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Richard Gonzales posted:

It  doesn't look particularly "YORKISH" to me.

Richard

Just another boxcar from Lionel's low-resolution inkjet printer. The same printer that splatters images of kids, dogs, and unreadable text on rolling stock, for a price. Slap a war bonnet on the side and it has to be valuable, right?

A "Yorkish" boxcar would have a Life-Alert logo on the side, with the caption, "Help! I've fallen and cannot get up from under a pile of unopened convention boxcars!"

Last edited by GregR
J Daddy posted:
E-UNIT-79 posted:

Don't worry, in sure somebody will get one than put it on his table for 10x the price with a "rare collectables"  sign on it.

YOU KNOW IT! And I am getting my roller skates on and pads to take down anyone in my way!

mjs-mensderby-03-nws-wood-mensderby

It will be the next Natty Boh reefer!

You've got to be kidding right?    Me thinks if if this first in a series is sold and not given away it'll follow along with the hundreds of previous iconic Lionel instant collectable boxcars that initially sold high but soon became near worthless.  It will be popular until the next one comes along..

joe

Last edited by JC642

They didn't even give the car a number. You guy's run for the Lionel booth, & I will be looking for rare collectibles in the blue hall. What a joke this is. I believe Lionel is trying to pay there  for the trip to York. if they didn't come to York, I wouldn't miss them one bit. I spend about 60 seconds at the Lionel booth.

Last edited by eddie g

If Lionel's strategy for making such a small run for this boxcar was to get folks hyped up and blabbering about it and enticing this month's York goers to make Lionel their first stop, (either to buy the car or for curiosity's sake to see what the hypes about,) then their marketing plan is obviously working brilliantly.

Last edited by ogaugeguy

Are some of you guys EVER happy with anything?

I like the car - and usually these kind of cars are not really up my alley. In fact, I like this Lionel car a lot. Am I going to be "first in line" to buy one? No, but if I have the opportunity to purchase one at a reasonable price on Friday when I'm walking the halls, I certainly would consider.

GregR posted:
 

A "Yorkish" boxcar would have a Life-Alert logo on the side, with the caption, "Help! I've fallen and cannot get up from under a pile of unopened convention boxcars!"

When I read this,   my sides started hurting and I had tears in my eyes from laughing so hard.  Good one Greg!

Nick

eddie g posted:

They didn't even give the car a number. You guy's run for the Lionel booth, & I will be looking for rare collectibles in the blue hall. What a joke this is. I believe Lionel is trying to pay there  for the trip to York. if they didn't come to York, I wouldn't miss them one bit. I spend about 60 seconds at the Lionel booth.

Nice attitude.

SJC posted:

Are some of you guys EVER happy with anything?

I like the car - and usually these kind of cars are not really up my alley. In fact, I like this Lionel car a lot. Am I going to be "first in line" to buy one? No, but if I have the opportunity to purchase one at a reasonable price on Friday when I'm walking the halls, I certainly would consider.

Actually, very few folks -- if any -- are really complaining about the car itself.  The design is very nice, and I could see lots of folks would want one.  However, the real issue is we're just all amazed that Lionel's management team who came up with the idea to make a limited run of 50 of these -- for whatever reason -- never ceases to display their incompetence making decisions like this.    Perhaps that's a bit harsh... but like I said earlier, it's their way of generating a buzz-factor I guess.  Not too impressed though.

I'm not sure which is worse... this kind of announcement, or the approach Lionel took with National Train Day boxcars where they led enthusiasts to believe they needed to visit a brick-and-mortar LHS to order one on a specific day of the year... and then we later found out dealers ordered extras anyway and had them for sale months afterward.  Now they can't even give them away. 

David

Last edited by Rocky Mountaineer
JC642 posted:
J Daddy posted:
E-UNIT-79 posted:

Don't worry, in sure somebody will get one than put it on his table for 10x the price with a "rare collectables"  sign on it.

YOU KNOW IT! And I am getting my roller skates on and pads to take down anyone in my way!

mjs-mensderby-03-nws-wood-mensderby

It will be the next Natty Boh reefer!

