New Lionel Catalog goes “live” Jan 20th

Matt Kramer posted:

NSBill posted:

justin p posted:

I don't get why people like the post-war look, looks toyish to me, but that's just my opinion . Can you guys tell me why you like it? 

I'm 40years old. I think it was during my senior year, that Lionel had announced the Post War Celebration Series. I had really come to enjoy it, and seeing what was in it became a highlight for me. It as an above poster said, reminds me of a simpler time when they didn't have to be so realistic, and all Lionel was made for children. Oh and btw, I'm also into scale models of what you see on the real thing today too. Watching my GG1s, Berks, and F3s rolling past Lionel accessories, and Plasticville buildings is just as exciting as watching my ES44s and AC4400s  pulling scale freight past realistic scenery and buildings.

Bill

I'm 47 and my dad introduced me to Lionel when I was a kid in the 1970s, just like his dad did for him in the 1950s.  I've had a layout set up for the past 5 or six years, but a recent move dictated that I tear it down.  Now that I'm in the new place, it's time to rebuild it.  I was going to go realistic on the scenery on the new layout, but I've decided to change my mind. 

I'm going with a postwar theme on the new layout instead.... My dad collapsed from a stroke this past Christmas morning and passed away the next day.  I think that's the kind of layout he would've loved to see....  and I've always had the itch to build a layout in postwar style.  I love the simplicity.  I've got his original 2245 Texas Special that his dad got him and boxes & boxes of his other stuff that I need to go through....  A lot of boxes that I have no idea what's in them.  This will be interesting.

Matt, I'm so sorry to hear that. You're in my thoughts and prayers. I sincerely hope you can build a layout both you and him would enjoy.

Similar story. My Dad got an American Flyer as a kid. Then when I was little, he dug it out for me, and set it up at Christmas. When I was 8, I got my own Lionel. He likes to joke he didn't know the monster he was creating with that.

Bill

Bryant Dunivan 111417 posted:

2 things that I think regarding this topic.  1 important one is that some of the posters are less than 60.  One in their 40s.  Sounds like youth to me.

The  other.  This topic will get very quiet a few hours after 9.  

I hope everyone here gets what they want here.  Certainly sounds like a lot of exciting offerings.

I am 42!!!!!! 

ZWPOWER13 posted:

Bryant Dunivan 111417 posted:

2 things that I think regarding this topic.  1 important one is that some of the posters are less than 60.  One in their 40s.  Sounds like youth to me.

The  other.  This topic will get very quiet a few hours after 9.  

I hope everyone here gets what they want here.  Certainly sounds like a lot of exciting offerings.

I am 42!!!!!! 

To further fulfill your prediction, I'm only 15 near 16 next month. 

Trainmaster04 posted:

ZWPOWER13 posted:

Bryant Dunivan 111417 posted:

2 things that I think regarding this topic.  1 important one is that some of the posters are less than 60.  One in their 40s.  Sounds like youth to me.

The  other.  This topic will get very quiet a few hours after 9.  

I hope everyone here gets what they want here.  Certainly sounds like a lot of exciting offerings.

I am 42!!!!!! 

To further fulfill your prediction, I'm only 15 near 16 next month. 

24 and in college

Well, now we are just Minutes away from getting to see the new Lionel Catalog. There’s been comments about Why do some of us love PostWar trains, being born in November 1944, yes I’m 75 years young, Lionel and American Flyer were the standard, it was Wonderful getting to play with those trains, no, they didn’t really look real, but Imagination set in, as the trains rolled around the oval carpet, under chairs, behind the Magnavox stereo, it was a Wow. The old saying is, “We’ve Come a Long Way Baby”, and here in 2020, it’s very true. Some like to set a realistic stage, some like the older Postwar stage, it’s Simply what toots your horn. I like a little of both, shaken, not stirred, like Bond, James Bond, he’s fun to watch, but is he for real. I hope everyone can find something in this new and exciting catalog, and no matter how you feel, keep a positive approach because Lionel did a lot of hard work trying to please it’s fans, Old, Young, men and women of all backgrounds. Happy Days are here again. Let’s enjoy this wonderful hobby of Model Railroading.

paigetrain posted:

Trainmaster04 posted:

ZWPOWER13 posted:

Bryant Dunivan 111417 posted:

2 things that I think regarding this topic.  1 important one is that some of the posters are less than 60.  One in their 40s.  Sounds like youth to me.

