LIONEL buildings just don't compare to the ones offered by Woodland Scenics or even Menards.

@AlanRail posted:

I was looking thru the latest Lionel catalog for buildings. Lionel has a good number of buildings. However, Lionel needs to take a look at the building offerings of Woodland Scenics. Even Menards does a much better job on its buildings than Lionel.

The buildings are part of Lionel's purchase of Life-Like.

Rusty

Lionels too busy trying to figure out how to develop a 4 wheel truck with an operating coupler.

Just purchase the buildings from Woodland Scenics or Menards, its a free market system.

Besides.....whats wrong with a German Shepherd?

Way too many dogs!.

Anyway, I'm hoping Lionel will do better; like they did when competing with MTH engines.

They need to add "Craftsman-like" not "Life-like" to their future buildings.

If you really want a Hot Wheels diner for your Hot Wheels layout, you can't get it from Menards.

we in the O gauge hobby are very blessed at present with the of wonderful nicely detailed building for our layouts.  I certainly welcome the recent offerings from Woodland Scenics and Menards.  But keep in mind, when the tooling for the buildings you are referring to (about 20 to 30 years ago depending on the structure), these were considered very nice structures.  As with our engine and rolling stock, the details keep getting better.

The structures you re referring to are available at a much lower price point than WS and most likely fulfill the needs of many model railroaders.  

If you want better structures, you can find them without bashing those offering lower end products.

I just do not understand why certain folks here will look for any excuse to opportunity to trash Lionel!  

Happy railroading,

Don

Be a modeller rather than an accumulator:  the Lionel buildings give you an opportunity to customize your buildings.  Most buildings are very difficult to modify.  The ONE offering in the new Lionel catalog that I will likely take advantage of is the new series of building kits.

The early Lionel buildings were real ‘plain Jane’ and ripe for complete disassembly, paint, weathering, LED’s, signs, and adding interiors. I purchased all 8 of the originals for $15 each and did just that. I mixed them up with some MTH row houses and a couple Woodland Scenics buildings for a convincing 12’ street running scene on our club layout. I’ll admit, for the money they’re asking now, forget it, they don’t compare.

@DGJONES posted:

If you want better structures, you can find them without bashing those offering lower end products.

I just do not understand why certain folks here will look for any excuse to opportunity to trash Lionel!  

Shouldn’t the “lower end” products also have a lower price?

15 years ago street prices on Lionel structures were in the 12-15 dollar range. At that price it was almost worth it. You could add about 30-40 dollars worth of detail parts and approach the detail of a Woodland Scenics building but you would also be investing about 10 hours of your time assuming you repainted it.

Today the best deals are on the secondary market.

Pete

Perhaps they are plain by comparison to some of the new scale buildings, but Lionel structures do respond well to a little added detail and careful placement.

Like many on this forum, I was fortunate to have Lionel trains and Marx playsets to channel my youthful imagination during the Christmas season and on those rainy days when one was not allowed to play outside.

The Woodland and Menards buildings easily win the gold medal for great realism, detail and value (dogs included). Lionel scores well between realism and toy like, but for me, put a Marx tin structure or a "Fort Apache" on my layout.

Hey DG

You make some very good points.  But I didn't see any "bashing" by AlanRail of Lionel.  He made some cogent and fair comments.

I am constantly amazed at how often people on this board tell other people what they can and can't say in their posts.

My understanding is that this isn't a Cheerleader board for every product, layout, idea, table or scene that is posted or discussed.  This isn't Kindergarten, where everybody and everything gets a "Great Job" and a big gold star for everything they do.     It is suppose to be a forum for truth, fair comment, opinion exchange and critique.  Otherwise, really, what's the point?

Mannyrock