You've got to be kidding right?    Me thinks if if this first in a series is sold and not given away it'll follow along with the hundreds of previous iconic Lionel instant collectable boxcars that initially sold high but soon became near worthless.  It will be popular until the next one comes along..

joe

Ah, but your thinking in 2-D... now if it is signed and Autographed by some of the Lionel guys and girls there... may even have Mike Reagan sign it for posterity sake. . Then there are some of the greats ; like Rich Melvin, Alex M, GRJ, Mr. Muffins, the list can go on and on...

 

JC642 posted:
laz1957 posted:

Better watch out for the STAMPEED in the ORANGE HALL come Thursday at high noon?

Get the women and children out of the way!!!!!

MY guess is they'll raffle them off one per hour at the booth.....

Joe 

FYI... according to Lionel's Facebook page where this was "announced", they're encouraging folks to stop by their booth to purchase one.

I just have to laugh, because they also emphasize in the same sentence that York will be open to the public on 4/28 and 4/29... as if there might be any of the 50 remaining at their booth by Friday/Saturday after a day of TCA member traffic on Thursday... unless of course they don't offer them for sale until Friday.    Of course, no word on pricing either.  So if the boxcars are priced ridiculously high, Lionel may be hauling a bunch back to North Carolina!   

David

Last edited by Rocky Mountaineer

I just have to laugh, because they also emphasize in the same sentence that York will be open to the public on 4/28 and 4/29... as if there might be any of the 50 remaining at their booth by Friday/Saturday after a day of TCA member traffic on Thursday... unless of course they don't offer them for sale until Friday.    Of course, no word on pricing either.  So if the boxcars are priced ridiculously high, Lionel may be hauling a bunch back to North Carolina!   

I guess we TCA members should be grateful that Lionel mentioned the York Train meet on their facebook page. Maybe they think the boxcar will draw the public. If that was their intent, Hooray for Lionel! But I think they need to up the number available.

By the way, it took me a few tries to even find their Facebook page. Maybe I just don't really know how to use Facebook.

Rocky Mountaineer posted:

I'm not sure which is worse... this kind of announcement, or the approach Lionel took with National Train Day boxcars where they led enthusiasts to believe they needed to visit a brick-and-mortar LHS to order one on a specific day of the year... and then we later found out dealers ordered extras anyway and had them for sale months afterward.  Now they can't even give them away. 

David

For those interested , my LHS still has limited edition aquarium cars with shredded legal briefs from the MTH lawsuit on the shelf. 

joe

Last edited by JC642

Remember, before knocking over the women and children on Thursday to get this boxcar, on Wednesday at the Museum, there will be another limited boxcar available featuring the PRR/museum. There will be only 40 cars available.

"Sarah" from Lionel designed the above York car, she also did a great job on the most recent employee car; she is a hidden gem at Lionel, a wonderful young lady who enjoys trains.

 

JC642 posted:
Rocky Mountaineer posted:

I'm not sure which is worse... this kind of announcement, or the approach Lionel took with National Train Day boxcars where they led enthusiasts to believe they needed to visit a brick-and-mortar LHS to order one on a specific day of the year... and then we later found out dealers ordered extras anyway and had them for sale months afterward.  Now they can't even give them away. 

David

For those interested , my LHS still has limited edition aquarium cars with shredded legal briefs from the MTH lawsuit on the shelf. 

joe

Joe,

Not everything I told Tom to purchase was a winner, but overall, my track record at Great Lakes was pretty darn good during my tenure at Tom's place. I never did get to rent a tux from you

 

 

 

Last edited by wtjohn

Regardless of Lionels thinking/plan/strategy behind the cars, the big question is where do you think this boxcar is destined to rank among: toy fair cars; Christmas cars; century club boxcars; dealer appreciation cars from Lionel or MTH; TCA passenger train cars; TCA convention cars; candy reefers; sports team cars; I could list more but I'm tired of typing.

