Lionel vol 2 cataloge

xxl posted:

Dose any one know when lionel vol 2 catalog will come ?

Yes.

"When will then be now? Soon....."

Isn't there suppose to be a postwar O27 set in this catalog?

Terrance posted:

Isn't there suppose to be a postwar O27 set in this catalog?

Rumored to be so, yes.

After the last one I am amazed anyone has any money left.

I got away form the last catalog with only some passenger cars. WHEW, I've got enough stuff coming. 3rd Rail is going to get me for the price of a nice car

So, are going to see some O-27 FasTrack?

J Daddy posted:

After the last one I am amazed anyone has any money left.

This is Lionel's new business model, J Daddy...  Folks see what they want in the new catalog(s) regardless of the nosebleed MSRP's.  Then they sell something in their inventory for 50 cents (or less) on the dollar and put those funds toward the new product.  So the "net new outlay of cash" tends to be what the price of the new product should have been from the get-go.  But in reality, they've sold something to purchase the new product at an inflated price that they'll never be able to get down the road when it's time to sell it.  

One big vicious circle built on a HUGE house of cards.  

David

Despite the prices I did per-order the Lionchief Plus Reading and Northern Pacific.  I wanted to try the technology, and it's really a good looking piece.

All I would be looking for in the next catalog are the passenger cars that would go with it.  I never even heard of this road before seeing it in the catalog (I never heard of the Northern Pacific either until I got the 1959 NP GP set for Christmas) .  I guess the passenger car production would depend on the sales of the engine.

Alan

reading and Northern Paci

Rocky Mountaineer posted:

J Daddy posted:

After the last one I am amazed anyone has any money left.

This is Lionel's new business model, J Daddy...  Folks see what they want in the new catalog(s) regardless of the nosebleed MSRP's.  Then they sell something in their inventory for 50 cents (or less) on the dollar and put those funds toward the new product.  So the "net new outlay of cash" tends to be what the price of the new product should have been from the get-go.  But in reality, they've sold something to purchase the new product at an inflated price that they'll never be able to get down the road when it's time to sell it.  

One big vicious circle built on a HUGE house of cards.  

David

I had to pass on the Allegheny... it hurt but I will just have to settle for the old one for now.

I will say this...this is the first summer that I have seen all the older TMCC locomotives just dry up... its been slip pickins lately. 

This last Catolog hurt me bad.   I'm afraid to see the vol2.  My poor credit card

J Daddy posted:

...

I had to pass on the Allegheny... it hurt but I will just have to settle for the old one for now.

I will say this...this is the first summer that I have seen all the older TMCC locomotives just dry up... its been slip pickins lately. 

J Daddy, I think what you're seeing relative to the supply of older TMCC locomotives "drying up" is directly related to folks realizing THAT's where the real VALUE is nowadays.  There's a tremendous premium (i.e., "throwaway dollars") enthusiasts are paying for the newest stuff -- even when pre-ordering.  But we do what we gotta do! 

I haven't given up completely on the new Allegheny yet, but I also didn't pre-order one either.  As with most of the new stuff in the 2016 catalogs, I'm gonna wait until these hit the market, then let the dust settle a bit.  It'll be nice to see if the Allegheny models find their way into some special dealer sale that would bring the price down around 10-15% off the regular everyday street-price.  I'm not looking for a specific road-name / road-number, so whatever SKU is on sale works for me. 

For folks who waited things out on Lionel's latest FEF-3, there was at least one forum sponsor where the FEF-3 could be purchased in the upper $1200's shipped this weekend.  Still a good chunk of change, but less than any pre-order prices I saw.  And just within a week or two of the steamers hitting the street.  But it's admittedly a gamble to wait -- especially if you REALLY want a specific model.

David

Aug 31

The Reading, Blue Mountain & Northern began in 1983, when the Berks Rail Corporation needed an operator for 13 miles of the former Pennsylvania Railroad Schuylkill Division between a connection with Conrail's former Reading Company Blandon Low-Grade Line at Laurel Junction (north of Reading)  and end-of-track at South Hamburg.

