is it true what LOU CAPONI IS SAYING?

Louie : You are the BEST !! Please keep up the great job your doing !!!

I hope this isn't true.....Louie I've been uplifted by your Tinplate offerings and have re-dedicated my Standard gauge collecting and was so darn happy with the recent offerings.  Any way it can continue and I'm positive there are many many of us wo feel this way!

indydanny 

Lou, as long as the LCCA follows through with its production of Goliath and the matching "showroom" passenger cars, I'm a happy camper. 

I very well fall into the "tinkerer" category regarding Standard Gauge, with my primary interest being hi-rail/scale O-Gauge 3-rail trains.  So I can understand that this was a test scenario for LCCA to feel out the Std Gauge market.

Perhaps I'm wrong in my thinking here, but it appears to me that in the case of Goliath and it's cars... they are a paint-scheme variation on product that MTH is already producing this year in other roadnames.  So LCCA isn't absorbing huge amounts of risk in terms of tooling costs -- rather they're committing more to X units of a certain paint scheme.  Follow my drift?  And if that's the case, then perhaps there's still room down the road for LCCA to offer special road-names of items already being produced in larger quantities.

Just rambling here and thinking out loud... and thanks again for going the extra mile in all you're doing to make the LCCA such a terrific and relevant club for us toy train enthusiasts!!!

David

"I can't justify tooling costs etc.to produce such short runs of product"

Lou

I was interested in seeing your offerings, but what tooling was there exactly that made this so cost prohibitive? The CV and it's the passenger cars were existing Lionel Corp tooling. The Prospector was a Flying Yankee (existing tooling) repaint. The Goliath was a repainted Brute (existing tooling) and the showroom cars are existing tooling. At most we are talking some paint masks. 

Am I missing something?

I wonder had the tinplate had the option of TMCC/Legacy and/or been produced by Lionel themselves you would have had much greater interest?  I realize that wasn't possible. There are still a fair number of people who don't want their Lionel trains with PS2/3 or for that matter, made by MTH.  Just the way it is.  Thanks for all your hard work.  I'm sure your other Lionel offerings in O gauge and S gauge will be welcomed by a larger percentage of the membership.

Interesting thought.  I can see where PS2/3 vs. TMCC/Legacy vs. conventional operation might come into play for some folks.  But I'm way past who "makes" these toys -- if we can agree that's what they are, which some here would argue   (referring to another currently running thread).  

Aside from the control system employed, these jewels are "made" in overseas factories nowadays.  Whether Lionel or MTH, they're just a front-office importer to a larger manufacturing operation.  Heck, even the MTH tinplate catalog reads Lionel all over the front cover, and the name MTH is tucked back on the rear cover in VERY small copyright print... So small you could almost miss it.    Funny how everything all blurs together when we're in this hobby long enough.  

David

I can understand what Lou is saying by the fact that the "production" techniques for tinplate are more labor intensive and craftsman like, than say, taking a mold and adding bits to it. Although I never purchased one of these from Lou's organisation, (not through a lack of potential desire), these were undoubtedly wonderful products by anyone's standards, and unique to boot. A real shame...   

Correct.  Take a look at all the model railroad companies that suffered when Sanda Kan fired their customers.  Some of them still haven't fully recovered.

Rusty

yes you are missing something. the flying Yankee is a completly brand new tool! nobody knows what happened to the one LIONEL owned several years back. thepainted sample of the prospector is a repainted damage modern lionel production model. There were a few pieces that needed changes on the CV set. the brute required chrome plating and on a run of 50 units is expensive. last paint masks are not so inexpensive any longer. Contracts for small special runs are a headache to say the least.

i hope i have answered your questions

regards

louie

Lou

Thanks for the response. I wasn't trying to be critical, just understand what tooling was involved. Thanks for all your hard work on these projects.

Lou,

Sorry to see the tin-plate go.  BUT -   I hope that you can now spend more time on the General cars that a large number of us are eagerly awaiting.  I haven't taken my engines out of the box yet in hope that a smoking boxcar and perhaps a new cannon car along with the standard Lionel cars would be on the horizon.  

KC

I would love to see the Nuclear Reactor accessory produced that was shown a few months ago.