Last edited by aussteve
aussteve posted:

Regardless of Lionels thinking/plan/strategy behind the cars, the big question is where do you think this boxcar is destined to rank among: toy fair cars; Christmas cars; dealer appreciation cars from Lionel or MTH; TCA passenger train cars; TCA convention cars; candy reefers; sports team cars; I could list more but I'm tired of typing.

Probably somewhere between Horde and Scrooge McDuck Mint (the original, not the one in the recent RTR catalog).

That's a wide enough range to almost necessitate being correct.

-Dave

C W Burfle posted:

I just have to laugh, because they also emphasize in the same sentence that York will be open to the public on 4/28 and 4/29... as if there might be any of the 50 remaining at their booth by Friday/Saturday after a day of TCA member traffic on Thursday... unless of course they don't offer them for sale until Friday.    Of course, no word on pricing either.  So if the boxcars are priced ridiculously high, Lionel may be hauling a bunch back to North Carolina!   

I guess we TCA members should be grateful that Lionel mentioned the York Train meet on their facebook page. Maybe they think the boxcar will draw the public. If that was their intent, Hooray for Lionel! But I think they need to up the number available.

By the way, it took me a few tries to even find their Facebook page. Maybe I just don't really know how to use Facebook.

Maybe it's a long term strategy to draw the public who might like to purchase such a car to being TCA members.

Imagine:

  • The cars sell out on Thursday (easy to imagine)
  • The public comes in on Friday and asks Lionel reps about the car (a certainty if it was prominently on their Facebook page)
  • Lionel states, oh, we only made a limited number of those, and it was first available on the day that only TCA members are allowed at the meet (plausible, if they offer any explanation other than just "we are out of them")
  • The public decides they don't want to miss out on such things in the future, so they join TCA so they can attend on Thursday next time and have a shot at getting a car. (I know this is where it got far-fetched and not likely)

 

I can dream right?  If it plays out, people can stop saying Lionel didn't do enough to promote the public admittance and encourage future membership in the TCA.

-Dave

Last edited by Dave45681
  • The cars sell out on Thursday (easy to imagine)
  • The public comes in on Friday and asks Lionel reps about the car (a certainty if it was prominently on their Facebook page)
  • Lionel states, oh, we only made a limited number of those, and it was first available on the day that only TCA members are allowed at the meet (plausible, if they offer any explanation other than just "we are out of them")
  • The public decides they don't want to miss out on such things in the future, so they join TCA so they can attend on Thursday next time and have a shot at getting a car. (I know this is where it got far-fetched and not likely)

 

Or they decide that they were scammed and vow never to have anything to do with trains again. I think this is the more likely scenario.  This will happen even if they hold the cars until Friday.

Brings back memories of a sale that a local department store had in the 1970's. There were a limited number of 8551 Pennsy electrics available at each store.
Folks were crowded around the doors, waiting for the store to open. When the doors were unlocked, people ran to the toy department and fought over the locos. One guy threatened to shoot another who grabbed a whole carton. The store folks brought out cartons of Preamble express locos to quiet the crowd.
I was just a kid, but I got one of each.

C W Burfle posted:
...........Or they decide that they were scammed and vow never to have anything to do with trains again. I think this is the more likely scenario.  This will happen even if they hold the cars until Friday..........

I concur. 

My 1st post in this thread regarding people being upset when they can't get one is more where my true thoughts are. 

If actual new memberships were generated, any that continued past one year would probably be in spite of this, not because of this. 

Slightly off the topic, but in my slightly non-scientific analysis of the number of TCA memberships that have been processed over the years since I joined, it's not getting people to sign up initially that is the problem, it's retaining them (or it's a combination of that and the age demographic  - discussed in many other places).  The number of memberships 20 years ago was somewhere between 45-46,000 (TCA itself was just around 43 years old).  20 years later we are somewhere in the vicinity of 72,000 with the TCA just over 60 years old.  Call that 26,000 new memberships an average of 1300 new memberships per year over 20 years.  Contrasted to 46,000 over 43 years, and it's roughly 1070 per year for the 1st 43 years.

I was just trying to dream up some scenario that could end up as a positive in the long run, but I agree the odds of it playing out that way are very slim.

