Preorders

No they are not generally reliable. Just like the cars you mentioned it can be off months, sometimes years i.e. Lionel's Milwaukee cars. Although sometimes they are accurate, and sometimes they come early. Are you making payments on the pre-order, or are you saving the money yourself and then just paying for it when released? I personally prefer making payments. I plan on the delivery date, and then adjust accordingly to delays.

 

Bill

I reserved a gn O8 with 3rd rail 3 years ago and it is not out yet and has been postoned until spring.  Of course the price has gone up and the reversation price is up 100.00 too.  3rd rail is probably the worst for reversations.

With the state of overseas manufacturing being what it is these days, the estimated delivery dates that are often published with the catalog(s) are a complete joke.  Even the website shipping schedules are wishful thinking.  2012 has left us with the sad reality that Stateside personnel are often clueless as to when items will ship.  They often don't know until containers arrive and are unloaded.    On VERY rare occasions, products arrive early.

 

On the bright side, plenty of excellent and reliable dealers do not require pre-order deposits.  Just provide a credit card that gets charged when items ship.  That seems most prudent.

 

David

With diescast, the dealer usually just keeps my card on file, I get a heads up on arrival and then they charge/ship.  I like the idea of paying on it now and having it paid in full on arrival, but hearing Ironlake's story with 3rd Rail, I'm not getting a warm fuzzy on putting out so much cash now only to have to wait years before arrival. 

 

I would never pay ahead of time in the current manufacturing environment.  Can't recommend that philosophy at all.  Sorry... Definitely worth rethinking that strategy.

 

David

Set the money aside if you like but don't prepay. Reliable dealers do not require a deposit and just charge your card when the item arrives and they ship. Delivery schedules mean absolutely nothing, I just order and let it go  till the item arrives, one day. All the toy train company's seem to work from the same blueprint, none can be trusted for a delivery date..Jim

 

Agreed.  I'm not that well off at this point in my life to put out a boat load of cash on the hopes that the items may arrive someday.  I'll stick with my current list and suck it up when they come in, but with my luck it'll be all at once rather than the 4 month spread the catalogues state.

Sometimes there late, sometimes items come early, I would preorder just don't put down a deposit.

Definitely do not pre-pay.  Preorders in today's toy train world are pretty much a crap shoot.  Some/very few items actually come in ahead of schedule; some come in close to schedule; and others may not be seen for many months, or even a year or more, after the announced date.

 

Set the money aside if your overall budget permits, but certainly do NOT plan on receiving an item in time for a specific date or event, even if that event is in the distant future.  And I am strongly opposed to putting down a deposit for a preordered item.  If the dealer requires a deposit, simply preorder that item from someone else who doesn't impose such a requirement.

 

I have stuff on preorder now that I have pretty much completely forgotten about because it has been such a long time.  Fortunately, I maintain a list of all the items I preorder, noting the originally scheduled date and then updates if/when they are made available.

 

 

My experience, all within the last five years, is:

1) the only announced locos I have wanted that were cancelled have been those i did not pre-order.  I pre-order everything I want now because it gives the manufacturer data that they will sell alot.

2) sometimes, when a loco I want is offered in several roadnames, the manufacturer will cancel one or two roadnames of the less popular roadnames but not all.  So I order only major roads when it is the loco I want - Santa Fe, UP, PRR - if you order, say, Rock Island and Western Illinois and it gets cancelled, you don't remain on the list for one or the roadnames that is made,  You just get a cancellation notice.

3) the farther out the projected shipping date the more likely it will slip: I have two pre-oreders scheduled for February next year - they will probably be on time or close to it -- I have one scheduled for next October - it will likely be later in the year . . .

4) putting down a deposit does not really improve the chances it gets made, but improves your chances that the chain of people who might covet the loco and divert it to someone else will do the right thing.

In the diecast world, I see the delays happen more often with cars made from new molds.  Different paint schemes on an existing mold are usually on time, or just slightly delayed because of shipping.  The new mold issue can really throw some wrenches in the gears because the vendor is proofing each change as they are produced.  I like that and can deal with the delays if the end product shows up accurate.  For trains, I've got an ABA set of F3's and an ABA set of PA's on preorder as well as thier associated passenger sets.  Most look to have already been done in the past, these are just newer releases, one in Legacy and one in PS3.  I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that there isn't any major source of delays with these in particular.  If the delays are caused by the vendors wanting to produce the most accurate model possible, I can put up with that.  When the delays come down to problems at the factory, shipping issues etc...that's where the heartburn starts. 

I can only speak for Lionel because I do not pre-order MTH. At times they are not reliable. But on the most part the delivery date is close to it being released. But it does give you a idea when it may come out. I have been waiting on a bascule bridge from Lionel for almost 3 years now. That's not normal though, it may depend on the items you order since everyone's tastes are different. Another factor will be whether the item is a new design or a item that has been produced before.

 

My personal experience has been that a lot of the things I pre-order have been released just before and right after the end of the year.

 

As far as pre-ordering with a dealer go some will and some will not require a deposit.

I would respectfully disagree, but I think its a matter of perspective.  Once 3rd Rail announces a project, Scott will often keep a project open until there are enough reservations to justify building the model.  This is a different approach than Lionel and MTH make, in that if enough pre-orders are not made in a set amount of time, the item is simply cancelled.

 

Jim

My 3rd Rail Seaboard Air Line E7 took almost exactly 1 year from date of pre-order, Scott didn't ask for any deposit at the time.

 

I've read where some folks pre-ordered then the item was cancelled and they never got their deposit back (I think that is rare).  Most likely from a company that is very small or went out of business.

 

I would never pre-order an item that is more or less a standard, run-of-the-mill piece.  But if you model an obscure or small RR (I model the Seaboard Air Line) and a manufacturer announces an item (that you must have) for pre-order than pre-ordering may be the thing to do.  Otherwise i would wait until a dealer gets it in.

 

I don't understand folks who pre-order something and when it does come in it's not what they expected or something's wrong with it, yet keep it anyway instead of returning it for a refund.

Tail-end Charlie, again: I saw a dealer's ad recently (don't remember who - but a known

name) that was requiring a deposit on pre-orders. That was pretty common in the

80's and 90's; did it myself with no ill results. Made the final bill smaller, too. But,

a far less flaky - and more expensive - situation, then. (Smaller dollars, bigger prices, no blowouts, the "it'll never be made again" fiction/bs, feature-less locos.)

 

Wouldn't prepay a cent today on a bet. My MTH E44 Tropicana loco/set took a full 2 years from pre-order to arrival. Got it, though. No "deposit". (Ready-to-Roll in Miami seems to keep track of things well.)

 

3rd Rail is the worst. My NYC T-motor is still...and has had a price increase before it

even exists. 

 

Lionel seems to be the most delivery-accurate, but I don't really know that to be true.

Is there an actual preorder deadline on MTH trains (the new 2013 catalog)?

DO NOT PREORDER! Wait for it to be released, and reviewed here on the forum. This way you'll know whats right, wrong, or missing altogether. In most cases the dicounted preorder price is still higher than prices offered later when dealers want to move product. I don't buy the whole "if you don't prorder it"ll never get made" idea. Unless its something really unique, its gonna get made.

 it was November 30th as far as i know