Lionel 6-81142 Vision UP Reefers

Apparently so. I think he had a little more authority in his voice too...not just reporting status but direction as well.

I put them on a small circular test bed, programed the sound reefer and it sounds awesome. Hope Lionel offers a single sound box car because the way it is set up you can add more. Heck, even if they offered another 3 pack new road numbers I would buy them - Maybe a set on NYC???

 

KM

I have to say the 3 pack boxes are all awesome - Lionel should consider this box design for all Build to Order items

Buy another set and move the shell of another one to the sound car.  FWIW, if you have a bunch of these, mixing the numbers will probably never get noticed anyway.

 

If this was truly a built to order item, I feel that this was a senseless decision by Lionel.

Especially since it was a vision line product.  With a price of $299.00 it's well in the reach of everyone on this forum.  Now you will just have a number of forum members that have supported Lionel and now are unhappy that they can't get them.

 

 

daylight,

If an OGR forum member is unhappy (I can't imagine that!) because they did not get a set of VL Reefers then they really have no one to blame but themselves.  There is a BUILT TO ORDER badge right in the center of the splash page between the picture of the Big Boy and the reefers.  Lionel decision to build to order is not senseless.  It is the prevailing wind with regard to marketing and producing toy trains. 

It's obvious that the "built to order" approach is the way of the future for Lionel. I'm sure that being stuck with excess inventory and then blowing it out got old fairly quickly.

 

Considering that the catalog stated it very clearly, as well as the many posts here on the forum, there's really no room to complain about not getting these.

 

Now, if you're the type of person that has to see it in person before buying, Lionel's products may no longer fall in favor with your buying decisions.

 

Personally, I view it as them doing me a favor and curbing my spending. I pretty much only buy Lionel but I don't buy everything. I limit myself and try to be reasonable rather than rabid. None of these items are "must have."

 

I like the Lionel reefers and considered ordering a set of the Vision reefers. I didn't like them enough to pre-order though. If these reefers were normal stock items, I'd probably buy a set. The way I view it, Lionel saved me some money by not making them readily available beyond the pre-order.

T4TT, not everyone reads the Lionel catalogs and therefore didn't know it was build to order or didn't want to purchase at that time.  I  still think that there is less of a chance having to "blowout' vision line reefers than $1500.00+ locomotives. I do have one set on order; just ordered the last one available the other day.

 

I still feel that from a profit stand point, they made a mistake, of course they can always offer them again.

Daylight,

I just checked the web page and BUILT TO ORDER is NOT stated on the VL Reefer's web page.  So if a person relied on the web page and did not see the catalog they could be out of luck.  You are right.  I checked a few other newer items and BUILT TO ORDER is prominently displayed on their product information page.  So I guess Lionel realized that BTO should be conveyed on the web page.

With the absolutely awful Lionel catalog artwork it is a wonder anyone preordered as the colors shown are completely different from previous runs of these scale PFE reefers. If only the marketing department had shown them in the as delivered colors sales would have huge. And if they had sold them as a pack of 2 sound equipped cars the sales might have even been higher since there are already 11 "dummy" matching reefers and the 1 silver also available.

http://www.lionel.com/Products...p;RailLineID=Pacific Fruit Express&CatalogId=

http://www.lionel.com/Products...p;RailLineID=Pacific Fruit Express&CatalogId=

 

I'm sure dealers by now order a certain percentage above their pre order numbers knowing that they will fly out the door. With the popularity of the sound cars I'm surprised that Lionel doesn't start cranking them out more consistently With all sorts of car designs. Perhaps they are working toward that.

 

if your an OGR member, you pretty much know by now if you want something order it.

 

im still awaiting a re release of the S-3 given how popular that engine is, and I know a lot of people missed the boat.

I think most of the larger dealers bought extras to supply the expected demand, and they quickly sold them, thus justifying their stocking plans.

 

Didn't someone say, "You snooze, you lose"? 

They did now Charlie!

 

The biggest reason people dont preorder is because they assume they can get things at blow out prices later down the road. BTO or not, you had to assume these would sell out.

Charlie you're exactly right! Now people are gonna whine and cry that it's Lionel's fault because they didn't do something right.

Not looking to debate the merits of the Build to Order manufacturing direction Lionel has taken on certain products. Their leadership has reasons and I am sure it makes sense.

