Unbelievable screw up on new Lionel Conrail GP-35

WoW!  Another $500 pull my LEG acy locomotive.

Hello PRRMiddleDivis..........

 

I noticed the blue on the one without the "conrail logo" is darker too

 

the woman who loves the S.F.#5021

Tiffany

you might have a collectors item.

What do you expect--it's Conrail?? Added realism as per the goofs in real life.  There's no pleasing some people! 

 

--Greg

Tiffany,

 

Good observation!  This has been true of anything Lionel has painted in the Conrail livery for years.  The color is just too intense.  MTH, Atlas, and Weaver all seem to get it right.  I'll only say its not too noticable if you don't mix Lionel units with those of other manufacturers.  I have seen some photos of Conrail units that seemed to be painted in the same shade of blue used by Lionel, but I used to railfan Conrail and I think this is more an issue of lighting or bad photo processing.  I had brought this up with Lionel many times, even going to the point of sending them a bottle of Scalecoat Conrail blue paint, but to no avail.

 

To add insult to injury, I just noticed while repacking the engines that they used the Conrail version on the cover of the instruction book (minus the cab number and nose logo) and it has the two white stripes on the long hood!

QUOTE:  you might have a collectors item.

 

Not if they're all painted like this.

 

 

 

If they blew them out for the right price I'd buy one.  Don't blame you for being aggravated.

Hello PRRMiddleDivision.......

 

Thank you !!!, Perhaps have the shell repainted and have new decals put on and call it a day.  It maybe your best bet rather to have lionel send you new shell as you might end up with the same thing you have now just my penny and half.  Does your club run Santa Fe steam on your layout ?  Pennsy did use the Santa Fe 2-10-4's on coal runs  late 1956 when they were leased. 

 

the woman who loves the S.F.#5021

Tiffany

keep that sucker!!  Worth Big BUCKS!!!!  Factory ERROR PAINT SCHEAMS WORTH MONEY!!!!

 Diffidently keep    !

Wow!  This is so cool.  I am certain you are disappointed but my first thought was, this is like finding a penny that slipped through without a mint mark, etc.  Rare. 

 

I'm certain Lionel will make it good if you wish . . .  but I think I'd be inclined to keep them, particularly if the dummy is the same way, too.

Neal,
Yes, that is frustrating indeed. Please give a shout to CS this morning at 586-949-4100 ext 2. We'll set up an RA and get that unit replaced for you.

My apologies for this glaring oversight on someone's part.

Thank you,
Mike
Lionel

Doesn't get much worse than that for painting issues.

 

If the entire run is like that I would guess that Lionel would have a recall and send over to Weaver or their U.S. boxcar manufacture for painting the script. There goes the profits on that guy.

seriously?  OEM materials, maybe $50; labor (even at ridiculous UAW rates); maybe $100?

Based on Mike's comment, it sounds like you got an error piece (or two).

There are people who collect factory errors.

While I don't actively collect those errors, if I received one, I'd hold onto it.

I hope you all read my initial post crefully. BOTH sides of BOTH the powered units are like this, leading me to beleive the entire run is screwed up.  I'll check the dummy unit this morning as well.  If they are all screwed up, this is NOT a RARE factory error, but a totally messed up run of engines. This happened with the PRR U-28-B in which the PRR keystones were left off of one side of the unit.

 

I'll call Lionel and the dealer and post what I find out.

Are there two photos of the same loco, or do they both have the same cab number?

Wow, that's just as bad as the missing yellow stripes I had on my Flyer U33C earlier this year:

 

 

It was almost 2 months before Lionel got replacement shells:

 

 

Rusty

Keep em, could be a collectors item.  Put them on the OGR WEBSITE, FOR SALE.  LOCOMOTION

I have been in this hobby for 40 years,and I assure you, I know what a factory error is.  If the logos was missing from just one side of one engine, that would be a factory error.  But when all four sides of both engines are missing the logo, that is botched production run.  Now I have yet to look at the dummy unit, but what is the chance that I got the two powered unitswith missing logos and the entire rest of the run is correct?  Get outa here!  But, if someone cares to make me an offer on these units, get in touch!

 

I saw Mike Regans's post above and will get in touch with him and Lionel later today (he is great at providing help with these matters!) but I'd bet we'll find out that the entire run is like this.

Maybe that is how Conrail looked in China! - Sorry, not nice to laugh at another persons misfortune. You could slap a decal on them but you shouldn't have to. Send 'em back to the shop!

I would either keep them and apply my own roadname to the sides, or send them back and get properly letter replacements (would likely do the latter).

 

As for the collectors market for current stuff...that ship has pretty much sailed.

 

Receiving two (or three) pieces missing the same decorations certainly would be a strong indicator that the whole run was made that way.

I guess Mikado, otherwise known as Mike Reagan (Lionel) could be mistaken about your pieces being factory errors.