The  other.  This topic will get very quiet a few hours after 9.  

I hope everyone here gets what they want here.  Certainly sounds like a lot of exciting offerings.

I am 42!!!!!! 

To further fulfill your prediction, I'm only 15 near 16 next month. 

24 and in college

It was nice to see some of you people of earlier age pop up and tell us all you are here.  As this topic is coming to a close, the thought comes to me,  what about this hobby makes it interesting to you?  One of the key challenges as a hobby is, how do we grow?  I think I may start a topic, asking that very question.

For the record, the C&NW Stock Cars and the PE Scale Hobo car are must haves.  I have 6 of the PFE with one having sounds already.  Not sure if I want more.  Looks like I might avoid the "4"  figure club this time.

Anyone have the PDF link? The 3dissue experience thing is taking minutes to flip between pages but the drop down menu doesn't have the traditional PDF download like the other catalogs.

2019 CVII (Download option available):

2020 Big Book (Download option NOT available):

Why am I asking for the PDF? Because the entire catalog shouldn't look like this:

Bryant Dunivan 111417 posted:

paigetrain posted:

Trainmaster04 posted:

ZWPOWER13 posted:

Bryant Dunivan 111417 posted:

2 things that I think regarding this topic.  1 important one is that some of the posters are less than 60.  One in their 40s.  Sounds like youth to me.

The  other.  This topic will get very quiet a few hours after 9.  

I hope everyone here gets what they want here.  Certainly sounds like a lot of exciting offerings.

I am 42!!!!!! 

To further fulfill your prediction, I'm only 15 near 16 next month. 

24 and in college

It was nice to see some of you people of earlier age pop up and tell us all you are here.  As this topic is coming to a close, the thought comes to me,  what about this hobby makes it interesting to you?  One of the key challenges as a hobby is, how do we grow?  I think I may start a topic, asking that very question.

For the record, the C&NW Stock Cars and the PE Scale Hobo car are must haves.  I have 6 of the PFE with one having sounds already.  Not sure if I want more.  Looks like I might avoid the "4"  figure club this time.

I'm 33. I've had a smattering of N, HO and O scale trains growing up. Both my grandpa and great grandpa aided my interest in the hobby. My springboard into all O-scale was when Lionel announced the 21 inch UP passenger cars and VL Challenger. Having had the opportunity to see this excursion in July of 93/94 with my grandpa's made this the go-to set for my collection. 

Jerryc86 posted:

breezinup posted:

GregM posted:

Jerryc86 posted:

GregM posted:

dorfj2 posted:

Any pics of the other LC+2.0 postwar style F-3's anywhere ???

Thx

Link to a picture of the PRR F3 engines.

https://www.thetrainshop.com/i...0-800x600-resize.jpg

I wounder if I can swap with a mpc Tuscan shell???

I wondered the same thing, since Lionel “once again” decided to do PRR F3s in Brunswick Green.  Those of us who have been waiting patiently for over 40 years for updated “postwar style” PRR F3s in Tuscan Red are still waiting.

Another option is to pick up a set of the MPC engines, and any PWC set, and swap shells. Easy to do. You'll have Pullmor motors, but with TMCC, RailSounds, directional lighting, electrocouplers, crew figures, etc., which will definitely give you an updated postwar style PRR F-3 set.

Has anyone ever tryed this???

I've done it on three sets of F-3s. 

I have been trying to find a PDF version of the new catalog.  I've tried various URL's (all of which come back with an error).

The load times for the new catalog in 3D book form are ridiculously slow.  I see the 2020 AF catalog offers the download option, but not the O gauge "Big Book." 

I tried crafting various URLs to in hopes of uncovering the PDF for the Big Book with the same success as you @VinceL...

Can't find pdf version.

I just spent the last 15 mins scrolling through the new catalog, via my laptop connected to my phone (3G service only) using its wireless hotspot.

I only encountered the dreaded "two white pages" once, and they filled in rather quickly (10 secs).  A couple of times I got one white page, and it also filled in rather quickly immediately afterward.  Most of the time both pages loaded fairly quickly (6 or 7 seconds).