-Dave

Last edited by Dave45681

If indeed Lionel is trying to increase TCA membership, and I am not saying that is the case but it is an interesting theory, how about this for an idea: Why produce a special York TCA boxcar and give them away for FREE to anyone who joins the TCA at the meet? Maybe make 25 boxcars and if they don't all go they could always save them for the next meet. The person who just joined would certainly have a good feeling about Lionel, model trains, and the TCA and they would have a Bona Fide collectors item/souvenir. I think it would be a win/win situation in the end. 

Dave45681 posted:

Imagine:

  • The cars sell out on Thursday (easy to imagine)
  • The public comes in on Friday and asks Lionel reps about the car (a certainty if it was prominently on their Facebook page)
  • Lionel states, oh, we only made a limited number of those, and it was first available on the day that only TCA members are allowed at the meet (plausible, if they offer any explanation other than just "we are out of them")
  • BUT, if you still want one, you can find them today on member tables at twice the original price in the White or Red halls.
  • The public decides they don't want to miss out on such things in the future, so they join TCA so they can attend on Thursday next time and have a shot at getting a car. (I know this is where it got far-fetched and not likely)

 

I can dream right?  If it plays out, people can stop saying Lionel didn't do enough to promote the public admittance and encourage future membership in the TCA.

-Dave

Thought I'd add an additional bullet point .

joe   

Last edited by JC642

The York boxcar/ show mention on Lionel's facebook page is drifting down as it ages. The emphasis seems to be a drawing to win a Wonder Woman boxcar.

On the positive side: there was also mention of the York meet being open to the public in their posting of information on SD60M pre-production samples.

As an Eastern Division member, I thank Lionel for the mentions.

Last edited by C W Burfle
MartyE posted:

And I thought I lived a miserable existence...  all this over a nice box car.  When and if we do a Legacy Users Group car I'll have to remember this thread.

As long as a potential LUG car isn't made in unrealistically low proportion to the number of interested attendees/purchasers, it would not be a problem.  Assuming something on the order of 40-50 regular participants in the LUG meeting (correct me if I'm way off), we could maybe realistically say only half might be interested based on the collector vs. operator dynamic.  You wouldn't make 2 cars for an estimated demand of maybe 20-25.  That is effectively what Lionel is doing proportionally here.

-Dave

Dave45681 posted:
MartyE posted:

And I thought I lived a miserable existence...  all this over a nice box car.  When and if we do a Legacy Users Group car I'll have to remember this thread.

As long as a potential LUG car isn't made in unrealistically low proportion to the number of interested attendees/purchasers, it would not be a problem.  Assuming something on the order of 40-50 regular participants in the LUG meeting (correct me if I'm way off), we could maybe realistically say only half might be interested based on the collector vs. operator dynamic.  You wouldn't make 2 cars for an estimated demand of maybe 20-25.  That is effectively what Lionel is doing proportionally here.

-Dave

I'll making 4.  Just to see the outcry.  Sell 1 and then put the rest on sale for 152ef26131dbc6540a968b6688cde3ae_one-million-dollars-639omkjpg-dr-evil-one-million-dollars-meme_600-311

Let's just say they make 250.  They don't sell all of them.  They end up on dealer's shelves and people complain.

They make 50.  They sell them all.  People complain.

They give them away.  "I can't make it York"  People complain.

They didn't donate the money.  People complain.

I'd hate to be any of these companies.  You can't please everyone...problem is those who are pleased are usually the ones that remain silent.

Sure I get it.  It's a low number of cars.  Chances are many will be left without them, many expressed they don't care, it's life.  I just don't see it worthy of soon to be 3 pages of wadded underwear crisis. 

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MartyE posted:

And I thought I lived a miserable existence...  all this over a nice box car.  When and if we do a Legacy Users Group car I'll have to remember this thread.

Yes, and make sure you only release 20 of them... to the first 20 people that show up. Don't list the price, and sell them out 24 hours earlier to dealers only... yep. Oh and charge more for your autograph....

I think I see a set of rare Detroit 3 Railers cars coming out soon maybe 10... with my signature on it.

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