I have a question that I have been curious about. What are the TOP 5 NEW ENGINES (electric, steam or diesel), that Lionel issued during the first 25 years of the modern era?
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Some candidates:
The U-Boats, first all-new Diesel since the '50s.
The NYC 4-8-2s and their derivatives.
The Southern 2-8-2 and its derivatives.
palallin posted:Some candidates:
The U-Boats, first all-new Diesel since the '50s.
Really, anyone have scale subs on their layout, would love to see pics, another cool idea for those that have room for it.
SD40s
Well, define "NEW"! Lionel made a point of doing a lot with their existing tooling. If new means all new tooling, there really aren't that many: SD40s, Reading T1, imported Mikados, scale PAs, WM Shay, scale Turbine. About all that comes to mind.
Lots of other engines were mostly-new, using new bodies on chassis from prior releases. Others were tried and true tooling with new paint and new roadnames.
Well, the scale Hudson 1-700 would be in the top 5.
And from the chit-chat on this board over the years, the 8206 4-6-4 seems popular. Not a 'new' engine per say however.
I am sort of confused, 1970-1995?, my thoughts would be, modern era, MPC???, Then The Richard Kuhn ERA???, Then the war between the Companies, LIONEL VS MTH, Resulting in the Hobby becoming flooded with lots of new trains, could easily be extended through today. My thinking that 1994—The beginning of Command Control, Century Club—And the beat goes On....The move to more demand for The Scale Look, seems to be Modern. Sorry, post war ended in 1969. This is why, the rest is in my thinking, modern era....Great Thread...
nickaix posted:Well, define "NEW"! Lionel made a point of doing a lot with their existing tooling. If new means all new tooling, there really aren't that many: SD40s, Reading T1, imported Mikados, scale PAs, WM Shay, scale Turbine. About all that comes to mind.
Lots of other engines were mostly-new, using new bodies on chassis from prior releases. Others were tried and true tooling with new paint and new roadnames.
Those came to mind for me too. IMO, I'd suggest the Shay overall as most likely the most complex in terms of doing something totally new (mechanical complexity) over that time period.
Now they are commonly done of course, but that first one I'd consider a big deal (for the Lionel product line at least) I'm guessing there might have previously been a Shay model from some high end brand I'm not aware of (maybe Kohs?).
-Dave
Many instances of success in this era was reissues and remakes of classic items for a new generation like the scale Hudson and B-6 switcher.
But for the new, there is a lot to take note of. The SD40's and Dash 8's I'd put high in the diesel category as they set the benchmark for Lionel to continue making scale sized modern diesels and keep making them more and more detailed. Though the ALCO PA's also gained such a huge success that Lionel is still making them today.
In the steam side, the Mikados were the first high end steam locomotives to use the new maintenance free DC can motor instead of the AC Pullmor, but we still had some other great, highly detailed models like the Shay, scale Turbine, T-1's, Mohawks, and the C&O Yellowbelly Hudson come out as well.
As for electrics, the MU commuter cars (that first arrived in 1991) are some very underrated items that I think Lionel should make more varieties of today.
U boats & SD40 for new, and sold a ton. Scale Hudson & Shay, wow. Mikes.
But I like my Chrome Generals best and the reintroduction of the GG-1 was pretty huge too. We went from no GG1 made to many in no time it seemed.
Right in the beginning, 1970, Lionel had a new motor for their diesels. It originally came with scout style pickup rollers, built right into the power truck, which proved to be problematic. They were replaced around 1972.
I just checked the catalogs. The first new diesel locomotive was a GP-20, introduced in 1973. It was a 8352 Santa Fe. The U-boats were introduced in 1974. The first one was the 8470 Chessie System U36B.
I purchased the 8470 because it was the first one, but for some reason I did not purchase the GP-20.
I am not certain whether one or both were written up in the train magazine I was reading at the time. A new loco type was a big deal. Over the years I switched between MR and RMC. I think it would have been RMC at the time.
Lionel actually put out more new engines than I thought. I think this list is correct: GP20, U36B, SD18, Sd9, SD24, SD28, SD40, 4-8-4 Northern#6-18001, Dash8,SD18,GP38, C&O Yellow Belly and these: Reading T-1, Pennsy S-2 Scale Turbine, MU Commuters, NYC L-3a Mohawk, Southern Mikado, WM Shay, Scale PA-1 ABA.
I left out the reissued Hudsons & B-6 Switcher.
Out of the first part of the list people mentioned the U-Boat, GP20 and the SD40.
Everything in the second part of the list was mentioned at least once. What does that prove? Nothing probably. It is interesting to note that everything in the second part of the list was produced by a sub contractor of Lionel called: MTH. Small world!
