Hallmark 2018 ornaments

I've given up on the mini offerings.  The Texas Specials are long over due. Hopefully the Southern 2356s will soon follow.

I really like this series.  Have many.  The only disappointment is they changed the gold paint on the special edition locomotives from a nice shiny gold to a dull flat gold.  Definitely not for the better.  BigRail

BigRail posted:

I really like this series.  Have many.  The only disappointment is they changed the gold paint on the special edition locomotives from a nice shiny gold to a dull flat gold.  Definitely not for the better.  BigRail

Judging from the ones I own, it appears that while the shiny gold is a plating, the dull gold is simply a painted finish.

BigRail posted:

I really like this series.  Have many.  The only disappointment is they changed the gold paint on the special edition locomotives from a nice shiny gold to a dull flat gold.  Definitely not for the better.  BigRail

Agreed, or they could even deviate from the simple "just paint part of it gold" model, and actually create new paint jobs like they did with the Tuscan GG-1, or the  New Haven F-unit (forget if it was an F3 or FT, etc).  There might have been another one, but certainly not in the last few years.  (Pink version of the standard offering as the limited one for the Girls' Train was kinda cool though)

I agree the plated units are much more attractive than the paint.

Didn't they do a mini set for Polar Express previously, maybe a set with 4 or 5 cars?  I seem to recall passing on that, maybe I will pick up this 3 piece set.

Only ~ 2 1/2 months until the "Christmas in July" Ornament Premiere.

-Dave

DORFJ2,

They are seriously cool stuff!.  The Lionel Village Ornament sits on the Bears Foot as she climbs our Christmas Tree.

PCRR/Dave

IMO this one is the coolest of them all!  Buildings Light, Trains actually run, and it has train announcements, all started from the ZW Transformer!

I stopped buying the Hallmark ornaments about five years ago until I saw this one offered last year. Maybe I'm hooked again?

THE TEXAS SPECIAL WILL BE ON MY LIST.

GG1GUYY

John,

   My wife picked the Milk Car ornament and the 400E Engine up for me this Christmas season, great stuff no doubt about it!

PCRR/Dave

dorfj2 posted:

My wife picked up the 2018 Hallmark Dream Book yesterday - that's insane 

2245 Texas Special F3 A and B units plus 2400 series passenger car

Also Polar Express stuff in the mini series

OMG only 241 shopping days left until Christmas 2018! 

These ornaments will be in the stores when, in June? 

Yes, yes it is insane.  LOL

George

G3750 posted:

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These ornaments will be in the stores when, in June? 

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July 14th for many, some later (October 6), and I think a date in November.

It's really no crazier than ordering something and waiting for it to come to be in 1-2 years (or more).  Just a different kind of crazy.  It's a safe bet every item shown will make it by Christmas 2018!

johnstrains posted:

I stopped buying the Hallmark ornaments about five years ago until I saw this one offered last year. Maybe I'm hooked again?

Me to. I had to pull the trigger on the milk car! The Texas special my be on my list. 

Being a little picky here - I hope the Texas Specials are F3’s like the first Santa Fe ornament from 97 and not FT’s like the later KCS and NH

Really like that early SF - feels more like a Lionel F3 - just my take

Also - noticed the trucks are black like the 1955 version as opposed to the more common silver trucks

I was just moving mine around the other day, and thinking it was time to pack up the minis. I will keep getting the regular size ornaments as long as they make them, but I have enough of the little ones. I do look forward to July, when I get my new ones each year.

Only 4 days until "Christmas in July" for the Hallmark Ornaments...

This came in my e-mail today.  In the first part of the video, some nice Lionel and standard gauge trains. https://ideas.hallmark.com/vid...0&sfmc_u=2560855

I saw this in the catalog and decided to wait till it came out to see what it did. One push of the button on the display piece convinced me that it was a keeper(sake)!

I purchased the milk car ornament and discovered that I could convert it to run on my n scale layout.

Tim O'Malley posted:

This came in my e-mail today.  In the first part of the video, some nice Lionel and standard gauge trains. https://ideas.hallmark.com/vid...0&sfmc_u=2560855

Big Jim posted:

I saw this in the catalog and decided to wait till it came out to see what it did. One push of the button on the display piece convinced me that it was a keeper(sake)!

I agree it was neat, but I've gotten to the point where I have too many of these ornaments to collect them all.  Not that I'm stopping entirely, but I've trimmed back my quests to Lionel train related, rather than every item with a train.  (It doesn't help in my case that I also like the Star Wars offerings, which I've also scaled back on a little in recent years - I skipped the new "Storytellers" series that all interact with the Magic Cord - I may be in trouble if they ever do that for train items though )

It was impressive, though!  Although one of the 2 display models at my local store had died already, hopefully it was either damaged by a drop or had something else happen to it rather than just wearing out.  The one that was working seemed to keep going OK.  I wasn't there during the morning madness (wasn't looking for anything that was a "limited" item during this event), but it worked several times when I stopped/started it.

-Dave

Tim O'Malley posted:

This came in my e-mail today.  In the first part of the video, some nice Lionel and standard gauge trains. https://ideas.hallmark.com/vid...0&sfmc_u=2560855

My all-time Hallmark favorite created by Kenn Burns is from a few years ago - this O scale Hallmark/Lionel collaborative effort creation, "The Toymaker Santa Express". I have two of those terrific looking candy red metallic LionChief sets. To me, it's sad that Hallmark decided not to make any add-on cars available for that set. Also, it would be fabulous if speed control could be added to those steam engines but I know that's an impossibility with LionChief technology.

With $20 in Kohl's cash and the Labor Day $10 off $25 purchase, I bought the Hallmark 2018 Frosty Fun Decade and the three Lionel Texas Special ornaments.  Purchased online with local store pickup option.  I picked them up tonight but it's been a busy day so no pictures yet.

Disappointed the Texas Special units have black trucks, but I knew that prior to purchase. Does anyone know if the trucks can be removed? If they are attached with screws I can paint them, not really concerned with ruining their value. I’m not going to mess with rivets.

A big disappointment is the absence of the front coupler. I’ll buy the Southern F if they make it, otherwise I think my collection ends here. Apparently, quality is a downward spiral judging by the last five or so years.

Rich