its not on the website. People are afraid of phones these days

Last week I received a Legacy 180W Powerhouse and about 3-4 weeks back I received a Powermaster. Both I had preordered along with the 990. About 4 weeks back I was told mid-May for the 990....Nada yet and no further word!

5/16/14 shipping schedule shows July 14.

At least they skipped june one less lie

 

this just shows that they don't know a date and they just make up a month and put a 14 after it they should just put TBA and send out a notice to dealers and subscribers when they know an actual date, just changing it every month does tend to **** people off, and Lionel should be happy it does, i mean if you think about it people are anxious to give them their money, least they can do is be honest about it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXysRO11Xi8

 

Bill

I understand people like Legacy but it is not as if you cannot run your trains with TMCC, DCS, or conventional transformer control in the interim.  I enjoy running trains in pretty much any format.  Whatever the issue is, I would much rather them make sure the units are "right" then send something that is less than ready for prime time.  And there is probably a reason -- something to do with keeping some sort of commercial issue between Lionel and the factory in China private -- that prevents them from being more transparent.  In a strange way, I am actually encouraged in the sense that this delay is so contrary to Lionel's interest that I would guess they have a good reason, probably related to quality control, for the delay.

 

And if you really need a system, I guess there is Ebay or other private venues. 

 

I do not understand how manufacturers can under estimate demand for their control systems. It seems to have happened to both Lionel and MTH (Legacy and DCS). 

 

Delays like this is a turn off. 

 

I only have two Legacy engines (the Polar Railroad GP-7 and a Lionmaster Big Boy). I have the new-for-2014 Scale Polar Express on preorder.

 

One thing is certain, when the Legacy control system comes back in stock I will grab one.

i said lying as in pretending they know when they ship when in reality they don't they are lying because they put down may then it changed to July, you think they are positive about July wait until end of july it will say sept and that will keep going until they actually ship. , i know Lionel has no control of this but to keep pushing and pushing without letting anyone know why they been delayed for almost if not more then a year, i think and explanation is called for and also just mark them TBA instead of keeping everyone hopes up when they know the truth

 

I've had one on backorder for 6 months and I'm OK waiting. In fact, a 2015 release date is fine by me. I have a LEGACY CAB-1L/BASE-1L Command Set that works great. I have more TMCC locomotives than LEGACY so the CAB-1L/BASE-1L is just perfect.

 

Whenever the 990 LEGACY Command Set arrives I'll honor the backorder and use my CAB-1L remote with it in addition to the CAB-2..

 

I wonder how many sales on LEGACY locomotives Lionel will lose as a result of the delay especially since the DCS is now available.

Boxcar Bill,

 

LOL!

 

George

As long as it comes before, or at the same time of, the VL Big Boy I'm fine.  If it comes out after, I'll not be happy since I want to have full control over the BB not just the limited control my CAB-1 will give me.

And the guessing game and rumor mongering continues and all thanks to what seems to be corporate negligence.  There is absolutely no excuse for any corporation not taking steps to inform an extremely interested, loyal consumer base as to why a particular item has not been released.  The revolving door distribution date is at this point laughable.   

Lionel website just updated the ship date from May 2014 to July 2104.  Anyone believe them?

July 2104 sounds about right. WINK!

More wonderful news! Thanks! 

NOPE!  They've cried 'wolf' to many different times.  

 

I'll believe it is here when it arrives on my door step....

 

For what's it worth, my dealer told me today Lionel said July.  Sure he checked the web site also and knows about as much as we do.  

 

Said they have 24 Legacy systems on back order (Keep in mind, this is only one store).  Reality is some of us who have been waiting aren't going to get ours from the initial shipment.  Hope I'm wrong.

 

My Lionel dealer is as frustrated as we are...h#ll of a way to run a business...

MTH just ran out and it took a couple months to replenish the stock. I don't think DCS was unavailable all that long. With so many products made by both MTH and Lionel, I can see this happening once in a while to either company. Just part of doing business these days where everything is made overseas.

 

Lionel is actually having problems, and they appear to be getting worse. They were supposed to have the Legacy's back in stock last fall. That is what I originally heard when I ordered mine in Sept. '13. It would be nice if they would tell us what is wrong instead of just changing the shipping dates every couple months. 

Well, if we're to believe the posts from OGR sponsors taking record numbers of orders for Big Boys -- and some of these may sit on display shelves, since folks don't necessarily have sufficiently broad radii to do the BB justice  -- it seems Lionel's inability to deliver Legacy 990 kits has had little if any impact on locomotive orders.   

 

When all is said and done, toy train enthusiasts largely buy on impulse... whether it's an in-store purchase or a pre-order -- especially when it's the latest and greatest feature-product like the Big Boy.  People just get lost in all the hype and buzz, then deal with the details later... like running it with non-existent Legacy controllers.  

 

David

Well that oughta put ear-to-ear grins on the faces of eBay sellers.  Anybody wanta guess what the next group of eBay 990's will sell for???  

 

David

Like David, I was surprised by the record orders also.  Doesn't seem to have much impact on Legacy locomotive purchases.  Hate to say it, but it hasn't stopped me either.

 

I'm taking good care of a certain VL Challenger, Dave!   

 

Way more than I'll pay for one-I have a lot of patience 

I don't think they are lying at all, They are just not addressing the problem head on with their customers. Beating around the bush maybe? As far as Lionel not having control over this problem, I don't agree. If that's the case, maybe that IS the problem. It is their product, and also their flagship product. If they can't control it I don't know who can? After this round, I bet they will have more control over it in the future.

       
       


If they are controlling the problem then they are lying about the date because if they have control they know exactly when it would be ready , and they can just say listen it wont be ready until this day but they keep beating around the bush because their answers come in the same format, if they had control their would be no way their flagship product would be delayed a year plus on top of that every lionel rep gets asked and their response is they dont know but most likely ex:june , they would not beat around the bush if they knew there is no reason especially now that 90% of the people dont believe the date anyways.

Well obviously you know exactly what's going on and have it all figured out. Lionel would be stupid not to get you on the team and straighten it out. 

 

 

       
       


Where does it say i know exactly whats going on tell me ?, Lionel is smart not to have you on their team

Then maybe that does make it a 'Control' problem...hehehe  (get it, Legacy, Control, I say, I say that's a joke son!) (Might have been just a slight pun intended here)

 

Seriously, my point above was that if they do NOT have control of their products, that IS their problem and should by all means be corrected as soon as possible. I also realize problems do come up that no one could possibly predict and that could be what has happened here?

 

       
       

Thank you, i kind of took it that as a wrong way earlier so i apologize but in all seriouness all these post wont make the 990 come faster we just all want an explanation and the change the dates every month skem just makes it worst because the excitment turns into anger and if they would just mark it tba nobody would even look anymore until their  dealer call them telling them its in,  but for the lieing part SOMEBODY HAS TO KNOW SOMETHING , they just have to there is again no way lionel employees themselves sit there and question if it shipped get , the 990 isent an engine its the control systems that helps us decide to buy more legacy equipment and starting with the vision BB i can imagine alot of lost in sales wouldt you be on top of an important product like the 990 ,

 

       
       

Im just really fustrated i was always more of an mth type of person and i finally get my hand on some lionel stuff and i have to keep it in conventional because no one even knows why, and i really feel its a waste to buy the cab 1-l that just giving lionel more money and then purchase a 990 when its finally released yes we just want to run our trains i 10000% agree