How many 'Authorized' Lionel Service Stations are out there?

@c.sam posted:

I gather from George that Lionel has withdrawn much of their support from you guys and wants customers to send everything to Concord for warranty work and may not have any more training or seminars for individual repair folk in recent years.

It's been many years since Lionel had any training sessions, I'm thinking along the lines of around fifteen years.  I know the question was asked many times of Lionel with no answer forthcoming.  Since they don't do any out of warranty work, I'm not sure how they plan on long term support for the modern product!

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

It's been many years since Lionel had any training sessions, I'm thinking along the lines of around fifteen years.  I know the question was asked many times of Lionel with no answer forthcoming.  Since they don't do any out of warranty work, I'm not sure how they plan on long term support for the modern product!

Planned obsolescence?

"Planned obsolescence?"

I'm guessing the current repair and parts situation is more likely due to very limited staffing and financial resources, in a shrinking hobby ecosystem. They may have to choose whether to support current products, or products from 10-20 years ago.  Lionel in the 1950s could support a large network of dealer service centers because the market was perhaps 100s of times larger, the variety of parts tiny by comparison and the complexity of repair likewise orders of magnitude simpler.  Not to mention that the number of dealers and dealers with repair capability is vanishingly small as time goes on.  Many if not most sales are on-line.  Amazon does not have a repair facility of any sort for example.  Neither does MTH, by the way.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

It's been many years since Lionel had any training sessions, I'm thinking along the lines of around fifteen years.  I know the question was asked many times of Lionel with no answer forthcoming.  Since they don't do any out of warranty work, I'm not sure how they plan on long term support for the modern product!

They don't which is the case for many companies. Throw it away and buy new.

Great Question, it’s so sad that Lionel, and others, are not keeping parts for their older command and legacy engines. And trying to find a repair center is getting harder and harder. You can look at the index in the OGR Magazine and find only a handful of dealers offering repairs…. Personally, if this trend continues, it will affect sales. Happy Railroading Everyone

I was reading these posts and thought of my search for parts during COVID and the phrase (sorry, Dr. Condro @Putnam Division) "Physician, heal thyself" came to mind.

In my situation, I was looking for headlight lenses for my prewar switchers. I had exhausted all the typical parts suppliers and was stuck. I don't have a 3-D printer, but luckily, a fellow OGR Forum member did and came to my rescue!  He generously provided around 20 for me. This was a great gift.

(First photo above, original part on left, "frosty" 3-D printed on on right).

(Second photo above, 3-D replacement lens, with headlight lit)

So, maybe you can draw parallels here with today's modern parts, either now, soon or in a few years. I guess not all parts can be 3-D printed, but maybe a good amount can. I was very happy with how the prewar headlight lens came out.

Otherwise, if I needed other parts, I might have also looked into casting.

Tom

@PRR8976 posted:

I was reading these posts and thought of my search for parts during COVID and the phrase (sorry, Dr. Condro @Putnam Division) "Physician, heal thyself" came to mind.

In my situation, I was looking for headlight lenses for my prewar switchers. I had exhausted all the typical parts suppliers and was stuck. I don't have a 3-D printer, but luckily, a fellow OGR Forum member did and came to my rescue!  He generously provided around 20 for me. This was a great gift.

So, maybe you can draw parallels here with today's modern parts, either now, soon or in a few years. I guess not all parts can be 3-D printed, but maybe a good amount can. I was very happy with how the prewar headlight lens came out.

Otherwise, if I needed other parts, I might have also looked into casting.

Tom

I totally agree with this post.  One aspect we have lost in this hobby and in general is the ability or willingness to do our own repairs which in part has led to the idea of a throw away society.  Yes, modern electronics are complex and require a completely different skill set compared to repairing something mechanical, but we also see so many posts as a community where we demand these new features.  Better control systems, better sound, more smoke from everywhere.  This inherently comes with more complexity. 

Parts can be 3D printed in many cases or there can be other work arounds.  The fact there was once a large network of authorized service stations for Lionel products leads me to believe that they weren't perfect out of the box either and / or needed maintenance repairs over time.  In general, we are a community of makers which is why we enjoy this hobby so much so if we put our minds to it, I'm sure we can find ways to fix what inevitably will need repair at some point.

In general, I do not think the modern-era resource supply has been well organized.

What I mean is we have countless of books and reference sites for prewar and postwar trains, but you have to really hunt for stuff related to modern trains if you want to learn about them and what you're dealing with.

I understand this is very difficult considering how much product in 3-Rail O Gauge has been made since the late 70's, but can you find a complete reference guide for Lionel stuff made in the Fundimensions era or the Richard Kughn era? Maybe one for each by Kalmbach, but that's it.

O Gauge and other zines have done some good articles about the modern stuff - headlining the best items, documenting certain quirks about certain products, tips about improving them, etc. - but you have to hunt and peck to find which issue they're from depending on the model in question - they're not in one conclusive resource center to find quick unless you archive it by whatever means yourself.

i.e. Not a conclusive resource guide for early L.L.C., Right of Way, or Weaver Models, etc. of things to look out for.

That's why I often have to ask here on this forum if something goes awry on anything modern because it's usually a question no one else has addressed prior or if it has the solution is not available readily.

I think I have two books documenting what MTH has made, but they both only go up to 2000 and (being from 2000) neither really have information about how to maintain them or what things to look out for if you're buying them now.

What I will say about Lionel right now, I'm glad not much has changed with LEGACY hardware in the past 12 or so years. They're still using most of the same hardware to do the same functions with the same setup arrangements, so it isn't absolutely incomprehensible to understand how these work. You could call their LEGACY system outdated, but aside from the first LEGACY locomotives from 2007-11, the setups, parts, and functions have remained roughly the same, and Lionel still supplies parts for most of these models as of writing.