Lionel 2015 Passenger Car Production Plan (Includes Cancellations)

Thanks for posting.

This was sent to dealers

Charlie and Gromet, thanks for sharing this info.  There's another thread posted here with commentary as well.

And while none of this is all that surprising, it's good information to know in light of Lionel's BTO deadline around mid-March for the 21" sets replacing the cancelled 18" sets.

While I don't believe Lionel's move to 21" sets is gonna be the panacea that some folks are proclaiming here -- hey, how many folks have the real estate to do them justice? -- it is what it is, and we'll move forward now knowing which sets will / won't be produced.  Thx...

David

So no Southern 18” Aluminum Streamlined cars will be delivered?  That hurts my feelings...

The hanging question for many is yet to be answered, will Lionel produce new tooling and continue it's 18" passenger car production. Not a concern for me, but it is for many who prefer this size for many reasons. Time will tell.

i'm glad i acquired so many 15" cars, since i'm not likely to see new stuff any time soon.

The market is "FLOODED" with MTH ABS 18" passenger cars in every road in both fluted or smooth sided variations.  

Most six or 7 car sets sell at shows in the $250.00-$300.00 range. And the best part... they look great with interior detail and most have sitting passengers.

Simply the best buy in passenger cars on the market today because they ARE the perfect size for most layouts.  The real question is who really needs $1000.00+ ABS passenger car sets with so many options available 

A six car PRR NIB set sold at $160.00 a few days ago on the sale forum.

Joe 

We didn't realize the significance at the time, but these last four 18" aluminum sets to be produced/delivered are precisely the 18" aluminum sets illustrated on pages 80-81 in the Lionel's 2015 Signature Edition catalog.  

I guess we can at least give Lionel credit for not canceling one of the aluminum sets they just featured in the latest catalog!   Not sure if we'll be saying the same for a few other select 2015 items like the over-priced plastic ES44's and heavy Mike's.  Only time will tell if low pre-order volumes will get those items cancelled. But if they are canceled due to low demand, they deserve to be.

David

I wouldn't rule out other sizes in the future. While these cars will not have figures inside the detail will be fantastic

When I saw the new catalog I wondered if Lionel was going to produce both the 18" and 21" Southern Railway passenger cars.  I prefer the 21" cars.  I am glad that I won't have to buy both of them now as I had the 18" cars on preorder.

Neal Jeter

Great info - thank-you!

--Greg

Well thats a bummer. I had the Texas Special cars ordered. No way can plastic replicate aluminum, detail aside. Plus I can only run 21" cars on the club layout. 

Pete

Didn't Lionel catalog a 21" TS aluminum set a few years ago?

Seem to recall the price with E-8's included was not that much more then the ABS cars listed today.

Joe 

Joe, While I have some 21" sets, I can only run 18" at home. I considered Lionel's 18" aluminum cars to be the best in that size. I have seen the 21" aluminum cars are they are fine but don't work for me.

Pete

Agreed.  I too had the 18" MKT's on order for the same reason.  

I personally think Lionel's cut-over to 21" passenger car production is a huge mis-calculation.  A niche market at best compared to Lionel's normal audience.  But I've also been told by a few LHS owners that they believe the demand is there.  We'll see.

David 

"The following 15” Aluminum Streamlined Passenger Car sets and 2-Packs WILL be made and delivered in 2015

6-11194 Neil Young Signature Series Texas Special F-3 Passenger Set

6-25757 Neil Young Signature Series Texas Special Passenger Car 2-Pack"

HALLELUJAH!!!!!!!!

YEEEEEEEEE HAWWWWW!!!

I guess this means the 21" cars? Sorry if I missed something but if the new ones won't have figures I'm not totally surprised.

I surely hope not.  The Lionel catalog says the 21 in cars will have "detailed interiors".  If not, I will not purchase. 

+ 1.

I remember that set you are referring too, at less than $27/car, I almost bought them and repainted to my road name.

It'll be interesting to see how Lionel's future 18" ABS cars will do.  Guess we'll know in a few years.  Also be interesting to watch the price of Lionel's 18" aluminum cars on the secondary market-will they take off like K-Line did?  TBD.

I'm truly excited about all the changes in Lionel's passenger car line.  

Good stuff only getting better in my opinion.

When I first looked at the catalog, I did not realize the cars would have no figures.  If you want figures and have to add them because they at not included, it almost impossible to find figures that are cost effective, proper size and decent looking.  There have been several threads here on the forum about trying to find figures for passenger cars and how difficult that is.   When you do find them, you have to usually modify them by cutting off their legs to make them fit into the seats of the cars.  I bought some figures recently for my MTH passenger cars from China off of ebay but they are generic looking.  I wonder why Lionel is not including them since they have been included in their previous sets of passenger cars?   

I am glad they are offering the StationSounds diners again.

Neal Jeter

The Newly cataloged Lionel 21" passenger cars will NOT have figures in them.

When I asked about this in an earlier post I said I would not be surprised if they left "little people" out (in the cold or on the station platform). I think it's partly cost-shaving and partly lack of anything other than generic figures. The new 21" ABS models seem to promise more detail and significant improvements on the lighting, coupling and window fronts so it figures they'd leave out figures that have to be hand painted and glued in place, which can only add to the base cost of producing the cars.

