Lionel BTO . . . OK. I ordered last Sep. How much longer?

It was 4+ years for the smoke fluid loader.  (extreme example - parts changed, etc.)

You are not likely to wait that long, but 4 months is barely significant for any item, even freight cars.  If it gets to be more than a year, you might have concern or wonder what's up.

-Dave

Depends on Chairman Mao......

BTW:  Four months is not very long in today's hobby.

Looks like Aug 2017 on Lionel's shipping list...

Process is to announce a product, take orders, accumulate the orders, if enough items ordered work with the oversea manufacturer to get item built, manufacturer puts build order into their schedule, product gets made, placed on a slow boat from China, arrives in California, gets shipped to distributor, maybe shipped to LHS, and then FINALLY reaches customer.

For many products it can take a year.  For others, even more time. 

One needs to build up a tolerance for patience in order to enjoy the hobby.

Jim

As stated already.......it CAN take years!!!! 

It has taken some of the Atlas faithful customers up to 8 years to get an engine from them

Minimum 8 months to a year, in some cases longer

Berkshire President posted:

...  Four months is not very long in today's hobby.

Think of 4 months like a blink of an eye.  Those of us who ordered Atlas-O's Santa Fe F7's will wait at least that long just to MAYBE see them after the F7's were here in the States (late December), but failed to meet Atlas-O's quality inspections here in the States.  We never really got the straight story from Atlas-O, but A-units reportedly had some issue with decoration details.  So now we're told we may see them in the March/April timeframe.  And so the wait continues. 

cjack posted:

Looks like Aug 2017 on Lionel's shipping list...

Wouldn't trust that date at all.  In addition to the mis-information that has become the norm on Lionel's shipping schedule (and that's being kind), that 8/2017 date was reportedly just the "placeholder" for all the new stuff catalog'd in 2016 Volume 2.  

The candid truth is... Lionel really doesn't know when those items are gonna arrive Stateside.  It could be 8/2017... It could be 12/2017 (more likely)... Or it could even be tomorrow! 

David

jd-train posted:

Process is to announce a product, take orders, accumulate the orders, if enough items ordered work with the oversea manufacturer to get item built, manufacturer puts build order into their schedule, product gets made, placed on a slow boat from China, arrives in California, gets shipped to distributor, maybe shipped to LHS, and then FINALLY reaches customer.

For many products it can take a year.  For others, even more time. 

One needs to build up a tolerance for patience in order to enjoy the hobby.

Jim

cjack posted:

Looks like Aug 2017 on Lionel's shipping list...

I'm only quoting both because cjack alludes to the one step missing form Jim's thorough list.

While it may be denied by the vendor, there is a consistent  pattern of "optimistic" shipping dates being posted for stuff in a new catalog when it is still the preorder period, these dates then mysteriously slip out later shortly after the orders are in. 

Maybe that is slightly affected by the numbers of orders received (I can see prioritizing higher quantity items, or putting things with more margin at the front of the queue to generate more cash flow up front), but I also see it partially as a sales ploy.  Make customer think it's not too far off when ordering, only shift it out to something more realistic (which still may shift several times) once they have decided to order it.

My pessimism only.  Your mileage may vary.

-Dave

I have been waiting quite some time for items from 3-rd Rail. So, not a total stranger to these wait times.

But this is my first BTO with Lionel. The perplexing thing is I placed the order for the eight Ps1 cars on Sept. 22. Quite some time ago (forget date . . . maybe November?)  I got a call from Nicholas Smith that the 3 sound cars, also BTO from the same catalog, and ordered at the same time, had already been received. Seemed strange those 3 cars arrived so quickly? But nothing on the PS1 cars in the last catalog yet.

Terry Danks posted:

I have been waiting quite some time for items from 3-rd Rail. So, not a total stranger to these wait times.

But this is my first BTO with Lionel. The perplexing thing is I placed the order for the eight Ps1 cars on Sept. 22. Quite some time ago (forget date . . . maybe November?)  I got a call from Nicholas Smith that the 3 sound cars, also BTO from the same catalog, and ordered at the same time, had already been received. Seemed strange those 3 cars arrived so quickly? But nothing on the PS1 cars in the last catalog yet.

