Macy's Holiday Car & Store Display

Ordered mine at Macy's Neshaminy Mall, southeastern, PA. Delivery date is 12/2. Register would not accept discount coupons for it, not the 20% store sale coupon or the "$15 off purchase of $50 or more" Macy's star pass. However shipping to home was free. Wonder whether one of those discount coupon\offers is accepted if you purchase it at one of those stores that has it in stock?  

The manual override button works wonders in cases like that!  That's what it's there for.    I was unusually lucky last night, and a store clerk who clearly knew her way around the register software took care of me with a completely unexpected 25% discount.  Good move on her part, 'cause I'll shop there again in a heartbeat.  She clearly understood what good customer service is all about.

 

David

After two failed attempts to contact someone at the Herald Square store, I took you advice and headed up to Montgomeryville Mall.  Not as lucky as you, but I was able to use the $15 off $40 or more purchases coupon.  Very easy and it saved me a trip into NYC.

 

So if Macy's gets a "sell-through" of these cars, maybe they will be back next year with more offerings? I need a caboose to complete the set of boxcars.

Well lets see, The cars are painted red and green, the cars are coming out at Christmas time.  If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck it is a PC Duck, A cheap way of getting around not saying Christmas. There will be NO PC correct car going around my CHRISTMAS tree. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL PLEASE BUY WHAT YOU WANT! +JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON.

I think those folks who are disappointed that this Macys car does not say "Merry Christmas" might want to consider sending a letter to the company explaining that they would like a car that has "Merry Christmas" printed on the sides.

I doubt that many people with decision making powers at Macys read this board. And I expect that the car will sell out quickly.

 

Looks like a nice car to me, but its not something I would care to own.

I'm still curious if it's actually green.

 

Red makes sense since it's Macy's primary logo color (just look at any store or shopping bag).

 

Luckily for me, this car does nothing for me, so I don't consider it a must have to go with the earlier parade cars.  I hope those who are excited about it are able to get one without too much hassle.

 

If I ever do change my mind, I suspect in the long term this will follow the pattern of the earlier Macy's cars or other trendy boxcars like Horde or the Hellgates, rather than the Natty Boh reefer. .  If I'm wrong, so be it.

 

-Dave

Rest assured the Natty Boh will have its day too.  When you've been around this hobby as long as many of us, you get the lay of the landscape eventually.  There WILL be a day when folks won't give the Natty Boh a second look -- not because it's not a great car -- it  really is.  But simply because at some point buyers will cease "believing" they'll be able to sell it for significant profit.  Or at a minimum, they'll shy away from buying it for fear they won't be able to sell it for what they paid for it.  That tends to be the beginning of the end for highly desirable items.  Nobody knows when that will happen.  Could be next year... could be five years from now.

 

Realistically speaking, I think Atlas-O just produced too many darned reefers for them to sustain premium values in the marketplace.  They're beautiful cars, and I still own a bunch of 40-footers.  But I wouldn't pay premium prices for ANY of them.  Run-of-the-house market value, yes.  But premium prices?  Nope.  Been down that road, and not interested anymore.

 

David

Funny, I didn't think of it as a Christmas boxcar, just a Macy's car that will go with the Thanksgiving Parade cars....

 

Wondering if anyone picked up Lenny the Lion from this display, I'd like to know the UPC, maybe order one.

I think the Lionel Bear shown is simply this guy, nothing specific to Macy's, just a good product connection to move old Bear stock with the train set and/or boxcar.

 

Lionel Bear on Lionel.com.

 

-Dave

That's not Lenny the Lion!

I'm very well aware of that, but it is the item that is pictured in the Macy's display in the opening post of this thread.

 

If Macy's is in fact  selling the more recent Lenny the Lion plush as well, it's not pictured in that post.

 

-Dave

I agree Dave.   Does nothing for me either, especially at that price (with or without a coupon).

Ok, time to clear up some confusion. I was in Macy's in New York on Monday. The car is a darker brown with a red roof. Not green, egg nog, or any other color. It has a stitching pattern around the edges, to look like stitched leather. I was really impressed with the choice of decoration, but this is not your traditional Christmas car. This is more of a Macy's themed car than a holiday car. 

 

The bear is also not new or Macy's specific. He's been around a few years. Needless to say one made his way home with me to Indiana. My son loves him already and he has been named Choo Choo Bear, not to be confused with Choo Choo Bob. 

 

Look around for some Macy's coupons and you can score a good deal on this car. 

a couple guys who got the Tjhansgiving cars wanted this one too. So we ordered a couple with the 20% off and free shipping but the tax brought the cars up to costing $61.00 each.  Ohwell, Christmas only comes once a year and ya gotta splurge on someting for yourself.  Besides, it will look good as the head boxcar with the colorful Thanksgiving cars bringing up the rear.

For the $60+ price I think I will go for a couple of the Menards scale flatcars with helicopters for a few bucks more.

 

    Bill T.

>>>Rest assured the Natty Boh will have its day too.  When you've been around this hobby as long as many of us, you get the lay of the landscape eventually.  There WILL be a day when folks won't give the Natty Boh a second look -- not because it's not a great car -- it  really is.  But simply because at some point buyers will cease "believing" they'll be able to sell it for significant profit.<<<<

 

Most do..Not sure about the future of the Natty Boh but earlier this year I picked up a Lionel stamp box car and a Lionel pop up store boxcar for $15 each.

If I remember correctly, that stamp car originally sold exclusively at around $85 in the visitor center.

Joe

Ditto. With what I can see of it in the pics above I'll pass on this one. And certainly don't want to be anywhere near a Macy's in the next few days as the "hordes" begin to show up. 

