Lionel 2017 Catalog is OUT!!! WHat are you ordering??

mikey posted:

Thinking about the AC-9 but Hot Water had a good point on the whistle and is it coal fired,I have the original AC-9 and the sound system is not good.

Mikey

Dave said:

"I had the older AC9 and the sound was very good. The chuff was very deep and the whistle very good, how accurate it was I don't know but it sounded great to me.

I would buy the older model over the new over priced one."

I heartily concur; I have the original AC-9. My favorite articulated - real or model - of all time. Love the horn. If the new one had been a properly modified version of the post-oil-burner conversion I would be in deep trouble. 

The Daylight version just aches to be re-painted. Or just aches.

I am not going to order anything myself!

With the offering of all the LC and LC+, I feel like it seems that Lionel is pushing trying to get new and younger kids into the hobby, with the app and the wider options of LC engines, It makes us guys who purchase Legacy items feel like we're slowly getting shoved out the building as I read some of the posts on this thread.

I have stopped purchasing some of the engines a long time back because or rising prices and everything seems to be repeats of years past of the TMCC days, how about some newly tooled items Lionel? Maybe also include more engines with swinging bell?

I know the NYC Electric engines have the swinging bell but the last time we've seen a steam locomotive with a swinging bell was the Vision Hudson! Can we see more swinging bell?

I will say, some new items did I arrive in the catalog, but nothing that has peeked my interest, If the light Mikado's weren't as expensive I would get one, but like everyone else, prices, just seem too much!

As of late I think both the Lionel and MTH catalogs are ho hum with MTH being the leader.

I like the Lionel Vision line products but their offerings are getting to be only one or two new engines per year.

Not to start a flame war but I think MTH should get out of the O gauge business and concentrate on S and HO offerings.

That would basically leave just Lionel and Sunset 3RD Rail in the O gauge business. I prefer Lionel for their Legacy sound system and various smoke features and Sunset for their attention to fidelity and detail.

However the asking price for these steam engines are $1200.00 to $2400.00.

What say you?

Gort: Klaatu barada nikto!

After waffling on the PRR E-8s, I'm passing on this catalog.  Just not that excited.  I'll probably be looking to spend the saved dollars on some second hand Legacy engines I had to pass on previously. 

There is a lot of good stuff in the catalog for the LC and LC+ folks but with only a handful of Legacy offerings there wasn't anything there I had to have.

For some time, folks hereabouts have been complaining that Lionel has not been doing enough to encourage new, younger entrants into the hobby.  Now, it seems that such a push is underway, but Lionel is now taking flak for making it. 

I have no horse in the race, really--I can't afford new Legacy engines or Visionline--I pick mine up used on the secondary market, don't even have Legacy control, and have no desire for the extra-cost gimcrackery, anyway.  Further, I dislike the LC concept and don't see it on my layout.

That said, LC does seem to have some appeal to the younger set (not my boys, but they are not typical), and using it to foster newcomers seems reasonable.  And Lionel IS delivering what so many asked for . . . .  Seems strange to complain about it.

I think the catalogs Lionel put out were pretty amazing. I get there wasn't as much top end stuff, but how much of that actually sells compared to the lower and mid grade items.  I personally prefer mth to the big L but this time around I finally committed to my first pre-order.  I am looking forward to the Halloween mikado with bt tech.  It's my first engine of that style and first lc+ Locomotive in general. I am actually really excited about it.

I wouldn't take some of the folks passing on the catalog's Legacy offerings as complaining.  With less offerings, there is less of a selection.  It's only natural that those folks will order less.  The LC and LC+ folks have a much wider choice.  Naturally you'll have more of them order.  Out of the presented Legacy offerings, nothing is there that I have to have or really want this time around.

I think it is reasonable to conclude that the market for $600+ diesels and $1,000 plus steam locos is either static or contracting. Lionel is likely reacting to these realities with a somewhat smaller number of newly tooled locos in these price ranges and a larger number in the lower end of the price spectrum.  It's not as if they've abandoned Legacy,  as there are a fair number of newly tooled locomotives.  Is this true of any other supplier in the hobby?  I don't think so.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but one or two newly tooled locos per year is all that Atlas, Bachmann, etc. are producing.  Tweaks of old tooling,  or new road names, yes.  Genuinely new tooling for the high end of the loco market is quite uncommon in recent years except for Lionel.

I'm pretty sure Lionel knows exactly what type of loco is selling and how many. 

The market is speaking clearly, it seems, and we'll all just have to live with the consequences.

