Took delivery yesterday of this car after waiting a year for the pre-order, and noticed as soon as I opened it that the doors were askew and wouldn't shut all the way. It appears the "wall" that the door pivots are mounted on was improperly installed. And... I don't know this for sure, but comparing the interior to the actual #10 Phil & Reading observation, it seems like the interior is switched from end-to-end, with the toilet at the observation end and the seats facing each other at the other end. Brings a whole new meaning to "observation". Anyone else receive this car, and how is yours?
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Steven:
Yikes! So much for quality control. Glad I didn't order one of these. Thanks for the heads up.
Pat
If it’s not an easy fix then certainly send it back.
If the interior is switched. Maybe removing the shell and rotating it 180 degrees will line things up, including the doors.
I ordered one of these, I will inspect before I pay!
I talked with the dealer, and he said the ones he received all have the interior flipped 180 degrees. Just got notified that the Philadelphia & Reading #10 observation is in- wonder if that suffers from the same affliction
@RickO posted:If the interior is switched. Maybe removing the shell and rotating it 180 degrees will line things up, including the doors.
Good suggestion, and I hope it works for folks, but jeez--where is the QC? Then again, maybe in some sense nothing's "wrong" (or fixable) at all--many people have told me my head is screwed on backwards!
Steven,
If these cars are similar to the New Hope and Ivyland cars the good news is they are really easy to remove the body from the chassis. Only four screws hold the body on however I would recommend removing the steps (only four additional screws but it makes it easier getting to the body screws). You only posted pictures of the front end of the car how does the back end look (the one with the observation platform. The hard thing about the repair will be the doors as there is a spring involved and if the spring flys off when repairing …….well let’s not think about that. Good luck with the repair if you do it, or let your vendor try to fix of he has a repair guy or call Lionel’s customer service for a RA.
JohnB
You can't flip it without major surgery and rewiring. When you flip it the wires don't reach anymore
@Steven Bullock posted:I talked with the dealer, and he said the ones he received all have the interior flipped 180 degrees. Just got notified that the Philadelphia & Reading #10 observation is in- wonder if that suffers from the same affliction
It is the same, can't flip without moving wires that are molded to plastic
Even if it was an easy repair, I don't feel I should have to do it to a new item. Lionel needs to be accountable for the quality of their products. And if something else is wrong and I pull it apart, I'll own it- even if it isn't my fault- and Lionel won't warranty
@Steven Bullock posted:Even if it was an easy repair, I don't feel I should have to do it to a new item. Lionel needs to be accountable for the quality of their products. And if something else is wrong and I pull it apart, I'll own it- even if it isn't my fault- and Lionel won't warranty
Yea I just tried it myself, definitely going back.
@tom21pa posted:It is the same, can't flip without moving wires that are molded to plastic
The #10 is wrong also? Crap. Been waiting 1-1/2 years for that one
@Steven Bullock posted:The #10 is wrong also? Crap. Been waiting 1-1/2 years for that one
Yep got mine today, ****ter in the back, lounge in the front. Just tried flipping it, too much trouble, gotta flip car frame too
Maybe ill have @gunrunnerjohn surgically remedy it.
Sounds like a PITA, I wonder how they managed to screw that one up? Never mind, I think I can answer my own question!
@gunrunnerjohn posted:Sounds like a PITA, I wonder how they managed to screw that one up? Never mind, I think I can answer my own question!
The switches for light a hot molded to the interior thats facing wrong way, gotta flip frame too.
So, you flip the body and frame and leave the interior there? Why not just swap the interior? I guess I'd have to see it.
Yea I'll bring it over some day, electrical connectors is issue, and wires glued or heat melted to underside of interior, I'm sure the will break if you pull them off
Well, new wires fit right in.
@Steven Bullock posted:Lionel needs to be accountable for the quality of their products.
And just how do we propose to hold them accountable?
They have to want to do it. It needs a commitment. That commitment looks pretty weak right about now.
(Sorry, my question is loaded. And, it's the $64,000.00 question, naturally, on top of it.)
Mike
@Mellow Hudson Mike posted:They have to want to do it. It needs a commitment. That commitment looks pretty weak right about now.
Folks are lining up to preorder the new $3000 bigboy...to go along with their other 2 bigboys.
That's all the commitment lionel needs😉
Those will offset the returns of a few plastic passenger sets that were pennies on the dollar to manufacture.
@Mellow Hudson Mike posted:And just how do we propose to hold them accountable?
They have to want to do it. It needs a commitment. That commitment looks pretty weak right about now.
(Sorry, my question is loaded. And, it's the $64,000.00 question, naturally, on top of it.)
Mike
By accountable, I'm just saying I'll let them foot the shipping and repair bills.
