Lionel 2015 C2 Catalog Dealer Update
Since the release of the 2015 C2 Catalog, we have received a number of inquiries and comments about some of the new product. We would like to update you all with answers to these most frequently asked questions, as well as some changes we’ll be making in response to customers’ suggestions.
If you have additional questions or feedback, please pass it along. We want your customers to be confident when placing their orders that the product they receive will meet if not exceed their expectations.
Thank you,
The Lionel Team
SD60E
This locomotive will be new tooling – and much more than just the cab. Final design was not complete by the deadline for catalogs, so our creative team did the best they could with our existing templates. (Design is now complete.) The new locomotives will feature new tooling for:
• Norfolk Southern Crescent cab – note that there will also be variations on the roof antennae to match each roadnumber / scheme.
• Long hood – all doors, screens, etc on all sides and roof of the hood will match the SD60E. We are not using the existing SD60 or SD70 hoods.
• Walkways / ends – all new to accommodate ditch lights above the anticlimber and new railing stanchions.
• Pilots
We are using the SD60 frame and trucks. This will allow the locomotive to negotiate the O31 curves. We will use the low-profile fuel tank (no excess gap between the bottom of the tank and the rails.) We have cut no corners on this locomotive to bring you the absolute most-accurate model possible for 3-rail O Gauge!
SD38 / SD40
We have received our first early samples from the new SD40 tooling. These feature the new Kinematic Pilot that will also be found on the SD38. We have these listed in the catalog with a minimum curve of O54. We are holding to that as the official recommended curve based on our testing. Traditional and light-weight scale freight cars may derail in curves tighter than that.
However, with moderately heavy scale cars, you can negotiate curves much tighter. We had zero derailments using a 50’ scale double door boxcar behind the SD40s on curves as tight as O36! If you have customers who want to run the locomotive on something tighter, the answer is yes, you probably can – if you are a little selective about what you couple to the locomotive.
The early samples look and run very well. We should have some additional pre-production SD40 examples on display at York.
GP9
Some confusion on the New York Central units – they will have the two-tone gray lightening stripe as shown in the catalog.
Consolidations
We have received many comments about the tenders on these locomotives. While still not exact replicas for the Milwaukee, Nickel Plate, Southern or Western Maryland locomotives, we are able to change the tender on these models to the same one used on our USRA Mikados. See the attached artwork. We recognize that these are still not exact models but several have told us that other details could be overlooked if it had the right tender.
All of these locomotives have Whistle Steam.
N5 / N5B
The four new cabin cars introduced in this catalog will not have smoke units. Correct MSRP for these cars is $89.99, not $94.99 as printed, due to the change. The cars will include the scale stack.
We have been in touch with the factory and additional scale smoke stacks and air hoses are being produced to cover the recently-delivered cars – many of which did not have the parts included. These parts should be available through Customer Service by the end of October.
There are detail differences between the N5 and N5b models. These include the correct end railing arrangements and smoke stack location. Lionel has tooled multiple variations of these cars so that we can present it correctly for multiple eras and road names.
Milk Cars
We recently discovered a custom run of the Milwaukee Road milk car was done in the same scheme and road number. We’ll be changing the number on this car to #370 to avoid duplication.
Union Pacific Passenger Cars
Although only a sneak preview, these have generated a lot of attention! These cars will be tooled following the Union Pacific’s excursion fleet cars. They will not be generic sides. We’ll save the rest of the surprises for the 2016 Signature Catalog!
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