Are Lionel StationSounds Diners on the endangered species list?

Quite seriously, from my perspective I sure hope so.  I find the dang things incredibly annoying.  I had one that came with a set and it would not turn off - the switch did not work or something - it just kept babbling to itself and making its stationsounds all the time.  I had to open it up and cut a wire to silence it.   I want diners but not with sound. 

 

For those (many) who disagree with me, it does seem that Lionel comes back and offers stationsounds diners after the initial offering of the passenger car set. I'd wait.  It has been their pattern.  And they may be having problems with suppliers now, so that they can';t get as many with the sound as they want.

It may be that StationSounds diners just aren't selling that well. I have them for the three Lionel passenger sets that I own, but I don't use the sound much and I resent having to pay the extra price for something I don't use just to get a complete train with a diner. When Lionel first came out with the sound car, it was in an add-on coach rather than a diner, so you could have a complete train without buying a sound car. Perhaps Lionel decided that customers would see the StationSounds car as a more "necessary" option if it was in the diner rather than an extra coach. Could be that with Lionel's prices and the weak economy, customers just aren't willing to pay for these gadgets any more. 

 

MTH builds the passenger announcements into the locomotive, which strikes me as a cheaper and better way to accomplish the same thing. Before Legacy, you couldn't shut off the cab chatter and if you used the StationSounds sequence to operate the train, the engine and the diner would talk over each other. Legacy gives you a workaround for that, but one sound setup is still cheaper than two. Maybe Lionel will add passenger announcements  to the locomotives.

I guess I am the odd duck. I think the station sound diners are fantastic. They make the pass set more interactive. Having the sound balanced along the train makes it come alive. Lionel seems to issue cars later for previous sets. They will be back.

i like them, too.  have two.  more would be good.

How about having a station which makes the sounds

Certainly an alternative approach... but the nice thing about the StationSounds diners was that they give the train an added dimension of sound moving along with a very long passenger train.  Dimension is good.  Note how everyone jumped on the "dimensional" sound of the recent Vision Line Centipedes?  Having sounds in a static location defeats the purpose somewhat.

 

Whenever possible, I've always purchased the StationSounds diner to complete a given passenger set/series... even if the diner was offered years later.  And I've never had any regrets.

 

Obviously something is amiss with the latest trend (which unfortunately seems to be all about offering less features), and hopefully we'll see the StationSounds diners come back down the road.

 

David

J Daddy:

 

I completely agree with you, I really like the Station Sounds Dining Car. I was told be a dealer that based upon customer demand, they make twice as many 4-packs as they do the 2-packs, and even fewer Station Sounds cars. Some people have difficulty in rationalizing the price of this car compared to the cost of a two-pack which is about the same price. I think the law of supply and demand is at play here and there is not enough demand to justify the volume needed to manufacture. I personally hope that this is not the case as I personally really like this car. Time will tell.

I love the station sound cars and would like more but my dealer has said that they just don't sell. I find that hard to believe but maybe it's true. Lets hope for the best.

Well yeah, that's because most hobby shops want full blown retail. If I see one for a good price I will buy it.

This work well for dedicated engines / railroads who either are passengers or freights. But you get stuck with either freight or passenger sounds with multi-purpose engines / railroads.

 

I really like them. Think it adds a lot to running the set. Have them for all my sets except the Milwaukee which I hope that mfg. next year. Maybe they could make the car with & without the sounds to please everyone.

       



The more interaction the better, the kids just eat it up.
I have seen technology in kids toys where the engine,  cars, station stops sil all interact, and these toys cost less than 40 dollars.

I'm always puzzled to hear dealers say the StationSounds cars "don't sell well", 'cause they always seem to "sell out".    True... these cars have typically not been produced in high volume, which always makes it tough if you miss the initial production runs.  So dealers aren't gonna sell lots of them, but then they're not gonna sit on dealer shelves too long either. 

 

Some of the very popular 18" ones (Union Pacific, Texas Special, SP Daylight, NW Powhatan Arrow, SF El Capitan) from several years ago are in reasonably high demand these days and Mint/LikeNew ones command a decent premium in online auctions... often selling at MSRP or above (for the year in which it was catalog'd).

 

David

You can always find a compatible sound file for the MTH locomotive and alternate your sounds if you want multi-purpose.

Yes, this work if you own or have easy access to the full DCS system...for people who don't or operate on 2 rails DCC well not so easy.

I guess that's a good point.