Just conjecture, but to those of you having bigger delays maybe this isn't necessarily Lionel's problem.  It could be general network congestion, or even congestion in specific geographic locations due to higher-than-normal requests to load from lionel.com from those locations.

(On the other other hand there are ways that site hosts can anticipate and get around these kinds of problems before a major launch, e.g. parsing incoming requests to multiple servers spread out geographically.  Maybe they only have one server?)

Mike

Too much traffic, wait a little longer and I bet it will load just fine.

Has anybody noticed that the New Burlington Northern beer cars have the correct shade of Cascade Green, yet the Standard O Burlington Northern Modern 50' box cars have the cars in what appears to be a much dark green, just like Great Northern Passenger Car Green.

Andrew

The Centerbeam flat cars and the Bulkhead flat cars are Traditional O gauge in proportions, not Standard O scale.

Andrew

breezinup posted:

Jerryc86 posted:

breezinup posted:

GregM posted:

Jerryc86 posted:

GregM posted:

dorfj2 posted:

Any pics of the other LC+2.0 postwar style F-3's anywhere ???

Thx

Link to a picture of the PRR F3 engines.

https://www.thetrainshop.com/i...0-800x600-resize.jpg

I wounder if I can swap with a mpc Tuscan shell???

I wondered the same thing, since Lionel “once again” decided to do PRR F3s in Brunswick Green.  Those of us who have been waiting patiently for over 40 years for updated “postwar style” PRR F3s in Tuscan Red are still waiting.

Another option is to pick up a set of the MPC engines, and any PWC set, and swap shells. Easy to do. You'll have Pullmor motors, but with TMCC, RailSounds, directional lighting, electrocouplers, crew figures, etc., which will definitely give you an updated postwar style PRR F-3 set.

Has anyone ever tryed this???

I've done it on three sets of F-3s. 

Any issues with the railsounds Being railroad specific? 

"Can't find pdf version."

Intentionally or oversight, it ain't there.  Hopefully will correct that. May be that the catalog is so large that downloading the .pdf would slow things up for everyone?

I was hoping for the Standard O Burlington Northern modern 50' box car to be produced 20 years ago.

Andrew

Looked thru new Lionel catalog.  No Wabash (my favorite) but some interesting stuff.  Will be ordering soon!

guys i'm in serious trouble

yes i was super excited about the LC 2.0 stuff but thats nothing in comparison to how pumped i am for the Area 51 and Star Trek sets. these two resonate with me very deeply especially since i have constant fantasies about aliens, and space travel and wanting to know whats out there. in fact i used to watch star trek a lot when i was little as well as ET and Flight of the Navigator and my layout will be built around such themes. i'm in trouble cuz i don't know what to do as funds and i'd hate to miss out on either of these. i showed them to my godfather and he bolted as soon as i mentioned the price so my chances are slim at best

paigetrain posted:

guys i'm in serious trouble

yes i was super excited about the LC 2.0 stuff but thats nothing in comparison to how pumped i am for the Area 51 and Star Trek sets. these two resonate with me very deeply especially since i have constant fantasies about aliens, and space travel and wanting to know whats out there. in fact i used to watch star trek a lot when i was little as well as ET and Flight of the Navigator and my layout will be built around such themes. i'm in trouble cuz i don't know what to do as funds and i'd hate to miss out on either of these. i showed them to my godfather and he bolted as soon as i mentioned the price so my chances are slim at best

As for you and your Godfather.  Warmup the streaming app and do a binge watch of Star Trek.  You can wear him out.  “Resistance is futile, he will be assimilated.  In Klingon we say ”qapla”.

well golly gee, I can finally see the catalog in pdf, what is wrong with Lionel, don't they know that making it easy to see what they are trying to sell is not the way to go?

verdict for me is some of the $1700 steam locos would have been of interest but after countless problems with locos in the $1000+ price range I will pass and not just Lionel stuff that is bad

Blue coal hoppers would have been a possibility except the loads look so hideous, can you say plastic painted blue? that I will pass on those too.  Why cannot companies spend a little more on loads to make them look realistic?

