I ask this because I fell in love with the tinplate trains you guy & gals have shown here on OGR .
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No.
that is sad news . I still have my O-gauge, Ho Scale & N scale trains ! I forgot the On-30 trains as well
Lionel hasn't produced Standard Gauge tinplate trains since who knows when.
MTH was building the contemporary Lionel branded Standard Gauge tin (and O gauge) under license with Lionel.
Rusty
Hi Rusty
I knew Mth was producing the trains for Lionel . Lionel should produce Tinplate again !
MTH made the Lionel Classics line in the late 80's, their own line of Tinplate Traditions in the 90's and under Lionel license in the 2000's. If MTH decides to reintroduce tinplate, it will be likely be under the Tinplate Traditions line, however the minimum quantities are typically higher than expected sales, especially for the less common locos like the 392E, AF and Ives lines. If they decide to do it, it will likely be limited to the 384E and 400E, but the market is pretty saturated with this product, so it will take a while, if at all.
From what I understand with the market changes no and likely never again.....
WRGMILW posted:Hi Rusty
I knew Mth was producing the trains for Lionel . Lionel should produce Tinplate again !
I don't believe Lionel has any tinplate tooling in storage. Most likely cost prohibitive for Lionel to develope tinplate tooling for a very limited market.
There is a lot of new tinplate still out there but eventually MTH will still produce tinplate traditions just not under the Lionel name plate.
I'd love to see more production, even if it is badged "MTH" rather than "Lionel". However, the market is pretty saturated - how many more repainted 400E engines and cars, at $1500+ per set, can the market absorb? New stuff is needed, but that runs smack into the cost of tooling.
It's shame that Lionel stubbornly overestimated the value of the licensing agreement, or lacked interest, or both.
Bill T posted:WRGMILW posted:Hi Rusty
I knew Mth was producing the trains for Lionel . Lionel should produce Tinplate again !
I don't believe Lionel has any tinplate tooling in storage. Most likely cost prohibitive for Lionel to develope tinplate tooling for a very limited market.
Which is most likely why Lionel licensed tinplate to MTH.
Lionel offered some tinplate O in the mid-2000's. That probably told them how poor the Return On Investment for tinplate was.
Rusty
