Lionel LC Blue Comet Set

It runs smoother than I expected for a starter set.  I believe this is “regular” LionChief without speed control.  One thing that bothers me is that they left the railing off of the observation car.  Hopefully you can purchase that part from Lionel and install it yourself.

Despite it's lighter color, it has been one of the most popular sets at my LHS, The Imperial Train Company.  They sold out and ordered more.

The missing railing on the back is inexcusable and Lionel should be ashamed of releasing something like that.  50 cents worth of plastic.  Come on Lionel !

VistaDomeScott posted:

The missing railing on the back is inexcusable and Lionel should be ashamed of releasing something like that.  50 cents worth of plastic.  Come on Lionel !

I believe the person who posted the video said they didn't put on the railing because "they" didn't want to bother. I believe the railing is included!  I think it was in the comments section.

The railing is included.  They just didn't install it.

Nice sounds for Lionchief set.  Just darken color a little and it will be perfect for a starter set.

Train Nut posted:

VistaDomeScott posted:

The missing railing on the back is inexcusable and Lionel should be ashamed of releasing something like that.  50 cents worth of plastic.  Come on Lionel !

I believe the person who posted the video said they didn't put on the railing because "they" didn't want to bother. I believe the railing is included!  I think it was in the comments section.

My apologies , glad to know!  Thanks

SandJam posted:

Nice sounds for Lionchief set.  Just darken color a little and it will be perfect for a starter set.

Unfortunately, lack darker colors seems to have been an issue of late.  

Not sure who approves the color prior to production. Such an iconic set and they get the color wrong. Need I ask who approves the color?

I saw one running at a LHS where I live and I really liked it. The only thing that bothers me is the fact it gets its electricity from a wall wart and a rather small one at that. I wonder if there are voltage drop issues if you add track to make the oval larger. Has anybody tried this? If you did, how did it go?

You can use a regular transformer too, so shouldn’t be an issue

i'm sure it's not, but that color makes it look cheap

Historically, bright colors have always helped "make the sale" when it comes to train sets. I did a search for Jersey Central Blue Comet on Google, and the colors of model trains were all over the place.

As a long time bona-fide buyer of starter sets - even though the color maybe wrong - it doesn't bother me that much for this particular set. Although the prototypical color is a darker blue, and I believe it is two shades of blue, not the blue and black used here.

The color as is reminds me of Conrail blue and appears to be the same color used for the LionChief Plus Pacific Blue Comet engine. And as MartyE seemed to suggest with his observation, I doubt too many people who are potential buyers of this set are going to be too disturbed over the color.

And yes, some of the color issues Lionel has had, especially with more expensive high-end products, are disturbing to those buyers who want more accuracy. And of course, Lionel touts the prototypical accuracy with their catalog descriptions, even though there's the ever- present catalog disclaimer.

That's part of the problem with your vendor factory being overseas. But even MTH and Rapido have had their difficulties and unlike Lionel, they both own their own dedicated facilities in China. Often in people's displeasure with these products we read the words "with what we pay for these trains." Of course, you wouldn't even have most of these scale products were it not for overseas production.

Really though to a large degree what you're paying for, is the privilege of getting a highly detailed scale proportioned train, most likely from recent tooling that may not have recouped its' initial investment in and of itself, and is produced in very, very small production runs.

I can't imagine Joshua Cohen giving a green light to a production run of 25 units, other than a factory test run (or an error)! Same for Lionel during the MPC years. They wouldn't have even considered a production run that small.

And in case no one has noticed, the current prices of the traditional Lionel products are not that far behind the scale versions, and some cases, exceed the scale product prices. And the prices for starter sets have gone up considerably too, given the production and shipping savings from eliminating the transformer from the sets.

Just sayin... no one is forcing any one of us to buy these trains. You'd think the mistakes would have already killed the high-end market, but obviously not.