At first, I thought this would be a big wallet blow for me. Then I thought about what I had in mind, made a few cuts, then more, and now I'm not going to order anything, I'll just see how it looks on the store shelf. Hopefully some dealers order enough extra stock of the stuff I like.

I see two Lion Chief Plus engines that I will be ordering.   I get it.   To have a 300.00 engine do most of what a 1400.00 engine does is not appealing to some.  If they can get the LC and LC+ engines to be reliable and long lasting, that technology will be the future of the hobby.   IF they can get it right!  And if Lionel sticks to it.  They will get it right!  Lets see.   3 or 4 LC engines, or one legacy.  

I agree that people passing on Legacy offerings is not complaining, as well as them stating the high prices as not complaining. We could probably discuss how the prices have increased and the features either staying the same or them missing. Bottom line on that is that we will always be criticizing it because we feel it should always have more. In some cases, yes, they should have more. Missing features which at times seemed to be the staple of what was coming out will always get that reaction. Of course, there is always next catalog.

Dave NYC Hudson PRR K4 posted:

I agree that people passing on Legacy offerings is not complaining, as well as them stating the high prices as not complaining. We could probably discuss how the prices have increased and the features either staying the same or them missing. Bottom line on that is that we will always be criticizing it because we feel it should always have more. In some cases, yes, they should have more. Missing features which at times seemed to be the staple of what was coming out will always get that reaction. Of course, there is always next catalog.

Don't get me wrong...there is complaining.  LOL!

I love the move to Bluetooth, I just wish Lionel would release the app for the Android OS.  

TWO WORDS SAY IT ALL ........ ABSOLUTELY NOTHING

Oman posted:

Yeah, I'm done with BTO also, but not due to quality, but lack of delivering product as advertised.

AMEN! I don't get how Lionel wants BTO so badly, but can still be foggy on the details. Most companies use a catalog to sell product, but Big L only uses the catalog to remind me not to trust them.

MartyE posted:

Dave NYC Hudson PRR K4 posted:

I agree that people passing on Legacy offerings is not complaining, as well as them stating the high prices as not complaining. We could probably discuss how the prices have increased and the features either staying the same or them missing. Bottom line on that is that we will always be criticizing it because we feel it should always have more. In some cases, yes, they should have more. Missing features which at times seemed to be the staple of what was coming out will always get that reaction. Of course, there is always next catalog.

Don't get me wrong...there is complaining.  LOL!

Complaining, constructive criticism, same thing.

NYCGreg68 posted:

I love the move to Bluetooth, I just wish Lionel would release the app for the Android OS.  

I second this!

Daylight sez MTH should get out of O Gauge,I don't see Lionel offering GN,NP and SP&S Z 6 Challengers and their European Lineup is great and he forgot that Atlas makes locomotives.

Culvert sets have been high on my list for some time. This may be my last chance to pick up a new culvert set however it  might need a lot of attention to keep it running smoothly plus finding some future replacement electronic parts down the line could be hard, to locate; OR do I  hold out and keep searching for an original PW set and hope I can nurse it back to health ?  Cam vs noise.  Looking for reliable entertainment, not a collector piece box filled with a lot of folded cardboard. Decisions, decisions.

mikey posted:

Daylight sez MTH should get out of O Gauge,I don't see Lionel offering GN,NP and SP&S Z 6 Challengers and their European Lineup is great and he forgot that Atlas makes locomotives.

I forgot about their European lineup which I like.

Here is a video of one that I bought a number of years ago.

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/t...84#22970454993857184

Mth: S3/6 German/pacific running on Patrick H's layout

Thinking about the PRR light mikado and some reading or b&o hoppers..... the mikado's price is a bit steep considering my legacy K4 was $750.00 like 3 yrs ago. 

Lionel LC+ Engines are looking better all the time when it comes to the cost. Legacy is just too much now.

Nothing.  Ordered the SP&S switcher from last year catalog and that shot the budget for new locomotives for the next couple of catalogs ...

daylight posted:

mikey posted:

Daylight sez MTH should get out of O Gauge,I don't see Lionel offering GN,NP and SP&S Z 6 Challengers and their European Lineup is great and he forgot that Atlas makes locomotives.

I forgot about their European lineup which I like.

 

Here is a video of one that I bought a number of years ago.

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/t...84#22970454993857184

 

Mth: S3/6 German/pacific running on Patrick H's layout

Seems like the MTH European line has finer detailing than that made for US market.