A recent post about train stores in and manufacturing in China made me think of the story my buddy told me about Lionel's ill fated attempt to set up manufacturing in Tijuana Mexico. Have also seen other stuff written about it but not much. Apparently it was a disaster and a low point for the Lionel brand.
Anyone out there buy or have any of the Tijuana product? Was it that bad? Do you still run it? Would like to read your stories if you got any.
Thanks
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Hmmm, half hour passed. Apparently not many here that did, as those who must have read this haven't even known how to ask what you meant.
Well, I did; and I have the iconic UP F3 ABA engine, in all its glory, each unit with its very own shade of armour orange, none correct, to prove it. The situation was not helped by rumors that favored big collectors had been given the opportunity to assemble matching sets by getting first crack at pawing through the sets ahead of time.
Years later, I got a 2d B unit second-hand. The color was beautiful, near-new, and correct. So it matched none of my 3 original units, which suffered variously from too much yellow or too much fade. But it had its own defect-- a warped plastic frame. But the former owner had made a valiant attempt to re-rivet it to the metal subframe, which alas was too flimsy to measure up to the job.
I think that there was one good thing to come out of this. The year before (1983),
Smithsonian magazine had published a picture of a postwar Santa Fe warbonnet F3 as its cover. This caused all the movers and shakers in Washington to become instant speculators in Lionel items, driving prices up decidedly increased rate. The Union Pacific fiasco of the following year must have put a small amount of reason back in the market. I myself lost my enthusiasm for F3's sight unseen. --Frank
I have a Southern 2-8-2 which is the Berkshire with a 2-wheel trailing truck, and the paint had scratches in it, so it was "touched up" with a green permanent marker. Got it this way in the factory sealed box. Runs just fine with it's dubious cosmetic flaws. Still have it. It's sort of fun to tell the story on why it is like it is.
I'm sure many forum members are familiar with the Rock Island and Lackawanna 4-8-4's, with the bad motors. The motor bearings were terribly out of tolerance and run poorly. Some of the Walbash FM trainmasters were made there and run poorly also. Also many production delays. A failed experiment moving to Mexico, a lot to do with language barriers.
In what years did this experiment take place? And were all trains made there or did they just experiment with a few? We have an old UP steam set from 1982 (I think it was) and was just curious if we had one of the experimental models?
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