@Steven Bullock posted:By accountable, I'm just saying I'll let them foot the shipping and repair bills.
But will they consider it wrong? They never sent people new passenger cars when they spelled California "califorinia" did they? Will they actually consider flipping interior?
@Steven Bullock posted:By accountable, I'm just saying I'll let them foot the shipping and repair bills.
Yeah well here is your problem they don't care. People keep buying there garbage and people get flogged for saying anything. the only way to make them accountable is for everyone to stop purchasing but much like people wine and the vote for the same ole same ole.
@Steven Bullock posted:Even if it was an easy repair, I don't feel I should have to do it to a new item. Lionel needs to be accountable for the quality of their products. And if something else is wrong and I pull it apart, I'll own it- even if it isn't my fault- and Lionel won't warranty
Especially when these cars I believe we're $150.00 range. I'm right there with you especially with 90 coming out. Either way they need better quality control. This sort of makes me wonder if I should preorder a big boy or not.
If that car were mine, it would already be on its way back to the dealer for a refund. The only way any of the manufacturers will get the message that their quality is severely lacking is if we stop sending them our hard-earned money.
I have the MTH version of this car that N. Smith sold a few years ago and understand why you would want to own one. If you really want a Paradise car, repainting an older observation car might be a viable option. There are enough used trains on the market that we don't need to support manufacturers that continue to churn out junk.
Got my Paradise observation car yesterday and the interior needs to be flipped. I will say having the toilet next to the big windows of the observation car would be pretty nice for someone who had to go to the bathroom.
If anyone has a way to tell Lionel this please do! Mine will be in on this weekend and I am going to refuse it unless Lionel says something. From reading Facebook and this forum it appears to a 100% failure not random. It also includes the Philadelphia and Reading observation car, because pictures are showing up as well for that car.
@Cincytrains posted:If anyone has a way to tell Lionel this please do! Mine will be in on this weekend and I am going to refuse it unless Lionel says something. From reading Facebook and this forum it appears to a 100% failure not random. It also includes the Philadelphia and Reading observation car, because pictures are showing up as well for that car.
You have the power... @Dave Olson (probably not his area but can pass it along) or @Conrail6358 (Ryan Kunkle). Sounds like, if I'm reading this correctly, it's an assembly issue that maybe able to be corrected by the consumer. Not that you should have to.
They may not respond but it will at least alert them.
These are factory problems. I'm sure that Ryan and Dave are fit to be tied when they learn of stuff like this. Why is Lionel unable to get control of production quality? I've seen many items of late not completely assembled and placed in the box and shipped.
@MichRR714 posted:These are factory problems. I'm sure that Ryan and Dave are fit to be tied when they learn of stuff like this. Why is Lionel unable to get control of production quality? I've seen many items of late not completely assembled and placed in the box and shipped.
I agree. They want you to be happy. I just know they lurk here and wanted them to get an alert in the unlikely event they haven't heard of the issue.
That unfortunate. Certainly, return it unless you really, really want it. With a mistake that requires rewiring, they may not fix them and just do refunds. But then you never get the item. This is the dilemma. They don't always fix them. So, then we lose the item we wanted. Thats why a lot of guys fix them.
I'd find out from Lionel what they are going to do first (fix or refund). If it's just a refund and no re-issue them might be worth it to flip it, and rewire it if you really want the car.
I’ve also seen photos that show the drumhead on the P&R car 10 is missing the “S” after the apostrophe in “President’s Car”.
I’ve never cancelled a preorder before, but this may be the first…
You would think the MTH factory would be looking for more work. Lionel should have cut a deal where the original ones were made.
Because of Legacy control I'm considering the Mth tooled Lionel engines. However,if I wanted MTH's woodsided passenger cars.(or any other rolling stock) I'd look for some in a purple box. As a "Lionel guy" fit and finish is always superb on the MTH stuff.(reminds me of the Korean Tmcc stuff) My 0-6-0 has minor imperfections because the builder didn't take the time.
I suppose every penny counts to an investment company , and if the manufacturing goes to the lowest bidder, well.....
It's gotta be tough for Ryan Dave Meegan, and the rest. They take a beating on Facebook because of corporate Lionels decisions. I can see why the last audio engineer,cto and customer service manager departed.
Other Strasburg Observation topic
It is also being discussed over there.
@RickO posted:You would think the MTH factory would be looking for more work. Lionel should have cut a deal where the original ones were made.
I thought all the previous MTH tooled items were still being produced in the MTH factories? Is this not the case?
Edit... I don't think these were MTH tooling.
Well if that's the case Marty. I sense a conspiracy.😉
My mistake. For some reason I thought this was part of the wood sided coaches.