Lionel's Misguided Gondola

Michael,

You have a neat idea.

A Military Police Officer chasing a terrorist!

Ralph

I like zombie stuff and Lionel's Halloween themed cars.  One of the oddest was the transparent tank car filled with "blood" from a few years ago.  Also the walking zombie boxcar is real cool.  I don't overdo Halloween like some folks but we run the Lionel Halloween set each October.  There are several chase gondolas with Halloween themes like the one in the OP.

I have  a Geroge Bush on a missile chasing Osama Bin Laden on a magic carpet car. Its pretty awesome

People spend plenty of money on Halloween. I've read claims that more is spent on Halloween decorations than any other holiday.

And zombies are popular. There seems to be no end to the T.V. shows and movies that feature zombies.

I guess these cars are going to sell.

 

Would I buy one? - no.

Then again, I wouldn't buy any of the Christmas Story themed stuff either, and I am a long time Jean Shepherd fan.

A  good idea. It would be a good military car

I love the Zombie themed stuff.  It'd be cool if Lionel had a marketing co-op with The Walking Dead franchise.

 

Hmmmmm.... a pax car with "Walkers" all chained up to their seats with Michone lording over them with her sword.  

 

 

“Do any of you actually use and/or collect ZOMBIE cars?”

 

Not me per se, but I do purchase them for my nephew who loves them and if that keeps him into trains a bit longer than it did the job.

 

He also likes the Christmas themed items; I guess holiday themed items in general he likes.

 

He has absolutely no interest in my scale Lionel, Atlas or 3^rd Rail stuff.

 

Charlie

My observation is that there is not much of a younger market for trains. Oh sure, some preteens and elementary aged kids get into to it. A few older ones. I wish you were right!

 

I'd like to see this car ala US ARMY with two AR equipped guards patrolling around on it.

 

Do you read the stuff here Lionel?

I bought this gondola, as well as the zombie aquarium car and zombie walking brakeman car.

 

Zombies are big in western PA, largely thanks to George Romero creating the genre here.  Pittsburgh even has a store dedicated to all things zombie.

 

One of the most popular scenes on our PIHR modular layouts is the scene where we have zombies advancing on a hippie camp.  We've had lots of positive comments about it (and one negative from an old hippie with no sense of humor ).

 

I'd love a Walking Dead series of boxcars.

 

Andy

How about a Terminus BBQ Sauce tank car?

 

Jerry

 

I like it!   Too bad the slogan "finger licking good" is probably trademarked or copyrighted by KFC... it would go well with Terminus BBQ Sauce.

 

Andy

My only problem with the car is that the zombies appear to be chasing each other. Replace the lead figure with running human and you'd have a more believable scene!

Zombies have risen from #6 or so on the monster popularity scale to be nearly equal to vampires in popularity if not greater than. The only problem I see here is that the zombies and can easily get loose on the layout and contaminate the entire layout figure population. The first contagion vector would most likely be the local hobo camp if you have one, spreading from there to the trailer park and so on. Eventually, your only recourse will be to burn the entire layout and start over.

Only if there's Daryl and the crossbow would I consider it.

 

In 1:48, of course. Who wouldn't want their zombies Full Scale?

 

And the Terminus BBQ sauce tanker idea - a Must Have.

 

Jerry

 

I disagree completely with the misguided statement and i have bought one and look forward to the zombie set. That last time I looked these trains are meant to be played with and enjoyed. Am I not allowed toys any more?

So wrong, it's right!

 

I had a Christmas layout on a door I would take to the local mrdd preschool. If I could swing the investment,  (and additional time off from work)  I could use the same layout base with some minor changes and run a zombie Halloween train. Not my cup of tea, but if it makes a difference in a kids life- well, there's your future investment. 

 

 

Rick and the gang were locked in a box car at terminus. I would buy that car!

 

I love the Glove and Boots youtube reference, I'm a big fan of their work.

As for zombies, I think it's downright silly, but I guess it represents a 'realistic' monster type in terms of how they're portrayed yet physically could never exist.

I assume that's the appeal, because that's one of the few 'end of the world' scenario types that we never have to seriously worry about happening.

Yes, zombies are very much 'in' right now, though I can't stand the genre myself.

All zombie fiction goes this way:

• Zombies show up
• People are totally unprepared
• Most people die or become zombies
• Society collapses
• People scramble for the last resources still left
• They then prey on one another
• And then, the zombies win

That's why I don't get the appeal of zombie fiction because in the end, the zombies always win. A friend of mine knew my annoyance at this and said I had to watch the film, "28 days later." At the end of that, I huffed and said, "I have three word for you; Sequel, Zombies Win." Sure enough, that's exactly what happened later.

Probably a different word would have been better.... But you get my point. They can offer that car to the Zombie crowd but I'd like to see it in US ARMY to add it to my TOYS.

That was from K-Line, Matt.   At the same time, K-Line made a similar one of Bush chasing Sadaam Hussain.

Michael, Lionel has made dozens of chase gondolas featuring an array of characters over the years.  You may get your wish on the idea you suggest some day, but I think you will more likely have to add the custom figures yourself.  There is little chance Lionel will ever offer gondola figures brandishing assault rifles.  Can you imagine the backlash?

I agree with Captaincog, and glad you see that Michael: "Misguided" is totally the wrong word. Just because Lionel (or anyone else) makes something some folks do not want to buy, doesn't mean the product was a misguided effort.

 

I personally don't do halloween cars, but I don't do military ones either. Though I do have the chase gondolas in other roads. I don't fault Lionel for doing the newer scale types of cars and locomotives, even though I don't buy those either. Given the low production levels of the scale items, you could call that end a misguided effort but the truth is, Lionel needs all the customers they can get. And that means scale customers as well as the more traditional ones that have gotten Lionel to where they are today.

 

And just to put a different spin on this: Nearly every program I've seen and book I've read pertaining to the history of Lionel, has called the period (late 1950's to the early 1960's) when Lionel turned the focus to military trains, "a misguided effort."

 

Lionel has since re-issued some of the military types of trains, so I would guess Lionel knows just exactly how well they really sell. Halloween has become a big holiday as far as the economy is concerned. Lionel has previously done a slew of military trains, but the halloween thing is new. And Lionel has been trying new things to increase sales... can't fault them for that.

 

I sympathize with Lionel, in that they seems to have a hard time making people happy... at least on this forum. Pertaining to this style of gondola, how should it have been done as a military style car? If they made it "US Marines," then probably folks would complain that it should have been "US Navy." And then the figures: Should you have zombies chasing each other in a US Army gondola? Or maybe a Navy sailor chasing a Marine?

 

A Sergeant chasing a Private? How would you know... those figures are a tad small to try and paint insignia on their arms.

 

Michael, I don't know if this is in your skill range, but since the car is black on the inside and military green on the outside, this would not be an impossible repaint. If you could closely match the color, you could do a patch paint job. Then put on whatever military decals you wish.

 

 

Jerry

 

 

Yes!!!!!