PE Gold Scale Coaches

Great locomotive but I passed since it only had the two cars.

I think the Polar express with the regular cars may be more of a seller. 

Does anyone know if either of these will have Tom Hanks voice in them?

Brian, I thought you might get another car in this catalog.  Since there isn't one, I think some will order more coaches.  No matter how long the train is, it will be brilliant.

I'll be staying with the three (2 coach, 1 observation) cars I ordered and be hoping 1) the train arrives for Christmas and 2) other specialty coach will be produced. Failing that, maybe I'll buy a few of the specialty cars available and try to convince Lee Willis to help me out by painting them !

Bruce

I ordered 3 coaches with the engine. I am hoping they will make additional cars in the future. Probably flawed thinking as this Loco does not seem to be all that popular. I hope the change to BTO mean't they had a whole lot more interest than anticipated. Many seem to dislike the idea of a Gold loco. I was in that camp until now. I bit on this one for some reason.   I am also considering the scale polar express since Charles Ro is still taking orders according to their recent email. Like your other topic regarding color I find it difficult to resist the color scheme.

As we've said many times here, you gotta purchase something 'cause you like it.  And if you're OK paying the small premium for the gold steamer, then go for it.  

But history will have us believe that a few years from now, nobody will think anything special about it.  Same thing holds true for all the pilot locomotives Lionel is issuing.  Dealers/sellers love playing the "Oh, there's only 50-75 of these made, yada yada yada..." card.  Yet hardly any of these things are moving.  Novelty items at best.  Now this gold PE steamer will probably be more popular than the Lionel pilot locos, but only time will tell.

As for more gold coaches...  Lionel has shot their own foot with the current strategy... Namely, at York they stated they will not produce more gold coaches unless there's sufficient demand for the currently catalog'd gold coaches.  And what exactly does that mean???   

It leaves folks thinking... "I want a decent sized train, so I better order an extra coach (or two) now, just in case Lionel doesn't come through with more gold coaches next year."  OTOH why should PE enthusiasts shell out extra $$$ for duplicate items Just to show there's sufficient demand.  Had Lionel catalog'd a 4-pack of gold coaches, they might very well have a case of, "If we build it they will come"... And if Lionel was that worried about overestimating production, they could have gone the BTO route for the coaches -- just like the steamer(s).  Instead, the folks who are most interested in having a nicely sized gold train get penalized.    None of this is brain surgery.  But somewhere the strategy got sidetracked badly.

David

I'm already in for 5 coaches and 1 observation. If Lionel doesn't produce additional cars in the future, I'll have "Ready-to-modify" coaches. That's my RTM plan. Anybody who struggled to put together a scale PE consist in the past knows to order while you still can. Opportunity is knocking! Answer the door!

Emile

This engine and matching cars were not planned for substantial production numbers. My guess is Lionel plans called for the engine and cars to be purchased as shelf items for serious PE collectors. It appears however that individuals, again like me, have no intentions of making the engine a "shelf queen". This may have been somewhat of a surprise to Lionel, and once the final orders are in, we may see in the future more Gold PE scale passenger cars.

That being said, I also aired on the side of caution and ordered extra coaches to make a decent consist. Thanks to all of you for expressing your opinion and comments.