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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,

   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

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.

Last edited by RickO

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.

Last edited by BlueComet400

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.

Last edited by MartyE
@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.

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.

Last edited by RickO

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