Lionel Autoracks and Motor City Express ...Now with flashing ETD

So, for the 10,000 dollar question, do these cars hang around long enough to buy a nice string or are these going to be a one shot deal?

 

The reason I ask is that I also like these long unit trains, but I can't get 10-15 cars at one time. Do you think these will be purchasable at retail two or three years down the road?

 

Charlie

 

Having the GTW reporting marks in italics as GTW is common on the newly refurbished auto carrier flat cars, painted yellow with black decals. I have not seen it on the older blue painted auto carriers from the 1980's and 1990's. This is apparently a collection of all the GTW styles from the past 30 years, to match the Grand Trunk SD80MAC diesel.

 

Andrew

I wouldn't worry about buying them all in one shot- Lionel's scale-sized rolling stock is popular, but recirculates on the secondary market 5-10+ years after the items are released. The only downside is that the more popular cars, 2 and 3-car sets tend to go up in value as time passes. And the sequentially numbered cars from set break-ups can command top dollar, due to their rarity.

 

I'm still filling the "holes" in my Husky Stack and tank train rosters, but I limit my purchases to more reasonably- priced pieces- I can't afford pieces like the SP "Oil Can" Tank Train set, that came with 8 sequentially numbered GATX tank cars.

 

Geno

Thanks for the news, I hope my preorder shows up soon. I only have o72 curves and switches, however, I have had issues with long cars going through tunnels and bumping sides. This why I avoided buying the whole set. I also passed on the Double Diesels for the same reason. Since I came back to this hobby 2-3 years ago, I haves learned a lot and thoroughly enjoy it after being away for 30 years. David

I bought 7 of these things... looks like its a preorder gamble that'll pay off.

If they're popular, I'm sure they'll make more of them in other road names, so I dont know that I'd worry too much about not being able to get them all immediately.

Since atlas also announced a re-run of the articulated racks, I sense a club layout length autorack train brewing....

Charlie I wondered the same thing about these cars. My thoughts are that Lionel spent new tooling money on these cars which to me says they plan to use the tooling for some time. NOW COULD THEY MAKE OTHER NEW ITEMS LIKE DOUBLE DECKER PASSENGER CARS? I don't know. I am not so sure that the auto carriers will be as popular in other areas of the country as in the Great Lakes Region. With price of these cars not being cheap and like you really not knowing how long they will be around, I decided to buyless road names but several of only 2 road names to start with. I hope to do another round of buying after awhile of the same road names and at that point should be in pretty good shape on those two. Later I will consider other road names if they are still on the market.

Can anyone comment if the reporting marks and paint schemes on these cars are prototypical? Many thanks.

I have seen enough Auto Carriers over the past 20 years to tell you that they are all realistic and accurate, except the Lettering on the flat car of the GTW Auto Carrier. That Style of GTW markings is either a super rare variation, or they borrowed it from the new GTW auto carriers that have arrived at the end of this year in Yellow paint with black marking decals. Every GTW Auto Carrier with a blue flatcar had the name GRAND TRUNK WESTERN on the right end when viewed from the side.

 

Andrew

Good Day,

 

When time permits, can you please check the under frame? Did Lionel design the under frame of the auto carrier's to allow for the installation of the Kadee Couplers?

 

 

Mich

 

I believe this could be the same owner from your first pic.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eAJOczVDpE

 

Yes that would be my Youtube account and Jim's layout.

Would you please post some pics of the CN and UP cars- thanks again!!

I just got the Motor City set and the 2 add on cars.  Observations:

1  The cars are 3 scale feet apart on straight track.

2  On a 72" corner they are too far apart

3  The cars need more weight - I put them at the start of a heavy train and they will pop of the track with sudden start or stop

4 The couplers fail my drop test and so far one car has come loose 2 times on fastrack.  I am trying a MTH spring on the thumbtack and will run that at St Bellarmine Jan 27.  Another fix I will try is another washer to compress the spring.

Thanks Bruce

So...are the sides stamped aluminum?

Are the flat cars on this run plastic or die-cast zinc or aluminum?

 

Andrew

Good Day,

 

Did Lionel design the under frame of the auto carrier's to allow for the installation of the Kadee Couplers?

Since I don't install Kadee's I'm not sure specifically what your looking for.  Just the mounting pads?

No!

Pretty much the answer to the Kadee question that I was expecting. My hunch, though, is that installing Kadees on these shouldn't be difficult and, perhaps may be as easy as making a homemade mounting pad out of styrene strips and gluing it in place. Another tweak to enhance the model would be to build the missing flat car end (a concession to three-rail coupler operation, I presume).

 

Like many three-rail pieces, they may ride just a few scale inches too high, but if so, it's not much, and I can't be sure even that they are a little high. At any rate, there are many scale-sized three rail equipment that are much worse in the high-ride area, including MTH's version of this car and Atlas's articulated racks. I don't know that I will replace my entire fleet of MTH cars at this late date, but I'll definitely be looking to add some of Lionel's cars.

 

Thanks Charlie for the pictures.

 

RM

Your welcome Rich.

I just received notification that charles ro is shipping my CSX 2-pack.  (I'm excited).

 

Anybody else receive the CSX auto carriers yet?  Any opinions on them?

 

I don't believe there have been any photos of them posted anywhere yet.

I have seen the single from the set.  The CSX is very nice.

new observations:

5  Boxes still list rotating bearing caps as features - the cars do not have them

5  The end of train devise is a small plastic piece - to be politically correct - not very good for the price.  Lionel couldn't a functioning lighted piece be much better??  I know I would have payed slightly more for the set for an operating feature.

