New stuff arrived

Nice!

You know we want to see pics later. 

Allan; Don't forget the checkbook!

Got an email from Phil at JR Junction ... the 11-5506-0 #299 set is on its way to my house...looking forward to it.

PD

Alllan:

GLAD to hear your orders have arrived!

Already paid for, Chris!  With one or two exceptions, that wraps-up my tinplate orders.  Now I'm awaiting a couple of RailKing locomotives (also due to be released this month), and some O additional gauge rolling stock.  After that there will be a l-o-n-g dry spell ahead because I'm pretty well up to my limit on major train purchases, and well satisfied with what I have.

The remainder of this year will be devoted to clearing out some excess items that I'm not likely to use, and to work on a more healthy, safe, and regular savings regimen (which is already underway).

And, yes, I will provide photos of the new sets once I get them on the layout.

The back room filled up with boxes in a hurry this week.  In addition to all the above, the No 69 operating warning bell signal and the No. 913 bungalow landscaped plots showed up too.

www.jrjunction.com

www.modeltrainfair.com

I got the call today that my 262 has arrived. I'm picking it up tomorrow.

After this, I am done for awhile!

I picked up both of my sets yesterday afternoon, but haven't yet had a chance to extract them from their shipping boxes.  That will be attended to today or tomorrow, once I have the usual household chores taken care of.  At least I had an opportunity to retrieve the sets and make it back home before the worst of the current winter storm made it to the area.

Allan,Allan,Allan. Household chores "BEFORE" trains!? That's like having dinner before desert! 

Well, I'm one for two with the 254E Electrics that came with the two sets I bought.  

The 254E locomotive in the Lionel Celebration Series set operates just fine, but the similar locomotive in the 299 Freight Set crapped out after just a few minutes of running--apparently from an internal short that initially affected the sounds while operating in one direction and ultimately affected everything in terms of the locomotive's operation.  So, that one will go back to MTH next week after my dealer gets me an RA number.

Other than that, I'm happy with both sets.  If I can find a dealer who will sell the green 254E from the freight set separately, I would likely buy a second locomotive.

I will provide more details later.

True, but if I don't do them, nobody will!

True story from earlier today:

We've been trying to catch up on the usual list of household chores, mostly of the minor variety but they still take time. My wife had me hanging lots of pictures, mirrors and other assorted stuff all day. At one point I said I needed "some tool"  from the basement.  An hour later she found me under the layout doing some wiring. 

After she kicked my foot I said, "Hey here's the tool I needed!" 

The 299 set I oredered arrived yesterday by FedEx.  Haven't had a chance to get it on the track yet, but here's a pic of the 254:

It's like 1929 all over again...I went with traditional, so I'm hoping to have dodged the DOA issue (but who knows).  Hopefully get it on some track tomorrow.  After that I'll probably bury in the back yard to get some of the shine off of it, lol.

PD

PD:  I suspect the problem I'm having with my engine is related to the PS2 electronics, but I guess I'll have to wait and see.  The locomotive is too new for me to open it up and fuss around trying to locate the problem.  Might just as well let MTH deal with it.

My second 254E, in Lionel colors, performed just fine in the brief amount of time it has been run.

Hi, Jim!

Indeed, your name did come up during my visit to Dave's place last Friday. He was delighted to meet you and commented on how friendly and pleasant to talk with you were (I agree on both points).

I may have to make a return trip to Dave's place next weekend since I didn't have a whole lot of time to look around at all the other goodies in that shop.  As you know, there was a significant storm moving into the area on Friday and I wanted to make it home before it arrived.  Also had to get home to take the pooch out because she had been cooped-up since around 7 a.m.

Dave is fixing me up with an RA so I can return the pooped-out 254E to MTH.  Since my "toy fix" was not 100% satisfied due to that defective engine, I may have to do some shopping for something else to satisfy my "needs." 

Hi, Jim!

 

Dave is fixing me up with an RA so I can return the pooped-out 254E to MTH.  Since my "toy fix" was not 100% satisfied due to that defective engine, I may have to do some shopping for something else to satisfy my "needs." 

That is such a bummer! A brand new engine goes belly up out of the box. These electronics may be cool, but they are another thing that can go wrong (I hope Nachtjager doesn't read that!).

Allan, sorry to hear about the problem with your 299 set.  I was thinking of making that set my next purchase, now I can't decide if I should buy it or not, or maybe just buy the conventional version and hope that version is less likely to have a problem.

I'll be following this thread to see what MTH says the problem was, and how they fixed it.

I will, of course, report the findings and progress here.

The symptoms were:

When first placed on the track, the locomotive started-up and ran fine in one direction, including headlight and all sounds (using the DCS Remote Commander to operate).

When operated in the opposite direction, it ran properly for a few feet and then the sound cut out, although the engine continued to run.

I disconnected the Remote Commander and then hooked it up again (the only way to completely turn off the Remote Commander is to disconnect the power--not a particularly good feature).  The same run sequence was repeated.  Same results.  After doing this "test" a couple of more times, some loud crackling/static sounds came from the speaker, and then the engine died completely.  No sounds, no light, and engine would not move in either direction.

I suspect there's a short somewhere, but will leave it to MTH to fix since it's a brand new engine with less than five minutes of running time.