 

Build to Order is a common practice in many industries including toy industry, seasonal items at the mass merchants, toy trains, the computer industry like Panasonic's Toughbook line of laptops, etc. The one thing BTO does is that it sets the expectation within the supply chain as suppliers clearly knows what is expected of them. 

 

While we may not like it, there are reasons for it. One mentioned is to prevent blow out pricing to moe stale inventory which is disruptive to the marketplace regardless of industry.

 

It is up for interpretation but on Page 8 and 9 of the 2014 Signature Catalog it states in the middle of page 8, giving the impression that the product pictured are build to order. It also says that their are other PFE options available, see item D on page 64 - that says ALL ITEMS NEW, no mention Build to Order on that page.

 

If you were not sure if it was a BTO item, the option was ask your dealer to clarify or send an email to Lionel.

 

I don't model this era Union Pacific so with one sound car it was easy to pass. Now if there were two sound cars I would have swapped the shells with my ATSF reefers I've got. 

 

From what I've heard through videos, I like the wheel scrape but I could take or leave the loading/unloading. 

 

Just begs for more single car rolling stock to add to any era train (Excited that a forum member has something along these lines in the works)

       
       



If and when they redo the s3 it will be 1400 bucks might as well buy the used one that someone was selling on this forum a few weeks ago.

yes, an old girl friend.

The drama queens are surfacing...

 

Can't read, catalog is confusing, didn't understand these were BTO or not, they don't match other PFE sets, and, what? Only one sound car?  

 

Blame, create excuses, or find a reason...anything BUT yourself for not ordering.

 

 

"I don't model this era Union Pacific so with one sound car it was easy to pass. Now if there were two sound cars I would have swapped the shells with my ATSF reefers I've got."

 

You are right on here. Not sure of the loading/unloading and icing sounds but wheel squeal spread throughout a train would have been nice. They will surely sell out because the list price point is barely above 3 plain cars. 

Well, I was bummed by only one sound car, so I had to get two sets.

 

Just received mine l they are great thanks nassau

Thanks XXL! 

Hey Charlie, I got a call Friday for final payment on mine, but I never did get a follow up email with tracking number.  You don't happen to have an ETA on when I should see mine do you?

I also bought two sets but not because I was "bummed" or anything like it..

I bought two to make sure I got one because my LHS buys through distributers and has been shorted on his order before. When one of the forum sponsors said they had extras I jumped on a set....now I'm happy I did!

I received my set yesterday.  And, I had non-buyer's remorse over not ordering the matching, but silent, 6-81908 set. I found a dealer who had them in stock and ordered a set of them.

Sinclair,

 

Just tracked your order, They are OUT FOR DELIVERY right now! Via UPS.

 

Enjoy!

SWEET!!  I better let my wife know to keep an eye out.  I'll be up late tonight playing.  Thanks.

My second set is sitting on the workbench, so I'm in PFE heaven.

 

I was able to get a second set at a premium but I got them. 

 

They were in the catalog for you to get... you just didn't order a set. Did you not understand what build to order means?

I spent lots of time looking for these. I ended up with 4 sets (I only need 2 sets ).  I can't wait to run them. I have the VL tank cars too. I hope that together they will make a good showing.

Don't know what catalog you're are looking at but on page 8 of the 2014 Signature catalog has the "build to order" sign is next to the BigBoy and not the cars.

 

I still really think they could have sold these vision line cars w/o the "Built to order", especially since the 3 car set only retails for $300.00.

 

I not concerned about getting this item, but there are other forum members, especially new ones that would like to have them.

 

I do have a set on order; just ordered them last week.  The last set that wasn't pre-ordered.

 

It's irrelevant if it was BTO or not...those who didn't should have ordered a set.

 

For those that waited and didn't order/find a set after release, that's the roll of the dice you risk doing that.

 

As I said earlier, the drama queens have arrived...

Trainworld does have them I confirmed and ordered another set.

After seeing a set in person earlier this month around the 4th holiday, I ended up picking up a set from Trainworld for MSRP! Considering what others are asking it was well worth it.

 

Kudos to the Lionel sound team, I wasn't sure at first but checking the manual for the sequencing intricacies I knew it was something would be a great fit on my future switching layout. 

 

 

Great job Rudy and team! 

I received my BTO set just before the Holiday, and I really like the sound quality.

What is nice is, I can turn off the wheel squeal sound effects when they cause my ears to hurt...