JPS posted:

well golly gee, I can finally see the catalog in pdf, what is wrong with Lionel, don't they know that making it easy to see what they are trying to sell is not the way to go?

verdict for me is some of the $1700 steam locos would have been of interest but after countless problems with locos in the $1000+ price range I will pass and not just Lionel stuff that is bad

Blue coal hoppers would have been a possibility except the loads look so hideous, can you say plastic painted blue? that I will pass on those too.  Why cannot companies spend a little more on loads to make them look realistic?

I had the same reaction to the color of the blue coal. Can't rely however on the color shown in the catalog. I'll check it out once the cars are delivered to the dealers before potentially buying. Could always sub out the coal with loads from Don Kane, but of course that would be an extra expense.

Pat

Anyone know if the hobo on the scale PE car is removable?

paigetrain posted:

guys i'm in serious trouble

yes i was super excited about the LC 2.0 stuff but thats nothing in comparison to how pumped i am for the Area 51 and Star Trek sets. 

Be aware that those are not LC+2.0 sets - only LC.

VADarthDad posted:

Anyone know if the hobo on the scale PE car is removable?

I get the impression it is not.  The text in the catalog says it is "fixed" to the roof.

paigetrain posted:

guys i'm in serious trouble

yes i was super excited about the LC 2.0 stuff but thats nothing in comparison to how pumped i am for the Area 51 and Star Trek sets. these two resonate with me very deeply especially since i have constant fantasies about aliens, and space travel and wanting to know whats out there. in fact i used to watch star trek a lot when i was little as well as ET and Flight of the Navigator and my layout will be built around such themes. i'm in trouble cuz i don't know what to do as funds and i'd hate to miss out on either of these. i showed them to my godfather and he bolted as soon as i mentioned the price so my chances are slim at best

You need to check out The Expanse.  I have a Rocinate model I intend to hang over the layout!

paigetrain posted:

guys i'm in serious trouble

yes i was super excited about the LC 2.0 stuff but thats nothing in comparison to how pumped i am for the Area 51 and Star Trek sets. these two resonate with me very deeply especially since i have constant fantasies about aliens, and space travel and wanting to know whats out there. in fact i used to watch star trek a lot when i was little as well as ET and Flight of the Navigator and my layout will be built around such themes. i'm in trouble cuz i don't know what to do as funds and i'd hate to miss out on either of these. i showed them to my godfather and he bolted as soon as i mentioned the price so my chances are slim at best

Check all of the train stores that sponsor the Forum for the best prices on the AREA 51 train set. 

The set prices would be much better if you ordered early.

The Star Trek set seems a bit of a stretch compared to the AREA 51 set.

They can build the new SIEMENS CHARGER line of locomotives and use one of those for the motive power of STAR TREK set.

Andrew

As far as the blue coal is concerned, the coal companies would spray the tops of the hopper loads with blue paint to see if anything was pilfered along the way to final delivery. If the coal was black, some of the top layer was illegally removed in travel. When I was a kid we had a coal furnace and didn't realize then why some of the coal lumps had blue paint on them.

CSXJOE posted:

As far as the blue coal is concerned, the coal companies would spray the tops of the hopper loads with blue paint to see if anything was pilfered along the way to final delivery. If the coal was black, some of the top layer was illegally removed in travel. When I was a kid we had a coal furnace and didn't realize then why some of the coal lumps had blue paint on them.

Very interesting. So would it be prototypical to dry brush some blue to the tops of let’s say a WWII or pre-war era coal drag?

Where I grew up, Lehigh & New England territory along with Reading, 'blue coal' was more of a marketing ploy referring to the blue flame that Anthracite coal had while it was slow burning.

I have a few K-Line Keystone Coal die cast hoppers and they tout blue coal on the side and I got rid of the loads they came with and dry brushed some others and they look way better.

CSXJOE posted:

As far as the blue coal is concerned, the coal companies would spray the tops of the hopper loads with blue paint to see if anything was pilfered along the way to final delivery. If the coal was black, some of the top layer was illegally removed in travel. When I was a kid we had a coal furnace and didn't realize then why some of the coal lumps had blue paint on them.

Not anywhere around here did they do that. Heck, they probably lost more to being blown off in transit than they did having it stolen.

Lionel asked me to pass this along as a reminder.....

