Lionel N&W passenger set reports

ETA Tuesday. Will post when received. Someone said Eric has his. Maybe he will do a review soon.

The engine will be fine, I have the 612 and it runs and sounds great. The passenger cars are another story, will they be very nice or be like the just released CZ Passenger cars. We will know shortly. 

I thought you would be talking about the new MTH N&W passenger cars:

They should look great with the MTH E-8's (or my N&W F7's).

Scott Smith

The set is sitting on the upper track of Eric's layout on his Webcam in his main Room.  I saw him ran it late Friday night.  It sounds good and looks like a nice set.  The Passenger cars look similar to prior lease of the set.  You can see it here....  https://www.dropcam.com/p/ciULzM

Here is short video clip from Eric's Facebook page of his Pocahontas set that he recorded today.

https://www.facebook.com/video...p;type=2&theater

Well I see the windows are still "stuck to the outsides of the cars"!

Lionel should have known to fix those windows. I am now so happy with my GGD reservation for the Powhatan Arrow cars...

Gilly

I have been waiting on this set for a Long a Time. I get the 611 Engine, and someone else gets the Passenger set. I have an MTH 9 car NORFOLK AND WESTERN Passenger set to pull behind this Legacy Locomotive.  I hope it runs good out if the box. Hopefully I will get this in the next two weeks....Hapoy Railroading..

Jack, they're not stuck on the outside....that's BULLET PROOF glass, that's why they're so thick   (I guess they don't read everything on this forum)

I will say they look very nice (other than the protruding window glass) and the "J" looks great too

If they were mine I'd simply replace them with thin, clear window strips on the inside.

Very cool looking set.....sounds beautiful.....

Peter

Begs the question... which passenger car tooling will become the standard?

The new 21 inch tooling, plastic with looks to be flush windows?

The Aluminum 18 inch cars with exterior glass?

Who will reproduce the 21/18 inch Aluminum K line cars?

John, my take is when the inventory of aluminum shells runs out for Lionel's 18" cars, that's it. I further believe based upon what I was told that aluminum is not longer a competitive product for Lionel. I think you will see new tooling in plastic for their 18" cars.

It appears that GGD will be the only game in town when it comes to aluminum Lightweight passenger cars and they will only be done in scale 21".

I am looking forward to seeing the Pevler blue cars. MTH got that color right on the ES44AC Heritage locomotive.

Gilly

What a waste of good aluminum.

And, I'll go to my grave before I buy anything N&W painted "Pevler Blue"!

Here's hoping that enough of you order the GGD Arrow set so they don't get canceled! 

Big Jim wants 3 sets of the Lionel's.  LOL!  You were the first person I thought of when I saw Eric's video.  I would have to agree, by now they should have been mounted flush.

The real question... Who will make the Lionel 18" aluminum cars??? 

It's a very confusing state of affairs right now.  Some 18" sets already catalog'd have been canceled already.  Others may still be cancelled.  And yet more 18" aluminum sets were catalog'd in the 2015 Signature Catalog?    Doesn't make much sense at all.  And then when you look at the new 21" Lionel (plastic) passenger cars catalog'd in the 2015 Signature Catalog, the first roadnames to be produced are also still on Lionel's production schedule for 18" aluminum.  Why would Lionel produce both an 18" set and 21" set in the same roadname?  

As it stands now, some of us have an 18" aluminum Texas Special set "on pre-order" (as three 2-packs).  Will we get that set? Or will we need to pre-order the 21" version instead?  If the 18" set doesn't arrive by April 2015 (the current ETA), how long do we wait before we know it's not gonna happen?

Many more questions than we have answers right now.  Seems all we can do is wait out the uncertainty... and see which products arrive off the boat.  Some days, you can't help but wonder if Lionel Stateside even knows which products are gonna ship from China.    Gotta be frustrating for them too.

David

David, I have posted this before but perhaps you missed it. According to the gentleman from Lionel who I have known for a long time, some of the previously catalogued 18" aluminum sets have been or will be cancelled. Lionel has gone to plastic for better reliability from suppliers and to stay competitive. My guess is they will exhaust their exiting inventory of aluminum shells (for previously catalogued items) and then go to all new tooling for their 18" line of passenger cars.

You may be better served to contact Lionel directly if this is a burning question for you. They are pretty good about giving direct answers.   

It appears that GGD will be the only game in town

Not quite but very close.

OK Engines still offers aluminum body shells, kits too but they're very plain.  I have 3 of the shells and made my own floors and ends, bought/made interiors, and bought trucks and Kadee couplers.  IMO finding the correct trucks is the hardest part.

