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

Wow, I can't believe you'd send this awesome set back because there is no ETD!! I would make something else work, before jumping to conclusions here. This appears to be a high level set all the way around.

Rich, those are great devices you speak of- very cool in today's railroad world!

Jeff...I was just going to post the same comment/sentiment!  Though, possibly, a little light-weight...this has to be the "car of the year" for 2012...in my more than humble opinion.

Is there any way to adapt the MTH ETD to these cars??  Perhaps using the MTH device is worse than having this set at all.  I admit the SD80 is of no interest to me...but, for the first time ever...I am interested in auto racks...even though I may not be able to tolerate the way they look on my maximum 099 curves.

Someone could make a mint selling ETDs to these guys???

Between the shallow fuel tank on the Sd80 and the plastic ETD, I will send the set back. The Sd80 is less of a concern for me, but now that the set has nothing more to offer me than the 2 packs do I have no reason to keep it. I will wait a few days and contact Lionel but if no fix is offered it will go back. 

As for sending it back being "ridiculous", I disagree. A feature was promised and not delivered. 

I think you hit the nail on the head. These doors swing outward completely from the top of the car down to the frame. There is no way an ETD could be installed and still allow for the doors to open/close freely. In addition, we are supposed to be seeing cars to load into these things down the road, another obstacle.

I think the reactions about Lionel "cheapening" the product are way off base. The only thing they are guilty of is poor communication. There should have been an announcement before these left the factory. And to say the set is no good without the EDT is ridiculous. These things are drop dead gorgeous.

I can easily understand that rationale.  

As nice as the set is, each of us has our own reasons for whether or not they'd be interested in the entire set.  I for one, have no need for another CSX diesel... so my LHS was willing to break up a set IF he could find someone interested in the engine, then he would sell all 4 cars as a set to me.  I was only interested in that break-up deal 'cause I really wanted the BNSF car with the ETD.  The other 3 cars would be bonus "nice-to-haves".  But as I said earlier, the road names can be purchased as two-packs anyway -- nothing exclusive about the set's road names or the cars themselves.  And if I can find a third-party ETD device as mentioned above in an earlier the post, then that could be conceivably added to ANY of the add-on cars -- or even one of my MTH units if need be.

Almost makes this set a yawner headed for the blowout zone in a few months.  I feel for dealers who will be stuck with the set inventory, when there was so much hype that accompanied the announcement of these newly tooled cars.  Perhaps dealers will just find it easier to break up the sets and sell individual items on a one-off basis, 'cause I can't see any innate value in owning the entire set at this point.  Would be a completely different scenario if the set had unique road names (like the CN piggyback set in 2012V2).  But that's NOT the case here.  

My two cents...

David

Surefire, didn't mean to sound like I was calling you "ridiculous". We were typing at the same time and I hadn't even read your post when I made that statement. I understand your feelings. For me, even though I would love to have a working ETD, I ruled out up front buying an $800 set which included a locomotive I had no desire to own just to get the ETD.

John, I did not take the comment personally, just thought that I should clarify my reasoning for sending the set back. I had the same feeling as you on this set, but in the end decided I wanted the cars (+ETD) and could sell the diesel. 

Lionel cannot place a working EOT device on a car in

a set that costs $900.

Lionel placed a red LED with a flashing circuit on a $50

cell tower. They also placed the same flashing circuit

on the coaling tower and the Sunoco Oil tank.

None of the circuits flashed but could be made to

flash by adding a capacitor.

The manual does say to take the car back to Lionel

to repair the EOT if it does not light.

I suspect they will be getting a call and we will find out their response.  Hopefully they will do or say the right thing to satisfy those that were looking forward to that feature. 

I installed a Dallee kit on my MTH cars.  I'll do the same with the Lionel if they don't make things right.

Hello...please put me down for the UP Auto Carrier...what do you figure will be your price??

Please contact me at llineba@surewest.net

I think this set will be sort (once it sells out) after as its a good looking scale train. Weight issues place diecast cars inside. EOT I will mix some MTH auto carriers with it.

It's a model set and I like it.

Well as it really appears, this is a scale set with scale 89' cars. Why would Lionel design the SD80 with a shallow fuel tank??  I mean seriously there is NO excuse. If the cars are 89' in length, there is no way they are traveling through some 072 switch and the tank is short-cut for clearance. I'm glad I have these cars on order but the SD80 is a real let-down. Glad I don't have it coming.  The cars definitely look cool. 

If any one is disappointed in the sd80 that came with the set

 

So what engine would of been your choice?

I think he's saying he WANTS to BUY the locomotive from someone who's already purchased the set but doesn't want the set's loco.