Apparently, they are so occupied with the catalog release that they have neglected to turn the phones back on.  when I call the Service Dept--been trying to get hold of them for weeks--the message says that they are closed to allow their employees to attend a vital meeting and will reopen on Jan 21st.  Now, I know that NC is in a different Time Zone than MO, but I didn't realize NC is also in a different CALENDAR Zone.

C'mon, guys:  let's get your act together, huh??  I place this post here and on another thread in hopes that Dave (or Ryan or somebody) will see it.  Trying to contact them directly ain't working.

palallin posted:

Apparently, they are so occupied with the catalog release that they have neglected to turn the phones back on.  when I call the Service Dept--been trying to get hold of them for weeks--the message says that they are closed to allow their employees to attend a vital meeting and will reopen on Jan 21st.  Now, I know that NC is in a different Time Zone than MO, but I didn't realize NC is also in a different CALENDAR Zone.

C'mon, guys:  let's get your act together, huh??  I place this post here and on another thread in hopes that Dave (or Ryan or somebody) will see it.  Trying to contact them directly ain't working.

Just FYI, I called yesterday and after waiting it kicked me to a leave a message but the message box was full.   I called again today and after holding which is not unusual I was connected and able to get through.   Did not get the message you noted but after a couple of attempts I was able to speak to customer service.  

Unfortunately, for any business, Customer Service is a cost center and thus minimized, even to dissatisfying service levels - they already got your money and competition is few, and the losses of customers who are voting with their wallets do not overcome the costs of improved customer service. It sucks, but that is what it likely boils down to.

paigetrain posted:

guys i'm in serious trouble

yes i was super excited about the LC 2.0 stuff but thats nothing in comparison to how pumped i am for the Area 51 and Star Trek sets. these two resonate with me very deeply especially since i have constant fantasies about aliens, and space travel and wanting to know whats out there. in fact i used to watch star trek a lot when i was little as well as ET and Flight of the Navigator and my layout will be built around such themes. i'm in trouble cuz i don't know what to do as funds and i'd hate to miss out on either of these. i showed them to my godfather and he bolted as soon as i mentioned the price so my chances are slim at best

A way to make money quickly would be to donate blood plasma. 

You could work at an injection molding production and assembly company.

Andrew

Lots of stuff to choose from, but What’s with the horrible pictures of the vision stuff?  They look like clip art pasted on old photographs or something.  Impossible to see any detail or how they will actually look.  What happened to the beautiful photos of past catalogs.  So no preorder here I will wait to see in person.

jjwyatt posted:

palallin posted:

Apparently, they are so occupied with the catalog release that they have neglected to turn the phones back on.  when I call the Service Dept--been trying to get hold of them for weeks--the message says that they are closed to allow their employees to attend a vital meeting and will reopen on Jan 21st.  Now, I know that NC is in a different Time Zone than MO, but I didn't realize NC is also in a different CALENDAR Zone.

C'mon, guys:  let's get your act together, huh??  I place this post here and on another thread in hopes that Dave (or Ryan or somebody) will see it.  Trying to contact them directly ain't working.

Just FYI, I called yesterday and after waiting it kicked me to a leave a message but the message box was full.   I called again today and after holding which is not unusual I was connected and able to get through.   Did not get the message you noted but after a couple of attempts I was able to speak to customer service.  

Welcome to my world. Almost every time I call them, not even when a new catalog comes out, I am put on hold for about 15 minutes and then their system shoots me to voice mail that is almost always full. Note that this has been happening to me for about two years now. One time, like you palallin, I tried calling them for two weeks straight for a five-minute conversation. Thankfully I'm homeschooled so that helps me out a little bit on the ridiculous wait time. Also, on the matter of the staff having a meeting and won't be open until the 21st I have heard. I tried to call Lionel Friday of last week and when I got this message I thought ok I will call on Tuesday. I call them Tuesday wait for 10-15 minutes and voicemail. I tried today at 1 o'clock central time (2 o'clock their time) and I get the same message from Friday. Lionel, I understand you have about 3-5 people in that division, but good grief how long does it take to have a lunch break. Apparently more than 2 hours. In the end, guys I have felt your pain for years and I imagine we are not the only ones.