I was able to get the 254E from the 299 set (traditional) on the track for a few minutes yesterday.  It ran, but seems to need some extended run-in time, as it was a little herky-jerky in the limited time I had to mess with it.  Hopefully next weekend I can clean some junk off the basement layout and give it some room to stretch its legs. 

PD

I picked-up my Celebration passenger set today. It will be tomorrow before I get to actually run it.

Scott Smith

Your dealer won't exchange it ?

He only ordered that one set...for me.  Nothing to exchange it with (which he gladly would have done).  Disappointing situation to find something DOA out of the box, to be sure, but no big deal.  This kind of thing happens--much as we would like to think that it doesn't--and I'll just have to send it in for repair or replacement.

Does the PS2 version have a trolley type whistle, or 'gasp' a air horn?

Allan,

     Your dealer should handle sending it back for you.  I'm surprised you are happy with the fact that you have to do the legwork on this.  I, for one would not be thrilled if my brand new engine arrived DOA.  I guess we are all different, though.

Harm Andrews

My dealer is/was more than willing to send it back for me, but I told him I would take care of it since it saves an intermediate step.  He called MTH and obtained a RA number for me, so all I have to do is pack it up and ship it.  He even offered to take care of the shipping charges, but I told him I would take care of it myself.  After all, it's certainly not his fault that the engine has a problem.  Like I said:  No big deal.  It's not like I don't have plenty of other toys to play with while this one is being repaired.

You can be sure that I'm not "happy" to have a new product that failed (first time that I can recall having this happen).  Still, it doesn't take a whole lot of work to package it up securely and have the UPS guy pick it up.  So, aside from being deprived of the fun of playing with it for a while, I don't figure I'm out all that much.

Harm and Joe,

I would never expect a customer to send something back on their dollar and believe me, I wish I had another to exchange it with.  Allan would have had to send it back to me and then I would send it to MTH.  Both of us thought it was unreasonable to ship it twice. And I would certainly reimburse Allan for the shipping.  You cannot fault the dealer or MTH for something that goes wrong electronically.  Our toys have gotten pretty complex and sometimes things just malfunction.  I don't think either one of us is thrilled about it, quite the opposite actually, but we have to make the best of it and make some lemonade out of our lemons.      

Allan,

I can lend you some Bessemer stuff to run while your engine is being repaired.

Respectfully

Dave

Mercer Junction

And keep in mind, folks, that I bought two sets at the same time.  The second set was the Lionel Celebration Set, which has the same locomotive but in a different paint scheme.  That locomotive performs just fine, so I still have that one to play with in the interim (along with about 18 other PS2 tinplate locomotives).  I'm not exactly being deprived of opportunities for sufficient tinplate fun.

Dave is actually fretting over this whole thing more than I am, and he sure shouldn't be.  He's a first-rate dealer in every respect, not to mention being both an advertiser and editorial contributor to the magazine, as well as a valued friend.

Thanks guys!  

David,

     I'm sorry if my post came off as a personal attack on you.  I certainly didn't mean to imply that.  I guess I spoke too soon before thinking out my post.  As a fellow drummer and train enthusiast, I look forward to meeting you someday.  My biggest problem within this industry is how we make excuses for these companies over and over for their workmanship.  Shops like yours and mine have such tight margins that it's interesting at best but then when you factor in returns for repairs, it's just that much more difficult.  Best of luck to you Dave and again, I'm sorry.

Harm Andrews

Harm,

No offense taken my friend.  I wish QC was a bit better at times.  After reading Scott Mann's post about factories in China, I got a different perspective on the manufacturing aspect of our hobby.  There are some people taking big risks to get our trains made but like everything else, there is always room for improvement.

Best of luck to you also!

Dave

Here is the newest Lionel Celebration Series set.

One thing that really jumps out at you is the engine and cars are not very big--the boxcar is the one you would run with a 260E.

Small set that is a lot of fun. The sounds are just as good (and loud)as any of the larger locomotives.

Scott Smith

Ditto .. my question to Allan was made out of curiousity, not criticism of his dealer..

Thanks for posting those photos, Scott.  It is a handsome set, and I'm very happy with mine.  The engine and cars are smaller than I thought they might be, but since I'm a fan of the smaller O gauge tinplate (hence, my collection of five 249E locomotives in different paint schemes), that is fine with me. 

I got my Celebration set yesterday.  I had ordered the conventional version, but received the Proto 2 version.  After giving it some thought, I am just going to keep the Proto 2 set.  I was told by the dealer that most of his customers order the Proto 2 version because the future availability of parts for the conventional locos might be a problem...I hadn't heard this before.  I am also intrigued by the remote commander.  How do I connect this to my existing layout?

Jeff Davis

To connect in passive mode, hook the red connector to center rail, black to outer rail, and your remote will operate in passive mode.  Power up the track and it will put the DCS signal on the track and your ready to go.

Cheryl

I can't seem to find the conventional celebration set at any of the major dealers does anybody know what the street price is for the conventional set?

I believe it would be the same price as for the ProtoSounds set.  That has always been the case with the tinplate line.

Correct.  MSRP for both versions is $479.95. The MTH Product Locator only shows a handful of dealers with these sets so it may be a bit of a hunt to locate one.