Has anyone compiled a list of Macy's Christmas / Thanksgiving Day Parade / Holiday boxcar?

What year did they start offering cars?

Cheers,

Sean

Gentlemen,

   Now that I know the Macy's Box Car a company publicity item, and is Brown to boot, instead of dark Green, I will probably pass on her also.  The real shame of it is, here in Pittsburgh, Pa our Macy's store was closed, among with Kaufmans, Gimbles, and the big Sears store in Wilkinstownship/Monroeville, and I have been told Penny's is in trouble also.   Not a good sign for Pittsburgh, Pa at all.

PCRR/Dave

The 4 cars that a lot of us are referring to were 2006-2009, originally only available at Macy's, like the car that started this thread.  There may have been some sort of Macy's cars prior to that, but I don't know if any were parade or Christmas themed.

 

The original car from 2006 was later offered as a regular catalog item from Lionel the following year(a response to the huge demand and people being disappointed that they could not get one from Macy's).  This car confusingly has the exact same sku (6-xxx) number as the 2006 car, but you can tell the difference by the year printed on the boxcar door.  This was the only one of these 4 cars that was later available as a regular item from Lionel.   So if you want to be technical from a variations point of view, there are actually 5 of these parade cars, but 2 are identical except for the year printed on the door.

 

Prior to these, there were I think at least 2 Christmas boxcars for Macy's made by MTH, but I don't recall the years off the top of my head.  (nor do I recall with any certainty if they actually say "Merry Christmas" on the graphics)

 

-Dave

Dave45681,

   Now the older Christmas Macy's Box Cars I would be interested in owning, if they have Marry Christmas on them, or the Thanksgiving day Parade.  Do you have a picture of them?

PCRR/Dave

Some photos of the Macy boxcars.  First three photos show both sides of the boxcars.

 

 

Nice. Now those I'd be in for. Much more than the 'blah' one up above.

Got back from Florida last week.  Went to 2 Macy's stores, but didn't look for trains.  Would have been cool to see the boxcar.

ed h,

   The Box Car in your 4th picture I would definitely like to own, Great Macy's Thanksgiving/Christmas Box Car, are they still available?  How can I order one?

PCRR/Dave

Darn, if you were interested in the first car I could help. 

Right HERE.

Rob,

   Thanks much looks like the Macy's 2007 Thanksgiving Day Parade Box Car will get added to the Christmas Box Car Train, at the end of the month.

PCRR/Dave 

don't forget the 2 mth made.

Was the production run limited to only 500 box cars for the entire USA?

 

Andrew

Judging from the numbers posted earlier in the thread I would think this is a pretty safe assumption. Maybe mid 500's, but I've heard that's about the minimum number for a custom run. 

 

Nice to see Macy's is selling toy train items for the Christmas season.Macy's took over the Marshall Field's stores about a decade ago.The flagship Marshall Field's store in Chicago had a floor devoted to toys and sold lots of model train items.The toy floor was still impressive when I was a kid in the 70s.The train floor was cut back every year since then into nothing toy related today.I think Marshall Field's was the only Chicago location that sold LGB trains when they were first sold in the area.I remember my Dad being instantly hooked on LGB trains when he first saw them there.He bought a Marshall Field's LGB passenger set that was made in 1984.I still think it is one of the best looking sets LGB ever made. 

I'd say brown (which folks have noted the car actually is) isn't exactly a color associated with the Christmas season - brown is more of a Fall/harvest color.  Perhaps Macy's (which has a longstanding Thanksgiving Day Parade history where Santa makes his appearance) will make a Christmas car in traditional colors someday.

 

As for brown ducks:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/w...tures_pics_edit2.jpg

Thanks for clarifying that the Macy's car wasn't actually Christmas colors.  

Brown isn't a color associated with the Christmas season?I guess you haven't worked for UPS for 29 years like me.Brown is the only color I see for the next six weeks.

Not much brown on our tree or the decorations we put up; I do order items that the brown trucks (acting as Santa's helpers) bring to the ol' ranch - doing our part to make year number 30 for you a success...   

I'd like to know why anyone is fussing about a Christmas car when "Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade" is clearly printed on the side of each one of these cars? And, the new car does not appear to mention any holiday whatsoever!

 

It appears some people didn't get a good look at the car, assumed it was painted in red and green Christmas colors/didn't mention Christmas by name on the car, and accused Macy's of trying to secularize the Christmas holiday.  I scrupulously avoid watching or listening to news on tv or radio, but have seen mention in a few different newspapers about some media providers annually running stories about the secularization of Christmas around this time of year.  I'm guessing some online searching would uncover details, but I've assumed Sgt. Schulz' "I see nothing, nothing/ I hear nothing, nothing" stance and will stay out of the fray on that topic - I like to adhere to the forum's rule #7 about not posting about religious and political topics ("Leave your politics at the door when you post on this Forum. Posts containing political matter will be deleted without comment").  

 

In fact, Macy's has had a car produced that's BROWN AND RED with Macy's red star logo that says MACY'S THANKSGIVING DAY PARADE (which they've been associated with since 1924).  Previous cars have been tied to their Thanksgiving Day Parade sponsorship as well, and some have had an image of Santa as part of the decoration (no mention of Christmas by name on those cars, but again - Macy's sponsors a Thanksgiving Day parade, not a Christmas Day parade).  

 

Perhaps cleaning up the thread and having posts that are only factually accurate might be in order (including the removal of posts with brown/quacking ducks in the process ).  Macy's hasn't/isn't attempting to remove the religious aspects of Christmas from their boxcars - they haven't ever been tied directly to Christmas in the first place.