Reliablity

TVs have been around for over 80 years so the technology has been refined over a long period of time. Command-control locomotives have been around for 20 years so presumably, there is still a learning curve for the manufacturers.

Also, there are a considerable amount of moving parts on a model train, none with a TV.

If a TV goes bad it's real easy to find another brand with a good reputation for making reliable products. There's a lot more competition which forces makers of hi-fidelity electronics to make certain that all issues have been addressed. There are very few model train companies so without a whole lot of competition quality control may not be such a high priority.

Hi don't know how you use as a dealer.

 In our store we pull every loco out and test every one before we sell them.

We don't want one of our costumers to be disappointed.

We know how it is to be disappointed when it's not working.

As a family business we like our customers happy and coming back to us.

All the ones we have tested 99% of them work fine With no problems.

 I have a large collection of them my self Most of them are Lionel.

Hello ironlake2

What you say is very true in my case so I got tired of dealing with that so I stopped buying ultra modern Lionel, MTH, others by buying older NOS trains with the LEAST amount of electronics as the last purchase was 1993 era LTI Lionel blue and yellow Santa Fe F-3 ABA set and it does come with the electronic horn !!!  the F-3's are 21 years old and the horn still works and so does the E-unit !!!!!!!!!!  This engine came with plastic gears and 2 bend armatures and was NEW in the box, I up graded to postwar metal gears and replaced the armatures. It will have the reliability of the postwar F-3's but with better painted shells and early electronic horn to boot !!!

the woman who loves the S.F.5011,2678,2003,200

Tiffany

Not every dealer is the same. I just bought something directly from Lionel and it was defective out of the box and had to go back while I had to pay for the shipping. I bad preordered a Legacy engine from an LHS and got a powered shell with no motors. The LHS did not believe me and I almost had to eat it and never did get the engine that I wanted. About 60% of what I have bought I the past 2 years has been defective. Not fun, but who else is making what I want?

Best thing about LHS you can ask them to test it befor you buy it at most good shops.

 If thy won't test run it for you I would think you might want to find some one else

to buy from. I know Some can't do that. 

where I buy my TV they sell hundreds of thousands of TV's.

where I buy my loco they might sell a hundred of all models.

I am glad I can talk with my train manufacture.   I sure can not talk with the manufacture of my TV.

If an expensive TV was unreliable, then you'd never buy another like it from the same manufacturer again.  Most of the time, though, people tolerate problems from a less expensive item such as a train engine.  This is particularly true when there are few train manufacturing companies in competition and they all produce unreliable products at one time or another.

I was operating engines at a train show today.  There were five us running O gauge trains from all the manufactures.  Ninety percent of the engines were command equipped.  One engine was a new Lion Chief engine.  I was running a 3rd Rail steam engine equipped with TMCC.      

All of the engines ran for several hours without problems.  This was on an outdoor O gauge layout.

My overall experience with modern engines is that they are reliable and run well.

Joe

I have had two similar experiences. The first my LTS found me a NIB unopened Lionmmaster Big Boy, the first one, Fortunately I opened it there at the shop, the number boards were missing, with the LEDs just hanging out the front of the smokebox by the wires. My LTS sent it back to Lionel, and Lionel put a whole new boiler on it.

 The second case was when the Lionel Union Pacific FEF-3s came out, I ordered both the Black and the Grey versions, the black one came, I got home opened it up and the Locomotive and Tender were the ONLY things in the box, not wrap, no manual, no program modules, spare parts, NOTHING. I Immediately went back to the shop, and having been a well known customer for more than 20 years with that owner, they didn't question me about it, and fortunately were able to get a new unopened one from Lionel. Best that they figure was that locomotive had been bought, then returned, and evidently the dealer returned it to the distributer who then shipped it to my shop, without the original dealer or the distributer ever checking inside the box.

Doug 

Captaincog says:

"I bad [sic] preordered a Legacy engine from an LHS and got a powered shell with no motors. The LHS did not believe me and I almost had to eat it and never did get the engine that I wanted. "

This situation is a sorry excuse for a manufacturer's ineptness which is complicated by its denial and failure to take responsibility.  I knew a woman who purchased a brand-new automobile from a dealer.  Not long afterward, she noticed that the cabin light did not work when she opened the door.  She noticed the checklist provided by the dealer that was given to her when she originally picked up the car that said that the cabin light had been inspected and working along with the other checked items that were part of the dealer preparation.  She was charged a separate fee just for this prep inspection before customer delivery. When she returned the car to the dealer to remedy the problem and the housing was removed over the cabin light, there was no light bulb in it.  Of course, this was an embarrassing situation for the dealer.  But instead of the dealer admitting that the prep inspection for which she paid did not occur, at least in the case of the cabin light, it accused her of deliberately removing the light bulb herself.  It seems that not only don't some people do the job for which they are paid, they also don't admit responsibility when caught not doing it.

I don't think I will ever get another new anything from Lionel or MTH. I post this before I have 37 RA# at LL & 4 at MTH. Mike Reagan and all his people are outstanding and always fix the problems but I paid over $450 to UPS just in shipping returning brand new engines for repairs. 1 engine had gears missing and would not even move LOL! I just got an engine from Trainz & had to do a reset right out of the box & after 10 or 15 min. it would not work at all. They paid the shipping, replaced a $120 board and installed a new FAT BOY speaker, it now works great + it only cost 1/3 of a new one. You can't beat that deal!

TRAIN NERD AL

I received a new 3rd rail engine and it was missing the headlight bulb right out of the box.  Received a mailing label to send it back and got another one new in the box.  It ran great but no puffing smoke or sound.  It went back at mfg expense and got a third one the ran and puffed great for about 15 minutes and then all sound stopped along with smoke.  It went back and I got a refund.  Great engine just terrible electronics.