And after all that my efforts still don't compare to anything out there that's manufactured.  I have some Weaver aluminum cars, but all others are plastic.  I even have an All-Nation OBS car that's metal, wood, and plastic!

I'm still kind of intimidated by all that metal on those aluminum cars running around the layout with the chance of it shorting out.  I'm a big fan of using plastic.

(my dad used to say he'd never buy a car if it had any plastic on it, preferred those old, heavy Buicks and Cadillacs.  Guess what...he never owned a new car!!!)

I have several sets of MTH 18" aluminum cars (from about 1996 - 1997 -- they made twelve of these in all).  Even with silhouettes, I prefer those cars to the later MTH 18" ACF plastic cars.  There is just something about the look and feel of aluminum that I like.  With K-line, GGD, and Lionel (up until now), one could get the best of both worlds.  I especially have trouble with plastic painted silver.

Finally, after years and thousands of miles...

"Grandaddy I can't come open the train. I am throwing up. Please wait for me."

Bill,

Post some photos when you can!

I tend to agree. Even when painted, I like the aluminum, and with stainless cars like Santa Fe, metal cars can't be beat.

PTC, yes... I am aware of that, but that's a fairly general direction.  Even Mike Reagan's comments on Derek's podcast were understandably somewhat general in nature.  But more specifics sooner rather than later will help us make better informed buying decisions. 

I'm actually awaiting a response from Lionel as we speak.  I've asked for specific info beyond the general statements that have been made thus far -- with particular interest in the 18" aluminum Texas Special set, which I think is the next aluminum passenger set due to arrive Stateside.  It will be interesting to see if Lionel provides any more detailed info aside from directing me to my favorite document, the online shipping schedule. 

I will share whatever information I can, when I receive Lionel's response.

David

P.S.  FWIW, I just checked the website shipping schedule again, and I now see that FIVE passenger car roadnames have product due to ship in March 2015 (which typically implies arrival at Lionel direct dealers in early April):  Southern, C&O, Wabash, Rock Island, and MKT.  Unfortunately, both the Southern and C&O still have product listed for January 2015 and November 2014, respectively... which have now come and gone without delivery.  So it's anyone's guess whether any of these items will ship in March 2015 either.  Should be interesting to hear Lionel's response. 

My preorder is "in" for the GGD set and FWIW, I didn't order the MTH Pevler Blue set. I do concur with your position regarding owning Pevler Blue. I personally have extended that to all things "Southern" and NS as well.

As for "seeing it", well lets see if MTH gets the color right...

Gilly

I received an email response bright and early this morning from Lionel customer service.  Excellent response time... and very professional and polite.

I was told that it appears the 18" MKT Texas Special aluminum cars have NOT been cancelled and are still on the shipping schedule for a March 2015 shipment.  So... I guess we'll wait to see what actually happens.  I just hope the answer I was given wasn't based SOLELY on the fact that those items are still on the shipping schedule.  Confidence factor isn't all that high regarding that document, if you know what I mean. 

A lot of 18" cars are still on the shipping schedule for delivery his year, so it will be interesting to see which -- if any -- aluminum cars will be cancelled.  I suspect Lionel will likely communicate something to their dealer network before they address the issue to consumers directly.  Just seems to be the way it's done.  

David

I find it odd Lionel would not continue to produce more 18 inch Aluminum cars. There is still a market for them... just watch them go on the bay.

And if I can set up two facilities that can produce 2 different Products at a press of a button and alter my releases wouldn't I?

I like the 18 inch cars. They look great on 072, and though their windows are glued in on the wrong side, they are proportional in size to the cars, so the over all cars look right. The trucks, details and end diaphragms are stellar...

just have to take the gap up a bit...

It was stated that extrusion difficulties produced defects that couldn't be polished out on aluminum shells.  That's the reason for the painted CZ cars already released.  Their knee jerk reaction was to go plastic in the future rather than find a proficient manufacturer of aluminum shells.

Nobody mentions the delay on 15" aluminum cars too.  I ordered a Pennsy 2 pack equipped with station sounds and Mr. Young's signature on them.

Bruce

Bruce, you bring up a good, often overlooked point. Where are those 15" cars? It is safe to assume that they, too, got caught up in the aluminum debacle.

Secondly, the Neil Young series seemed promising. Although I was not taken by the introduction pieces, my mind wandered to the possibilities of future releases. Maybe the sales weren't there, etc. But, what a bummer that the series died as did many other initiatives, or, in fact, other awesome series died that abruptly ended, or ended before they "played out."