Damaged Lionel 60' Boxcars

I gotta be honest...that seems like somebody was playing whiffle ball with the boxes. That's some intense damage!

Nonetheless, other manufacturers have more delicate pieces arriving intact.

My guess? Dropped at factory (a pallet full?), and, business as usual, cleaned up, repacked and put back in the shipping queue! However, any dealer had to see these crumpled boxes, and should’ve looked further for damage, before shipping to customer. This ain’t subtle!

The older heavy clear plastic packaging Lionel used to use was indestructible. That thin white plastic reminds me of what marshmellow peeps come in. Hopefully with Easter coming Lionel will run out of the cheaper plastic.

You gotta wonder if this is a design change to save $.75 on each package, with Lionel being run by an investment company.

I’ve bought several items from fellow OGRers, and their packaging is far superior to the usual retailers.  The stuff from Stout Auctions is also superb.  My most delicate piece, a 6-17336 PFE reefer, was bought new on eBay and was delivered in one piece.

That being said, I’ve never received a damaged piece from anyone. I’ve had stuff delivered from USPS, UPS, DHL, and FedEx. I’m sorry for your problem.

@jjames9641 posted:

I am not bashing Lionel at all, but this is ridiculous with all of the damage and wasting my time returning them. 

Of course you are -- but only halfway.

This situation is a no-win for everyone.  Lionel can't make packaging strong enough to protect against every possibility, unless of course its customers don't mind paying for it.  Styrofoam is not an automatic slam-dunk here.

Here's a clip from a long-time posting that offered a brass Gauge 1 Big Boy:

This Big Boy ended up selling for $7,500.  A nice wood crate is the least you would expect.

Wood would work in general for us, but how much would it cost for small items?

On the other side the shippers do have a great deal of responsibility here for taking care.  It's not just our stuff that gets beat up.

There isn't a good or easy way to fix this problem, no matter how loudly or continuously we complain.  Placing "blame" doesn't help either.

Mike 

Seen the issue on one customers car, it's not only the packing, it's weak design issues like Atlas O Master cars. Shouldn't happen that easily, send them back.

I sent a scale Polar Express hobo car back that was damaged back.  The hobo was broken off  and several journal box covers broken.

It wasn't damaged in shipping. Shipping box was not damaged and it was packed well.  Send your cars back.

@jjames9641 posted:

I am curious if anyone else is having trouble with the latest release of Lionel's 60' boxcars arriving damaged? I have bought 3 of them in the past week from 3 different dealers and all 3 of them have arrived with broken ladders on the sides, in many pcs inside the plastic. All of them show damage to the ends of the Orange Lionel box but none of the shipping cartons showed damage. These cars are soooooo delicate today and they continue to use these poor plastic clamshell packaging for these very expensive cars!! Lionel, please go back to the Styrofoam packaging!!! I am not bashing Lionel at all, but this is ridiculous with all of the damage and wasting my time returning them. Ok, I am done ranting!!!!! Please let me know if there are others or am I the only one!!!

I bought the same NYC boxcar from one of the bigger dealers at a show recently - and it was exactly the same as yours with a busted ladder. I should have checked it closely before the purchase - mine is in a few pieces and can probably be glued back together, but it's still annoying. I bought 3 new items - two had damage (a broken ladder, and broken brake wheel).

@Mellow Hudson Mike posted:

Of course you are -- but only halfway.

This situation is a no-win for everyone.  Lionel can't make packaging strong enough to protect against every possibility, unless of course its customers don't mind paying for it.  Styrofoam is not an automatic slam-dunk here.

I think styrofoam would have helped in this situation and yes as the customer I would have been more than happy to pay an extra $1 for my boxcar or anything else for a styrofoam insert over a cheap plastic clamshell any day.

Brad

I agree with Mark on this one. If the outer carton showed no damage then the dealer was taken advantage of by Lionel. Gee, should this post be put alongside the post about scammers. No wonder I’m losing interest.

This reminds me of the fiasco with some of the early Lionscale boxcars.  I had to bring about 10 back to Lionel for repair, and I heard that some large dealers were sending cases of them back to Lionel for repair.

At that time you could actually bring items directly to Lionel for service.  I sat in a conference room while a service manager repaired all of my boxcars.  He said he had told Lionel that the packaging was inadequate and would lead to damaged boxcars.  Since that initial round of Lionscale boxcars, I haven't heard of any additional problems so I guess they either redesigned the packaging or the boxcars.

I am not trying to start a movement here, but IMO Styrofoam is way better than the plastic clam shell. The cars are just getting to detailed for me. Yes, all 3 have been returned and not wanting anymore, what is the point??

Mello Hudson mike, how much more are we supposed to pay $90.00 for a 60' plastic boxcar, I guess expecting it to arrive intact may be wanting too much!! So I guess we just say oh well' sorry, not me. If everyone is honest with themselves, we all know that most of the factory packaging has gotten terrible over the years. Would just like to see a solution, not trying to save the world here.

Just opened a lionel made promotional car made in 2022.  It was new in the box. Both trucks would not turn in the curves.  They left out the spacer washers that go on the truck screws and tightened them down completely.   I couldn't get the bolt holding the shell on out.  It was the wrong size, small and very long?????   It wouldn't screw out, but held enough not to pop out.   After 15 minutes of manouvering I got it out.   3 final assembly tasks, all wrong. 

I was in manufacturing for 40 years.  The more you don't fix quality, the worse it gets.   

I feel like Lionel's recent packaging is not quite as sturdy as it was.  With minimal cost and effort the boxes could be made more dent resistant.  Also the thermoformed clamshells for Vietnam sourced cars crack easy which then allows the car to bounce around.  Funny that the Hallmark ornaments sourced in Vietnam also suffer the same flimsy plastic clamshell.  Again an easy fix to demand a thicker thermoformed plastic.    And yes we need high quality plastic and Styrofoam in our train boxes...its not the same as reducing plastic in single use plastic.  Boxes should last the life of the train.

The worst is the new Lionel starter Set packaging.  Why reinvent what worked?  Set box lid should lift out and the contents can still be in tray layers or dense foam.  But now with the odd end that opens (often tearing the hinge side) and having to pull that heavy yet flimsy tray out (also tearing it) is a pain.  I have never understood why companies mess with what was already designed and proven.

I've stopped buying until Lionel gets their quality control under control....

When those investment people start losing money, maybe things will improve.

You guys ought to start *****ing a bit more too!

I had the same situation with my D T & I 60 ft boxcar.One of the side handrails arrived with a broken ladder.The container it arrived was very flimsy. I hope Lionel can correct the problem. Else wise it’s a nice car.I got the PRR one and it was ok.

Yet another reason why I'm glad I canceled my pre-order for the Strasburg Decapod #90, which, according to another thread here, has been delayed again. What's the point in producing these new trains if you are going to cut corners on the packaging that protects them in transit?