The Schuylkill Division had been constructed at enormous expense in retaliation to the Philadelphia & Reading's most colorful, controversial and combative president, Franklin B. Gowen, who took on all comers - the Pennsylvania Railroad in particular. A surveyor from Virginia, Moncure Robinson, had planned a route for the P&R that paralleled the Schuylkill River and provided level or descending grades from Reading (then Pottsville) to tidewater at Philadelphia. Constructed 50 years later, in the 1880's, the Pennsy's Schuylkill Division required numerous bridges, grades and curves. Graceful concrete arch bridges (now the Thun Trail) are visible by Route 422 south of Reading at the Reading's Klapperthal Junction. A magnificent bridge at Manayunk soars above the Schuylkill Expressway as the Schuylkill Division swung north away from the main line. This bold invasion of the Reading's territory proved little more than a nuisance. It was single track. Mr. Robinson had insisted upon double track and wooden ties resting on stone ballast. They served the Reading well. Although the Pennsy built the division for fast, heavy trains, traffic didn't warrant them. Assigned at Philadelphia, passenger power was generally smaller than a K4 Pacific: E6 Atlantics and G5 Ten-Wheelers, though a G5 occasionally derailed on reverse moves. Freight power was usually the ubiquitous Pennsy H-class 2-8-0. The division connected Philadelphia with industries in the Schuylkill River Valley with coal mines at Pottsville. Trackage rights with the Lehigh Valley provided service through Hazleton to the Pennsy's Sunbury line near Nescopek, PA. After World War II, traffic diminished and the line was whittled away. The longest remnant was the 13-mile route between South Hamburg and Laurel Junction north of Reading. By 1983, Conrail had decided to abandon it.

Andy Muller, a semi-retired schoolteacher and coin dealer, was standing on the corner by his coin shop in Hamburg when he heard people discussing the abandonment. He contacted Peter Deck, an employee of Eagle Chemical Company at Temple, who was trying to save the line on behalf of the 5 shippers who relied on it. Mr. Deck formed the Berks Rail Corporation. Because Mr. Muller had no railroad experience or background, Conrail and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania sold the line to the Berks Rail Corporation, who engaged Mr. Muller as operator. The Blue Mountain & Reading began on September 10, 1983. By December 31, 80 carloads had been moved. A 2-mile segment of the Schuylkill Division north of Auburn was leased to provide service Precisionaire Company and Reneer Films, who made plastic sheets, not movies. This was one of the few places that the division came close to the Reading. A crossover - still in use - was installed.

In August, 1990, Conrail contacted Mr. Muller about operating the Reading's anthracite lines, called the "coal regions." Track and right-of-way maintenance had been deferred, and repairs posed a challenge - let alone acquiring locomotives, cars and crews. Mr. Muller, his employees, and a lot of new hires proved equal to the task. The Reading & Northern was born.

As Conrail spun off other anthracite lines - formerly Lehigh Valley, Jersey Central, and a host of branches - the Reading, Blue Mountain & Northern was formed. Offices, car shops, locomotive shops, the dispatcher's control room, and the steam shop were consolidated at Port Clinton. The office building was based on the Reading's Catawissa station. The RBM&N operates some 300 miles of track, all well maintained by dedicated, skillful MoW crews. The American Shortline and Regional Railroad Association has given its highest award to the RBM&N three times in the past six years. Railway Age Magazine named the RBM&N Regional Railroad of the Year in 2015. The RBM&N is the only railroad to win this award three times.

The RBM&N is a privately held company that serves more than 60 customers in 9 eastern Pennsylvania counties: Berks, Bradford, Carbon, Columbia, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Northumberland, Schuylkill, and Wyoming. It provides freight service as well as steam and diesel passenger service through the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway, thanks to more than 200 dedicated employees and more than 1000 freight cars.

ajzend posted:

Despite the prices I did per-order the Lionchief Plus Reading and Northern Pacific.  I wanted to try the technology, and it's really a good looking piece.

All I would be looking for in the next catalog are the passenger cars that would go with it.  I never even heard of this road before seeing it in the catalog (I never heard of the Northern Pacific either until I got the 1959 NP GP set for Christmas).  I guess the passenger car production would depend on the sales of the engine.

Alan

Passenger cars for the Reading, Blue Mountain & Northern are tuscan red; for the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway, blue. CJB Custom Painting & Designs can paint to order. Christine J. Braden painted Walter Matuch's RMT (formerly K-Line) streamliners to match my 2348 M&StL GP9.

And the RBM&N is painting some fancy hoppers and boxcars, based on the Reading Lines AMERICA'S / LARGEST / ANTHRACITE / CARRIER herald