I think you might be right, I am surprised that no one else has posted that theirs came through without the Conrail markings.

Mike's post shows just why Lionel Customer Service has gotten so much better then their competition.

quote:

As for the collectors market for current stuff...that ship has pretty much sailed.

 

I agree on normal production items, including "limited editions" and other such manipulations. 
Factory errors (if these are indeed unique) may be a different story.

 

I have a handfull of postwar factory error pieces. When I got them, they were not worth a premium over correct pieces. In fact, most folks didn't want them. Most folks wanted their trains made correctly, and in nice shape. 

I was also wondering about the same cab numbers? Since someone else mentioned the different tones of blue also.

Sort of reminds me of the Conrail SSS set from the late 1990s.  Instead of the

the boxcars having Conrail overstamps you could do a Northfolk Southern overstamp or repaint on the engine.

 

  

 

 

 

That is a shame about your engines not doubt about it. I try to look at the other side of things and realize how lucky we are to have Mikado {Mike Reagan} as a contributing member of the OGR forum and answering questions and taking a lot of heat for others in the company. I have not noticed any other {big names} from any other manufacturer that offers service like Mikado does on this forum. Do doubt about it the frustration level about oversights like this make you mad as heck, especially due to the cost of these trains. I applaud Mike Reagan for taking time to read through the forum and see what his customers comments/complaints/praises/etc. are. One other thing, he posted his response at about 6:15 am eastern time, before his work day even starts think about it, this guy has trains on his mind virtually 24/7. There is NO one else that I would rather have offering customer support and fixing our trains in the amazing turn around time that his service center does. Mike if you happen to read this, I would be a fan of adding input from you to include on the inside of "every" Lionel catalog as well as the CEO's. Just my two cents!! I know this gentlemen's engines will be made right in a timely manner!!

 

Jeff James

That is too bad about the missing logo. I just received a gp35 in EL livery. It is a very good engine with a fantastic sound system. If the Conrail locos wind up like the PRR u33 I will buy one for sure. Fred

Interesting post and a great reply from "Big Mike" - you can't ask for more than that, We live in a world where stuff just happens. if it was me I think I would have phoned Mike before posting ....................................

Just opened the non-powered unit.  well, We're three for three!  NO logo.  These units will all be heading back to the dealer.

 

Mike W, I did think about holding off posting, but my goal really wasn't to take Lionel to task, but to see if anyone else out there ordered this unit and made the same discovery.

 

And yes, Mike Regan is a real asset to Lionel and the hobby.  I'm sure he would do his best to make this right...but I'm not sure what he can do about this as I doubt he has any properly painted shells. But I will contact him and see what he says.

Neal,

 

I feel your pain.

 

I had the same problem on the recent PRR Legacy Uboats from Lionel. I bought 2 powered ones new at TCA's April's York meet, different numbers, for a great price and I was real excited until I got them home.

 

When I got home Saturday, I looked at the OGR Forum and immediately saw a thread mentioning decorating flaws on these locos, the post said that both keystones were missing from the engineers side, the other side was fine, and that the whole run was screwed up.

 

I immediately opened up both boxes and mine had missing Keystones on both loco too. Of course the dealer had these displayed with the Firemans side up, never though to look at the other side.

 

Monday morning I took these to the UPS store and sent them back to the dealer. I called the dealer and told him these were coming back and why.

 

End of problem.

Factory errors have zero value to me.  I'll take a properly decorated piece over a factory error any day.

 

Rusty

quote:

Factory errors have zero value to me.  I'll take a properly decorated piece over a factory error any day

As far as I am concerned, the fewer the number of people interested in factory errors the better. That makes for less competition and lower prices. .

In Conrail's haste to keep power on the road during the early days, a number of units received blue paint sans heralding and some lettering. Initially when I saw the locomotive as released, I thought it might an attempt to model one of the units receiving this partial livery but, based upon what I've read above, I guess not.

 

Bob  

I appreciate everyone's imput on this.  I was aware that there were a handful of CR units without the logo, but that sure isn't what was shown in the catalog!

I've just done a little research, and as far as I can discover, 2297 did not have the side logos.  But It also just had CR on the front instead of Conrail. I can't find any record of it ever getting repainted to the later Conrail colours either. Although I did find one reference that mentioned the CR on the nose being replaced by 'CONRAIL' in the early '80s.  Maybe someone at the factory was going by a picture similar to the one below. (Although in this I think that it's still in PC black.)

 

Here's a picture that I found on-line of it in 1978, it was still like this in 1981 too.

 

 

Here is what was illustrated in the catalog.  Compare it to what was produced:

 

 

The photos speak for themselves.

 

This morning, I contacted both the dealer and Lionel to see if this involves the entire production run (as I suspect it does).  I'll post what they tell me as soon as I hear something.

At least you have a matched set.  LOCOMOTION