How Long Before 2016 Catalog Items Show Up In Lionel's Shipping Schedule?

Lionel has been making scale steesided reefers for years. The VL reefers are no different  outside of the fact that one car contains the electrnics for the sounds. I've seen preorders for these at $214 bucks. This new batch will  be the same except for having different road numbers .

 The preorder window has already started and its usually only open for a few weeks. After that it depends how many extra a particular dealer may have ordered, and how much of an increase in price after the deadline. 

Delivery is roughly 6-months to a year, depending on the product. Charles Ro has an early shipping "guesstimate" of December '16. Lionel should have the shipping posted after the preorder period ends.

I'd jump on the preorder as these were going for well over $400 at auction when the dealer stock dried up.

There are video/ pictures everywhere on the net of Lionel steelsided reefers vision and nonvision alike. They are all nice.

Eric Siegel did a great review of the last VL reefer set:

I would say if you like 'em, preorder 'em! RickO is exactly right about the announcement-to-product timeline.

They are a hoot to have on your railroad, and having scale detail makes them look as good as they sound.

mopac01 posted:

Really interested in the new 3 pack Vision Reefers with sound - particularly 6-83545 Pacific Fruit Express.  ...   I don't think this is Build To Order.

Correct... which is all more the reason to pre-order a set (or two ) if you're interested.  Choose a dealer with no down-payment required, and order early.  This way you're high on the dealer's list in the remote event Lionel runs into a production issue that requires shipping partial quantities ordered.  That's when all kinds of pricing games kick into high gear -- both on the dealer end (most are very reputable though) as well as train enthusiasts who buy an extra set to flip on the secondary market.

As for the Shipping Schedule in general... it's often just a swag in the dark anyway.  At least the pre-order forms this year quoted calendar quarters instead of specific months, but it's still a big crap-shoot.  If recent history is any indication, the overseas (mostly Chinese) factories hold all the cards in this business.  The tail wags the dog now. 

David

I think I saw that the deadline for dealers to have their orders in was March 2nd, and they wanted customers orders in by Feb 28th. That's your early buy window, again according to Charlie Ro.