An extra washer under the thumbtack spring did not fix the uncoupling.  I will try a heaver spring and washer next.

Bruce are you saying this is not a lighted ETD?

 

Here is what the Product description states:

-ETD End of Train device light on rear of ATSF car

I thinks someone asked and I missed the answer (somehow)...what are the flat cars made out of...plastic, diecast...???

 

Thanks!

 

Wow!  If that's true, that's a MAJOR disincentive to purchasing the set -- better to just buy the add-ons and 2-packs as needed... especially if you don't need another diesel locomotive.

 

My LHS has everything in-stock, but no room to display the whole set.  Not many places will.  

 

Based on earlier observations about cars being lightweight, and my own experience purchasing the CN add-on car and CSX two-pack at my LHS on Thursday, these cars -- although very nicely produced -- are light as a feather!  When I picked up the CN car in its box, I thought the box was EMPTY.    So I don't think there's anything about the frame that is die-cast.

 

David

I was planning on selling the sd80 and keeping the auto racks, but if there really is not a working ETD I will most likely return my set. My CN tank train set from 04 has a blinking ETD on the last tank car, why cant the autorack? What a disappointment. 

Surefire...do you know anyone that might be breaking up the entire set...I want the UP car from it.

Charlie when you made the video at your friends did you see any issues running these cars? What are people running on the last car of the shorted older Auto Racks?

Charlie any chanve you can ask your friend about the ETD. Many thanks!!

Should be easy enough to confirm more info about the ETD -- even if owners haven't operated their sets yet.  Just look to see if there is a small wire running from the ETD to a roller on the nearest truck.  If not, then I guess this could be yet another factory-shortcut that is becoming an increasingly common but sad sign of the times.  

 

Seriously though... If the set doesn't have a functioning ETD, then there's no reason whatsoever to buy it, since there are no unique road names in the set that can't also be purchased as add-on 2-packs.  Definitely worth watching this space for further info.

 

I'd check with my LHS, but they didn't have the set on display... and indicated they would probably only put one of the single add-on cars out on display (due to space limitations).

 

David

Bill,  My friend is storing his cars with mine at my house.  I'm in northern Michigan today though at my cabin.  When I get home tomorrow I will look into the ETD issue.  I did inspect that car and thought I saw a bulb, I will put it on the track though and test it and see what it does.  It is possible that Bruce's just doesn't work.

There are multiple references in the product descriptions to an ETD "light"... so hopefully, it's what we're all expecting as in past sets that model more contemporary, caboose-less time eras.  I can't believe that Lionel would screw this up.  Hopefully it's some errant mis-information, and we should get clarification from early buyers or LHS sales folks very soon.

 

David

Charlie thank you!!. We only got a little bit of snow this morning. I bet we don't have more than about 4" total on the ground. Street on the greasy side here. Not sure what the east side got.Thanks again Charlie. Bill

According to the manual for the set, the ETD is illuminated by an LED. 

Road foreman - The ETD is just a small piece of plastic  stuck on the right door of the car.  There is no power pickup on the rear truck.  I have a MTH ETD - so I can look at and see if I want to adapt to the Lionel car.  Maybe has another scale ETD that they can recommend.  As far as I can tell the car is completely plastic.  I can remove the end screws and pull the bottom of the body away slightly but about 5" in from the end is a connection that I have not been able to pop apart - not using too much force so I do not break the car.  I will have all the cars at St Robert  Bellarmine Livonia, MI Jan 27 to test various levels of coupler fixes.  The Ford Model Railroad module has some slight roughness where the jumper tracks are connected between the modules, and at higher speeds with long trains I have had uncoupling with EVERY manufactures coupler systems.  Thanks Bruce

I agree Nicole.  I will test the car and report back tomorrow evening.  Sure hope Lionel did not overlook this feature.

The ETD is nothing but a piece of flat yellow plastic

with nothing inside and no wire connections.

There is no roller pickup on the truck for power.

It looks like Lionel saved a dollar by leaving the LED

chip out of the ETD and by leaving off the roller pickup.

They could have saved even more by leaving out the miss

leading statement from the manual.

 

 

That's a shame.  Lionel should do something to correct this.

Wow. Thats unfortunate. Looks like my set will be going back, and UPS has not even dropped it off yet. Maybe Lionel will offer a fix, false advertising in my mind. 

Many years ago when traveling, perhaps 1996, I was fortunate enough to come by this ETD in Sunset Junction Model Trains, in Spokane, Washington (a wonderful little city in its own right, and a true railfan's playground). My only regret is that I bought just one. I think they they were made by a local cottage outfit calling itself "Scaletech." I've thought about calling the shop to see if they still had them, but never did. It is battery-powered and the flash rate is perfect. Anyway, that's what's on the end of my MTH auto rack trains:



It's unfortunate the Lionel car doesn't have an operating ETD as advertised, and I can understand folks' consternation. Just a guess, but I suspect that the operating ETD plan was abandoned along the way to production of the actual car. The auto rack -- with opening end doors and trucks far inset from the car end -- is probably quite unlike anything else on which Lionel has installed an operating ETD. The off-the-shelf component used in other cars probably didn't readily fit without modification, and so maybe the operating ETD idea was simply dropped. Unfortunately, the catalogue and manual probably were already written, and no one remembered to get the word out to potential customers.

If Lionel offers no solution (I suspect they will apologize for the error, but can't do much else), there are products that I think could be used to illuminate the Lionel ETD housing. One particular HO scale ETD part from Minitronics comes to mind, as does a part made by Tomar.

RM