Now however I wonder what the promise of "detailed interiors" really means? Although I notice that these new cars are not expected to be available until Nov. 2015, which could easily turn out to be this time next year, some explanation would be welcome.

Taking a look at some nice 18" Lionel aluminum passenger cars I have on display, I see that the figures are a good size (not scale but proportionate to the interiors) and well painted but I have never found a source for anything similar except from MTH .  .  .

Here's a simple fix to the passenger issue-mold and cast your own.  Most good craft stores sell resin kits.  Make a few master 'passengers' and this would be a very simple mold to pour. You could make a lot of passengers in no time.

Next, paint and install.  Situation resolved.

At least, that's what I'd do if I wanted passengers in my cars.  I sure wouldn't spend a lot of money buying 'people' for these.

I love post like this. Many of our guys are always waiting to hear what is and is not being made.

Thanks "GROMIT"!

Yeah, I looked into that as well as 3D printing people from the streamliner era - not steam /1930s. Cost in terms of time and effort was prohibitive, which might be the very same thing that Lionel found. 

My guess is that Lionel has based their decision not to do all the 18" on past sales/pre-orders.  I know that there are a number of folks on this forum who like the 18" cars, but IMHO the 18" car is more of a niche than the 21" car.  A lot of folks who don't want scale cars (could be 21" or smaller) have purchased 15" cars. I fell into that category when I had two sets of K-Line 15" aluminum cars.  Sold them, however, in my move to scale cars.

Jim

What scale are the GGD Little People, that Scott offers to sell, to populate his cars?  Personally, I don't think $25 is too bad for 36 ppl.  Could buy a couple packs, and then sparsely populate the cars.  Or as 86TA suggested, create your own molds, and just paint em yourself. 

If the Neil Young Signature Line Texas Special 4 car packs are/were available as a separate sale item, I'd buy them.

Mike

I was looking forward to the aluminum Southern set but have NO interest in 21 inch plastic cars - especially with no people.

Happy railroading,

Don

I'm really disappointed in the decision not to run the 18  inch MKT aluminum cars.  I was really looking forward to them.

They are slightly smaller than O and slightly bigger than the MTH Railking passengers; the latter are the closest I have got to a good fit without major work on each one. 

Glad to have the update.  Anxiously awaiting the NY signature 15" PRR add on 2 pack.  It will be interesting to compare them with my K-Line 15" in the same FOM paintwork. Also looking forward to experiencing station sounds.

Bruce

Speaking for myself as an C&O Modeler, the cars that Lionel was producing in the C&O tri-colors were very inaccurate, especially since they are painting Budd built cars painted in Tri-Colors and some of the Numbers and Names they are using were very inaccurate as well, if an Company like Lionel is going to produce an Certain Car Type for an certain Builder, they could at least do the proper research and paint then in correct colors that fit the car they are trying to represent. 

Too bad the colors don't match the engines made by other manufacturers. 

Posted by Dave45681:

Minor nit here, and I'm sure everyone "gets it" based on the responses, but:

 

I would assume all the entries that list 3 different catalog number 2 packs (for each road name) as being cancelled are really cancelling a 4 pack, a 2 pack, and a station sounds diner (since that is what they are being replaced with)

 

Lionel could use an editor/proofreader if that was cut and pasted from their notice.

 

-Dave

Actually, no.  The aluminum cars were actual 2-car sets with no StationSounds diner car (though a non-StationSounds diner could be part of one of the 2-car sets).  The replacement sets are a 4-car, 2-car, and StationSounds diner.

The list of features for the 21" cars is impressive, but is a bummer that Lionel will not install figures in them.  The passengers and staff in the 18" cars really added a nice touch.  Passenger cars with no passengers just seems silly.

I hope the cars are easy to disassemble because I will be putting figures in them.  As mentioned above not all the available passenger figures are the same size, and in my experience neither are the interiors of cars.  I have a set of 18" MTH Army cars and the seats are so close scale figures will not sit them without some cutting.

Luckily, there are no roads I am interested in the first wave of 21" cars, so I will sit on the sideline waiting to see what the final product looks like.

Actually some do. I run MTH smooth sided N&W cars with the Lionel #611 J.

Its a dead on perfect match.

Besides, other then the Daylight and Dreyfus sets, I can't think of other roads that require cars matched to the engine.

Joe

Luckily, I'm in the same boat.  Be interesting to see how they look.

What I'm about to say is probably going to 'fire' a lot of people up-my disappointment in the 18" MTH cars has been they look like plastic to me.  Just my opinion.  Don't get me wrong, I've bought 15 of them over the last year because they were an excellent value on the secondary market and have filled a void in my collection nicely.  Hope the Lionel 21" cars don't have the 'plastic' look but time will tell.

If I could find the 2-pack and the station sounds diner to complete my City of Denver set I would be happy. Probably end up passing on the the new Lionel 18" cars and buy some K-Line 18" cars.  Prefer them anyhow.

Really enjoy this thread, a lot of good points have been discussed.  Though we've wondered way off topic from the OP, but, it's the OGR Forum...