Lionel's New General Manager

A toy train enthusiast in the first degree, and a nice guy as well.  I didn't see him at the recent York Meet, but that may have been because he's now spending a lot of time at his Florida home.  On the other hand, he may have been there and I just missed seeing him.

I think I counted his use of the "word" ummm 53 times.  Perhaps before thinks about moving up to CEO he should join a toastmaster's club.

Allan, Dick was there I said hi to him.

Doug

Ah!  Great to hear that he made it!  Thanks for the update, Doug!

Lionel is smart to diversify.  Put quite simply at the TCA museum--This ensures that Lionel will be able to continue staying in the train business.  They have the business degrees and experience--let them run the business.  I am going to run the trains and have fun.

Not picking sides, but both companies are privately held; how or where can accurate sales data for either Lionel or MTH be obtained without being an actual insider or their banker?

I'm not sure where all of this negativity comes from.

Personally, I find the period of say...2000 to present day to be the most interesting/exciting time to be in 3 Rail O Gauge.  While my artistic/modeling skills are closer to those of Joe Charboneau than Norm Charboneau, I can still own and operate truly first class locomotives and rolling stock.

Whether it's Legacy, TMCC, or DCS, there is a remotely controlled means of operating multiple trains at the same time for everyone.  If you are morally opposed to Command Control, you can still run everything in Conventional Mode. 

I'm a three railer but can now enjoy truly scale models....and not some post war reissue with poor paint coming from a die that is just about worn out.

I can't get enough of the UP FEF and NKP Berkshires from Lionel that I'm lucky enough to own. The Milwaukee Road and Sante Fe 4-8-4s from Lionel the past few years are also superb, IMHO.   (I wish they were a little less expensive, but I digress.)

How can you not like the GE Evolution pieces from Lionel and MTH?

While not MY preference, Third Rail/Sunset has been making a very nice product for quite some time now.  How can you not respect their offerings?

I really, really like the Steam Era Classics line from Atlas.

My track of choice is mostly Ross Custom with a little bit of Gargaves.  I have a ton of product to pick from.  Atlas also makes a great track system.  MTH and Lionel obviously have their own track system as well.  There's a hat for every head!

I'm very happy to see the Lionel Repair Center located in Northeast Ohio about an hour and a half from where I live.

I think companies like Electric Railroad and Z-Stuff for Trains are tremendous additions to the hobby.

I like having this forum up and running for a multitude of reasons....and they're all good!

I'm 41 years old/young/beat up.   The MPC stuff that I was collecting and operating when I was younger can't hold a candle to what we currently have to pick from.  I enjoy operating trains now more than I ever have.

We've also witnessed capitalism and competition in their textbook form:  there are so many quality products from so many different manufacturers out there right now.  Each company has had to raise the bar/quality of its product in order to keep up with the competition.  We, as consumers, have never had a larger offering of model trains available to us. 

In my own perfect world, our hobby wouldn't cost quite so much, all electronics would work properly forever, and all of the items would be made here in the U.S.A.  Regardless, I really think it's a great time to be in O Gauge.  I'm enjoying it.  I hope you are too. 

Good Lord folks.. Give HH a chance to get his feet wet and show us what he can do.

Howard Hitchcock worked for Hamilton Collection too.  A huge direct marketer owned by Bradford Group since 1998ish.  So he has the skill set to work with any product line.

I wish John Brady and that crew would return to Lionel.

I wonder and hope Matt Ashba ends up in Concord too. 

Someone who wants to put a lot of money in a company with a declining market (think buggy whips), a competitor who loves the industry (who may or may not be "burnt out") and an aging, declining market base. Great business situation.

Gerry

I like the way Berkshire President thinks (see post above).  I wish many, many more felt like he does. 

http://www.amazon.com/Action-R...Lionel/dp/B0046VA5B8

There actually was a Lionel sponsored Nationwide series car in 2010 driven by Josh Wise.

<<You're forgetting Richard Kughn.  Former owner of Lionel, and he was in fact a toy/model train enthusiast (still is).>>

As has been mentioned, Dick was in the Orange Hall for most of Thu.  He uses a walker now but that famous smile was very evident.  He spent a lot of time near the Lionel booth.  He was bending HH's ear quite a bit.

So why is O Gauge declining?  Operationally it is more durable and can do more than HO.  I have owned some nice HO products and aside from Marklin...all of them are high maintenance and not good for carpet running...even on tables they become jerky and derail easily.  AC powered trains like Lionel, Marklin have much better option with switches and gates, etc...

As far as Lionel diversifying...Lionel = trains.  Anything else has never worked.  The Nascar business has a unique brand.  But Lionel will benefit because they share licensing and R&D similarities.  Plus they use the same plant.  I think expanding into S-scale could steal some business from the HO crowd.

LCCA Special Event - Lionel Red Carpet Event - Recap

During our recent March 23, 2013 Lionel/LCCA Red Carpet event in Concord NC, we had a chance to sit down and talk with Lionel Senior VP & General Manager Howard Hitchcock.  Click  on the link below and listen to part 1 of our exclusive interview with Howard Hitchcock. 

The members of the LCCA appreciate the opportunity to attend this wonderful event and share the day, the seminars, the tours and the sales opportunities with Lionel Staff.

Thank you Howard and your team at Lionel for hosting such a great Red Carpet Event in your facility.  Stay tuned to this website for additional LCCA video productions from this event.

Thanks Howard from all of us at the LCCA - We appreciate your discussions about Lionel and look forward to part 2.

The Members of the LCCA and the LCCA film team.

And every once in a while, don't you really wish you had one of those in your hand. Maybe they're not as useless as I thought.

Gerry

On Monday we will have a video here that will answer many of your questions.

While at York we interviewed Lionel CEO Jerry Calabrese, Vice President and General Manager Howard Hitchcock and Senior Director of Marketing Mike Phillips. They all had some very interesting things to say.

I am in the final stages of editing this video right now and we plan to have it posted here some time on Monday.

For those with high speed internet that is great.  But some of us do not have as yet.  You would think that a bunch of journalist could write up a succinct and pithy report on the important "stuff." Such as what is happening at Lionel!

I bet OGR will have an article in the next magazine with a summary of what was discussed in the videos.

No, I don't have an article planned, aside from an announcement of the new Lionel executive team.

Chris

I would say that his visit to York was likely a good learning experience for him. He is probably a very talented manager but needs to learn more about the product and the customers. I am sure the York experience was very beneficial for him. Lets see how he does with it.

did I miss this?