Lionel Trains Announces Norfolk Southern Commemorative Heritage Series

Well that didn't take LIONEL very long to do!  I have always wanted a modern diesel like the SD70ACe, plus I love Lackawanna.  Gonna kill 2 birds with one metaphor.

Gentlemen... Start your wallets!   

 

Rusty

 

I think I'm going to pee my pants

 

I thought this was actually a case where Lionel built the models first and NS decided to follow up by building the real thing. Think of how confusing this is going to be for the next generation of O-guagers to figure out in 20-30 years..."was this one part of Lionel's first Heritage Series of imaginary engines or the second Heritage Series that consisted of real engines?"

lets see who can "collect them all" haha

This certainly will move some product for Lionel.

Simple:

 

There WILL be prototype locomotive images of the of the actual NS units.

 

There will NOT be prototype locomotive images of the Lionel fantasy versions.

 

Unless, the future O Gaugers will be too lazy to google/bing/yahoo/whatever the Norfolk Southern.

 

Rusty

Pity the dealers that still have the fantasy heritage engines in stock. They're going to have to do some serious discounting to sell them.

 

Ken

I wonder if the ES44's will be the die-cast "vision line"-esque ES44's or if Lionel will go cheap and go back to plastic for these. I hope they stick with the die-cast versions, personally.

Well, lets see now...  Even "cheap" plastic, the 8 ES44's loco's will probably MSRP out at $4399.92 total, barring any price increases over the release span.  It'll be about $9899.82 MSRP for all 18.

 

You're street price may vary, state and local takes etc...

 

Hope they don't release them all at once!

Rusty

This is fantastic news.....................................Thanks Lionel!!!

 

Regards,

Swafford

Seriously, I hope this isnt all at once. Not that I would even consider buying them all, I'm sure some of you will do it... and thats a pretty good chunk of change. I'm sure MTH will be following with a similar announcement in due course and there'll be plenty of these to go around and sell like hot cakes.

Link to the NS renderings

 

http://www.nscorp.com/nscporta...heritage_images.html

 

I would have preferred the earlier red Norfolk and Western with the Script logo like the original Geeps but...  

 

I'm really happy with the original NS red and yellow.

 

Richard

Frank call that artist fellow up and tell him you will help him out.

 

Thank you Rich!

 

Thank you Lionel.

 

Thank God I have a job to pay for all these roads that I have to have. PRR, Reading, NS, Southern,...

Ditto !!!  Time to start doubling down on those Powerball tickets!!  

 

- Mike

I don't intend to buy one/any, but those can be famous last words. I do steam and
electric, mostly, and I would like to get the gumption up to sell most of my diesels.

But I'm really going to look at the NYC SD70; prefer GE, and not hot for lightning
stripes, but NYC always makes my ears perk up. Dummies, I hope?

No Penn Central?

 I'm sure MTH will be following with a similar announcement in due course and there'll be plenty of these to go around and sell like hot cakes.

 

Also announced today (see my thread). After the NS made their press release Andy got on the phone.

and another shocker...   

 

If NS is licensing these models, Lionel may have an "exclusive"

Well maybe MTH can do that TRAXX engine up in all those road names instead. Kidding, just kidding.

Seriously, I am not sure They need to have license to do those, remember UP.

This is going to be a neat series.  I am looking forward to seeing this in the catalog.

I really hope they can run on o-31...or at least fastrack. 

Can the production line for Lionel actually produce more than 6 paint schemes on anything in a year?

 

Andrew

 

Falcon Service

Do any manufacturers use plastic on diesels, or just Lionel? I don't have many modern trains, but many of the photos I see on the forum and items I see in the hobby shop look like plastic shells for diesels. Are all the manufacturers making diesels in die cast now?

 

Die-Cast Zinc or Aluminum bodies were something the management at Lionel introduced just for the VISION Line.

 

Andrew

lets just hope it works out of the box, and stays running after 15 minutes......

Thanks for the clarification. I didn't understand the comment about Lionel "going cheap" by using plastic, because I thought all the manufacturers/importers use  plastic for diesel shells. I assume Atlas - which appears to be consistently praised for high quality uses plastic?

 

I wonder what my Wife will say when I tell her about this news?

The funny thing is, metal vs. plastic in model railroading is not a new debate.  I remember it going on the the early 1960's...

 

Plastics and metal alloys have both come a long way since then.

 

Rusty

"""Plastics and metal alloys have both come a long way since then.""

 

Strolling through my LHS a few weeks ago I came across the new SF AC6000 in the big display case. Never really got a good look at one till then. Really surprised at how far Lionel has come with add on details on ABS shells.. No gaps, open venting throughout, even the plow had add on railings applied..  What a sleeper with spectacular sound to boot.  This engine is just beautiful inside & out.  No need for diecast shells when ABS looks this good at less cost..

Joe

Am I missing something, Are both Lionel and MTH both offering their own NS Heritage Series?

This is Lionels announcement and a a couple of days ago MTH had their announcement.

 

Give me a clue someone.

Yes both are going to have their own versions, guess neither one got an exclusive license

GREAT!!!

N & S they are adding a Penn Central

http://www.nscorp.com/nscporta...ritage_roll_out.html

It is now time for LIONEL to produce a LIONMASTER version of an exact replica of the GE ES44AC Locomotives that Norfolk Southern is taking delivery of for this new order. It would offer the model railroad operators a lower priced alternative to the VISION line version of the older GE ES44AC models.

 

Andrew

 

Falcon Service

This isall very cool

Harold

This type of product run is a good thing for not just the people in the hobby, but the 1:1 industry in general.

Hopefully it will draw alot of public attention to rail transportation and we the hobbyist will get to enjoy alot of cool new products.

 

Thanks Lionel, this is a good move.

 

Mario E.