Lionel website got a facelift

Some one can make all the fancy graphics and how to pics but that doesn't excuse the fact that the website took a step back for ease of use.  Bottom line is one shouldn't need the tutorial to use a website. 

Again I held out hope early on that it would improve.  It really never did.  I'm happy to see Howard respond.  Hopefully with a small amount of work no one will have to rely on the forum to find what they are looking for on the Lionel site other than an obscure part.

We appreciate  the feedback on the new Lionel.com.  We were able to address the technical issue that resulted in some products appearing to have a blank page.

As the site continues to grow, we are continuously making improvements. It is important to us to make the site informative for all, so please continue to share your thoughts on your experience.  We will take them into consideration as we update the site.

Bring back the archive catalogs, from 2000-to present.  Thank you.  It is easier to find a product number, when purchasing parts if you have the older catalog.

Ditto. Loved looking at the old catalogs.

Don't recall whether I've written this before: I wish Lionel had an option to filter parts searches so only available items would be shown. It would help when I am browsing to put together an order.

There you go. Thanks, Lionel.

Every Lionel Catalog is available in a digital format.

     This company is hooked up to Lionel. they must have the contract to sell the digital catalogs & covers. Below is a sample of what they have, click this link to see what they have and price structure.

http://www.hslinc.com/dahome/dalionelhome.html

Gary - Cheers from The Detroit and Mackinac Railway - "A Toy Train Layout"

   Click screenshot to enlarge.

I thought the new Lionel management didn't renew the "partnership contract" with HSL, Inc.

The link you posted is an orphan link from HSL's earlier website.  If you visit the home page first, you'll see there's no path that gets you to that page anymore.  I purchased the product before the license expired.  Excellent piece of work, and I can't imagine why Lionel's new management didn't renew the contract if they weren't going to provide a similar product going forward.  

David

Lionel's old catalogs being on their site = free!

In no way a slam on HSL, I have some of the CDs.  They're great.

Please add prior to 2010 catalogs to the site.

The link you posted is an orphan link from HSL's earlier website.  If you visit the home page first, you'll see there's no path that gets you to that page anymore.  I purchased the product before the license expired.  Excellent piece of work, and I can't imagine why Lionel's new management didn't renew the contract if they weren't going to provide a similar product going forward.  

 

David

Hi David - It my understanding HSL is trying to get a direct download deal - "PDF"

     DVD's & CD's are old technology. This seems to be a long shot.

     I am going to call them, to see what is up.

Gary - Cheers from The Detroit and Mackinac Railway - "A Toy Train Layout"

C.W. Burfle,

You will be excited to know that NOTHING has changed in regards to the Parts pages. To sort through parts you simply need to do the following;

If you are looking for a part and you don't need the exploded view part list change the first drop down box to "Replacement Part Number or Name". Then you can type either the part number OR the product description. There is one final drop down box that will help you sort parts;

"Beginning of word" first 3 numbers of the part number or first word of product description

"Any Part of Word" middle 4 numbers of the part number

"End of Word" last 3 number for the part number (such as 206 for traction tires, 300 for lamps, 536 for speakers, etc.).

If you need an exploded view diagram, leave the first drop down box set to "Product number or name". If you have the product number type in 6-##### and the product will come up. If you don't have the product number type in the number sign (#) then the cab number (i.e. #2010 or #611) The 6- numbers will appear and select which list you need. 

Same as it has been for the last 7 years!

Thanks,

Mike

quote:

You will be excited to know that NOTHING has changed in regards to the Parts pages. To sort through parts you simply need to do the following;

Thanks, I think I am fairly familiar with the parts site.

Perhaps I wasn't clear about my suggestion. It would be great to be able to filter the results so only parts that are available are displayed.
When putting together an order, it isn't particularly helpful to search for "brushes" and get results including items that cannot be ordered. I don't even want to know that North Lima Trainworks has the part, because I cannot order the part right now.

Maybe the a filter could allow the user to select "in stock", "in stock or available at North Lima Trainworks", or "ALL"

Thank you for the reply.

I do use the web site, and order parts from time to time.
This is just a suggestion, not a complaint.

Originally Posted by Rocky Mountaineer:

The link you posted is an orphan link from HSL's earlier website.  If you visit the home page first, you'll see there's no path that gets you to that page anymore.  I purchased the product before the license expired.  Excellent piece of work, and I can't imagine why Lionel's new management didn't renew the contract if they weren't going to provide a similar product going forward.  

 

David

Hi David - It my understanding HSL is trying to get a direct download deal - "PDF"

     DVD's & CD's are old technology. This seems to be a long shot.

     I am going to call them, to see what is up.

Gary - Cheers from The Detroit and Mackinac Railway - "A Toy Train Layout"

Hi David

     John from HSL - Just returned my phone call, "and there is no deal with Lionel in the works but Never say Never"

     With this out, I would like to see Lionel place all their catalogs back on the New Website from about 1900 to 2015.  The digital information is out there someplace, this would be very helpful information.

PS. John has a model train layout, he is one of us.