That might have something to do with it.

The previous sound cars were very popular over time.  It's possible that even though Lionel "branded" them as BTO in the catalog, they actually might have taken a chance and had them plodding through production before the catalog was even released to the public.

We need to remember BTO isn't really what it sounds... it's just the latest "branding" method for Lionel to generate interest.  Since the explosion of massive catalogs around the turn of the century, they have always made roughly based on orders.

-Dave

I waited a year for the VL-BB, three or four months isn't all that bad. 

Terry Danks posted:

I have been waiting quite some time for items from 3-rd Rail. So, not a total stranger to these wait times.

But this is my first BTO with Lionel. The perplexing thing is I placed the order for the eight Ps1 cars on Sept. 22. Quite some time ago (forget date . . . maybe November?)  I got a call from Nicholas Smith that the 3 sound cars, also BTO from the same catalog, and ordered at the same time, had already been received. Seemed strange those 3 cars arrived so quickly? But nothing on the PS1 cars in the last catalog yet.

Terry,  just a general question... are you sure those cars were BTO?  Usually PS-1 boxcars are regular production... as were the single boxcars w/sounds.  I'm not even sure the VisionLine 3-pack reefers with sounds were BTO.

Regardless... there really is NO rhyme or reason behind Lionel's production schedules.  At the end of the day, they seem to be grossly at the mercy of their overseas factories.  I seem to recall the Pennsy M1A set was reportedly delayed for months -- if not over a year -- because of a delay in production of the caboose for the set.  Lionel released the separate-sale locomotives with different road-numbers, but held up the set locomotive and hopper cars until the caboose was produced. 

I also recall waiting well over 3 years for Lionel to produce the 60' CSX Heritage boxcar (6-27092, from the 2012 Signature Catalog) that had the "How Tomorrow Moves" logo on it.  OVER THREE YEARS for a regular production boxcar -- albeit one with a fancy paint scheme!!!  Gotta admit that more than a few times, I pretty much figured the car would never be made.  I had a bunch pre-ordered to make a nice CSX unit train, and finally they arrived about a year ago.

David

Rocky Mountaineer posted:

Terry,  just a general question... are you sure those cars were BTO?  Usually PS-1 boxcars are regular production... as were the single boxcars w/sounds.  I'm not even sure the VisionLine 3-pack reefers with sounds were BTO.

Not sure of anything, David. I saw the product in the last catalog and placed a pre-order. 6 CPR (p.45), 2 GN(p.44&47) and 3 B&A sound cars(p. 69). Got call the 3B&A sound cars were ready to ship a couples of months ago but not a peep about the 8 others. Getting word that the sound cars were already at the dealer got my hopes up the others might be soon behind.

Seems not so.

Terry, I didn't think they were BTO.  The BTO products have a BTO banner splashed across the catalog page near the item photo or its description.  Anyway, like I said... there's just no rhyme or reason to when stuff ships -- BTO or regular product line.  Hang in there!

David

David: Ahhhh . . . I see. Clearly did not understand that. Thanks for explaining.

Ordered a Central Vermont milk car that I kind of forgot about it's been so long.  Was told they were being made in I believe Hungary. Not sure how that's working out. They do have a few new milk cars in the recent catalog.

There seems to be items from the 2016 v2 catalog that aren't  on the shipping list yet, like the 6-83387 NYO&W NW-2 or any of the NW-2s for that matter and the logging disconnect cars. Unless I didn't get the memo about any changes or cancelations.

Lionel's shipping schedule has not been updated in three weeks.  Maybe it's time for an update. 

lionel89 posted:

Lionel's shipping schedule has not been updated in three weeks.  Maybe it's time for an update. 

When I asked about Lionel's January shipments, Charlie from Nassau Hobbies mentioned Lionel is doing inventory this month... and not to expect any new product shipments until February.  But hopefully that didn't mean the end of February.  I'm waiting on the Command-Controlled versions of the #342/#345 culvert accessories that have been delayed for MONTHS now, but are showing January 2017 on the shipping schedule.  But alas... the schedule also shows the VisionLine GG1's and Reading T-1's with a January 2017 ship-date also, and we know those actually shipped last December. 

David