In my case, I already have enough CSX diesels (both Lionel and MTH), so the set as configured wasn't on my radar screen.  And now that we know the BNSF car with the ETD isn't an operating ETD as we've seen in other sets, well...  thanks but no thanks.

Configuring sets can be a tricky proposition at best, 'cause Lionel will never be able to please everyone.  HOWEVER, I think the strategy used with the CN Piggyback set is a better one:  namely, including cars/roadnames in the set that can't be otherwise purchased for individual sale (unless of course a dealer breaks up the set).  Personally, I could take or leave the GP-9 loco and caboose in the piggyback set.  But they're nice enough that I could keep them, while expanding my collection of Standard-O PS-4 flatcars with 3 more new/unique piggyback trailers.

David

The fuel tank on the CSX SD-80 is the same one they put on the UP, CP and Lionel SD-90 MAC's back in 2000. I didn't like how high they were back then, so I just broke out some bondo and lowered them myself.

Geno

Wow what a site! I love the modern stuff. You got it all??

I'll take the BNSF even without the ETD

Geno, would you mind posting a picture of one of your locos? Id love to see the end result. 

David56 I have one in the for sale section for $400 + actual shipping cost.  It will be at the Monroe, MI show this Sunday for $425.  If anyone wants the engine please email me.  brucefclark@Juno.com  Thanks bruce

Yeah, me too.  That's an easy fix.

How bout an ES44?  CSX has them. As far as the ETD. Call it false advertising, bad communication, poor quality....to me this is what I have come to expect out of Lionel. 

 Here's a link to a larger pic as well:

http://i932.photobucket.com/al..._001_zpsa9ce77d2.jpg

Joe I am going to give Lionel a run for their money by having a very much protypical LANSING AUTORACK consist being headed up by 2 CN ( OF COURSE) SD70M2 AND ALL GTW & CN Autoracks Wonder where I am going to find the motive power and all that rolling stock

Saw the set yesterday and to say the least I am very disappointed. The SD90 is hideous with that shallow tank and although the racks are nice they seem to be too light for their size. My cash stayed in my pocket. Maybe I'll buy some of the racks and see how they track but then again I just may stick with my MTH racks. 

I looked forward to this set but Lionel just made too many mistakes, SD90 fuel tank, the weight of the cars and the eot.

I may be wrong, but I would imagine that the weight of the cars has been intentionally  kept low, so as that they are not too heavy when loaded with autos.

All plastic freight cars are lightweight until you add the steel plates they used for added weight! There is nothing difficult about adding weight to these cars whatsoever- I plan on doing that with the steel plates I have on hand-

I would agree that the least of the problems is the weight of the cars... that's a VERY easy issue to address if you otherwise like these gems.

The cars themselves are magnificent... I just think the set will now have a much more limited audience than it could have had, if Lionel had chosen to make the set consist a bit more exclusive in terms of road names and/or features.  As delivered, it's pretty much a yawner, unless someone is in dyer need of the SD80MAC CSX locomotive that accompanies the cars that are also available in 2-packs -- albeit with different road numbers.  

Another example of how pre-ordering in this era can be a risky proposition.

David

" Items depicted in this catalog are subject to change in price,color, design and availability."

Jeff, When you modify your Autoracks please post some pictures. Thank you.

Maybe Lionel will make an good thing out of this by doing a few more sets Like an ES44DC IN CANADIAN NATIONAL with CN, GTW,CP, BNSF,UP,& NS. Also offer the set with UP. BNSF& NS Motive Power.

At the very least, I think it's a good bet that we'll see more Lionel auto racks in NS, CP and BN liveries.  Perhaps even in one or both of the 2013 catalogs!

David

All this has done is taught me the lesson that pre-ordering from Lionel is a crap shoot. Im not the guy that will swear off their products forever, but my pre-ordering days are done. 

And Geno, thank you for posting that picture, your tank looks MUCH better. Could you possible go into some detail in how you did it?

One thing I've learned is that in O scale, you can almost be assured that some type of modification will need to be done in regards to some features to make freight cars more scale-like in appearance. It's usually not a big deal, but it is across the board with Lionel and MTH products.

Most cars they produce ride way too high, or the truck placement is way off. This can fixed, and when it is, the cars look magnificent. It all depends on how you want to approach "modeling". For the most part, that is the most fun- and seeing your end result.

I think these auto racks are going to be awesome- adding weight is easy compared to some modifications I've done to other cars.

I'm sure many folks ordered the set from the 2012 V1 catalog, and then the 2-pack add-ons were featured in the 2012 V2 catalog.  Yet everything shipped simultaneously.  So it's quite likely that the 2-packs were in the production pipeline alongside the set, but Lionel held off announcing them until the next catalog.

So the natural question is... Who would have ordered the set if they knew identical road name cars would be available as separate sale items -- not to even mention within the same shipment/timeframe?

David