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Howard Hitchcock, Lionel's President, started his presentation at the TCA Museum last Wednesday, by unveiling their 115 Anniversary silver plated Berkshire. It was then shown at the Lionel display in the Orange Hall. Just about all who attended the York Meet had a chance to take a good look at it. What are your impressions? Are you going to order one? There are only 250 scheduled to be made. My guess is they will sell out without difficulty. Charlie (Charles Ro) reported to me on Friday that he had already taken orders for this engine. I am quite sure he is not alone. If you did not go to the York Meet, here are a couple of photos to explain what we are talking about.

 

 

 

york meet 001

york meet 006

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SantaFeJim is right on the money about the tender logo. I saw the 115 Anniversary silver plated Berkshire in the Orange Hall and it was gorgeous. An absolute Show Stopper! The 1 and only problem is that ridiculous billboard size logo on the tender. It looks like a Major League Baseball All-Star Patch. OK for a jersey but totally out of place on the side of what is otherwise a piece of Silver Artwork. Don't get me wrong, This Berkshire is the most stunning thing I've ever seen on 3 rails. It's just that the huge colorful logo is completely out of place. I will have to pass on ordering this one. I would definitely reconsider if it becomes available without the logo.

 

Emile

Originally Posted by Chugman:

I totally agree with Lee on this one.  I love Lionel and am very happy about their anniversary, but this is just something you don't do to an otherwise beautiful engine.  The first thing I would do to one if I had it was paint it with flat black and then weather it.

 

Art

That would actually be, well, sort fun to do if they were at a really good price!  But I imagine there are 250 folks out there who want this "collectors item," so I wish them well

"Ok, there are 248 being made available(2 are being kept) and all are numbered. These are the "tag along" engines on the 50 PE engines that Charlie never got. ( Kudos Lionel!) Tahats less than 5 per state! they are being allocated and we can't sell them until we know our numbers. This is the flagship item for the 115 year celebration."

 

Thanks Charlie for this information. Out of curiosity if you want to share this with us, did any of your customers approach you at York about ordering one?

I have the gold one from the 100th, so when I heard about the silver, I was excited. But after seeing it, the silver just doesn't bring out the details.  Plus nobody is mentioning price. I even pester Mike Regan at the hotel about the price for a few hours and many more drinks. Someone said I could buy the prototype for 30,000 after the show.  That sobered me up.

I'll be passing on this one because 1.  I'm not really into collecting trains, more into running them and this seems more like a collector item.     2.  My money is already spent on the Empire State Express set and extra cars and 2 other engines due at end of year.   But for those that like those types of engines it's great Lionel is doing it in a new finish.  

 

Just curious, do these types of items hold value?  How did the gold ones do?

 

If it has a typical stick on logo and the Nano plating is correctly done then it should be easy to remove the logo if that is the only thing stopping Some people form buying this.

 

do I understand that they will be "numbered" as in serial numbers on each loco? IF that is the case, then the 250 limited edition number can be eventually verified.

 

Congrats to Lionel for being with us for 115 years and I hope they will be here for ever....

 

BUT, ladies and gentlemen remember, they are here because of YOU and not the other way around...

I'm not into steamers that look like C3P0.

 

I didn't realize 115 was such a milestone. What will they do for thier big  118th, make an invisible one? I know the 75th anniversary U36b is a very hot collectable.

 

This and the so called prototype engineering versions where nothing is painted just seem silly to me.

"Dear emperor,  Surely you must feel the cold wind on your bare skin".

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