Gary

• Cheers from The Detroit and Mackinac Railway - "A Toy Train Layout"

The functionality may be the same or similar, but it definitely did change in that previously found items/info that may have been bookmarked by the viewer no longer work.

I know the response will be that that's not a good way for me to save stuff, but it was far less aggravating when a single item may disappear (and I'm not sure I ever had a problem in the past), vs. the day the site changed an now none of my old bookmarked pages for parts lists or diagrams for items I own are valid.  (like others have mentioned, I was doing this to keep a rough  estimate of various things I might need until it made sense to place an order, rather than 15 separate orders for a light bulb, traction tire, etc).

-Dave

I sort of made the assumption when Lionel terminated the previous agreement/contract/whatever with HSL it was because Lionel was going to enter that realm themselves for some reason.

If that does end up being the case, they sure are being slow about introducing a new product, but have succeeded at deleting a large part of their own decent collection of archived at the moment.

-Dave

I would also like to see the catalogs returned to at least their former state, going back to 2000. Adding more would be even better, going back as far as they can, if that would even be possible. Especially now since John at HSL is no longer producing the DVD's of the older catalogs.

IMO, a separate 'Catalogs' button on the front page could certainly be justified. Put it right up there with the 'Products', 'Getting Started', 'Hobbyists' and 'find A Dealer' buttons or even over with the "Support' and 'Lionel Store' buttons. The catalogs are an excellent reference to the Lionel products and very important to many of us. They are also what many of us use to make our purchasing decisions.  

And Thank You to Lionel and all the Lionel staff for taking an interest in this and listening to us.

Lionel has heard us, they are working on the site. It will improve. Some of the links have changed. If you spend some time on it, you can find what you need. Not simple at first, but you can find part, find catalogs, look up items. 

Just give it some time and let them work the kinks out. At least they are listening which is more then most companies do.

K

I'm reposting this in the hope that Lionel guys might see it...

"

AGAIN! I have spent 20 minutes on a laptop searching Lionel's website looking for the link to the LSU and Legacy upgrades. I knew it was here on this thread, but thought I would see if Lionel has updated their awful website and search engines.

I cannot think of more powerful words to express my disappointment of a major corporation with such an ineffective website and broken links to their most innovative product technology.

How about it Lionel?"

Go to "Support" then go to service documents then in the search bar enter the Legacy 990 item number  6-14295

Lionel legacy upgrades

While Matt does have the correct path, it needs to be an easier find. With the Lionel Site Manager here now I suspect these things will get worked out eventually. 

Right. My point exactly.

Search for Legacy Update brings up nothing. LSU brings up nothing. Legacy System brings up nothing. Legacy brings up everything but the Legacy System and Updates. And if you go to the Get Started and bring up the Legacy Product page, the link to more information on LSU brings up "It looks like you are headed the wrong way"

It's been a couple of months now, time to fix it.

You copied and pasted too quick, I had the wrong item number in there. Check again, its 6-14295

Plus I added the direct link to such a place where all your dreams of Legacy software come true

Thanks Matt. I knew it was there somewhere, and I've been on the right link in the past. My point is that we shouldn't have to rely on the OGR Forum to remind us what the secret word is to put in Lionel Search to find the link again after we have slept.

While we are looking for things, anyone know how to find the ship date for the 6-22983 PH-180s? I found the shipping list, but can't figure out how to search it? Search for shipping date appears to be gone? The list appears to be in numerical order, but the 6-22983 is not listed that I can see? Using the search from the menu bar (magnifying glass icon) produces only the product page.  

Not to beat a dead horse -- I'll do it anyway  -- but the Lionel Shipping Schedule is pretty much a non-starter. Even when it was easily visible on the web site it was not very accurate.

Better idea. I always use Charles Ro's site as the best barometer for Lionel shipping. He's usually very close to true dates. For the 6-22983's, he's showing 12/10/15.

I've noticed that Lionel doesn seem to have anyone is charge of keeping their website up to date. Or maybe it just seems that way.

This is good. Using the # in front of a cab number is something I missed seeing on the parts page or it's not mentioned there. I would be good to have these tips on the parts search page.

Maybe it's time to fix that along with the website. We can only hope.

As noted, many products have supporting documents and files available on www.lionelsupport.com. Support is accessible by clicking on the button at the top right of any page or from the support section at the bottom of any detailed product page. In an effort to make some files more readily available, as with 6-14295, direct access to some files have been added to product page.

Changes may be subtle, but we are working towards a user friendly informative site.  Please note as the technology differs between the previous and new site it will take time to incorporate historical information.    

Happy Thanksgiving!

Another suggestion: If there is a link FROM www.lionelsupport.com to the main Lionel site, I cannot find it. A link to the main site would be helpful.

Why the site looks cool, navigating it is difficult to say the least.

If you find one, let me know. Splitting the site into two seperate URL's makes navigating around a real pain in the posterior. I was back and forth all the time between the 'Support' info and 'Main' page on the old site. Now I have to open seperate tabs and switch back and forth. Not user friendly at all.

Thanks for the encouraging post. Lionel holds a fond and historical place in my life and if I'm demanding and critical, it's because I love you.