Rio Grande Pass Cars

I hope I am not in the same boat.  I too have the locos, and two add on cars but have yet to get the 3 car set.  This happened to me with the MoPac baggage car from a few years ago.  My preorder was not filled because there were not enough produced.  So I still don't have one.  My LHS said that my 3 car set IS on the way, but I guess I will have to wait and see.  

 

Ben

It's happened to me before. I preordered the blue Santa Fe passenger set through my LHS and they were never able to get one for me. Now I have a full dome car but no other cars or engines to go with it

FlyerMike

 

You still looking for the blue stripe set?

 

Ben

I'd like to have them someday, but 2 challengers and 3 u33s have killed my train budget for the foreseeable future

That would kill my budget too!!!!

Update – I received an email back from Lionel stating they would forward my concern to the appropriate department.  No response as of yet.  Then I called, got transferred to someone in sales.  Basically they told me they missed their forecast.  I asked how that is possible when most of this stuff is done with Pre-orders.  They told me that sometimes they produce prior to receiving the orders.  Of course there is nothing this person could do for me over the phone outside of providing numbers of dealers throughout the country.  After speaking with several dealers, the consensus is that they were “cut” by approx. 50%.  If I missed my forecast by 50%, I’d loose my job.  I can’t be angry with my LHS, I just switched to them after the death and closure of my former LHS.  They took care of their long time flyer guys and I would have expected the same.  It’s not like this item is an ad on car or B unit.  This is the set!  Sorry for the novel, but if enough guys are upset with this, maybe they produce run #2.  I know, no shot-but I can dream

I sure could use 2 sets if anyone finds them, premium paid.

Chuck

Mizelltrains@CS.com

I got the shaft on this too.  I am going to call Lionel tomorrow to hear them tell me there is nothing they can do about it.

Good luck with your call….I’m sure you’ll hear the same BS I did.  I still can’t believe they missed a forecast by this much.  They obviously produced these cars prior to receiving any pre-orders from the dealers.  I’ve been calling all over the last few days and not ONE dealer has a set.  Now we know the drill……these sets will start popping up at double, maybe more, the price vs. what a pre-order would be.  I’m glad Lionel is focused on the consumer, they still have not returned my email offering some form of explanation or next steps.  I know – I already have the answer and there are NO next steps.  But at least answer me!! 

So why pre-order?  Seriously, something isn't adding up.  The catalogs come out and you only have a few weeks to get your pre-orders in.  Then you have to wait a long time (like almost a year sometimes) only to find that they under-produced by 50%?  Why did they ask for pre-orders then?  ARGH!

Well I called and spoke with a lady in customer service who said that there was not much she could do.  She transferred me to the voice mail of someone named Ken and I left a message so I hope he calls back.  I asked for a refund if I returned the engines and two cars I have and they said no.

It's likely somebody at the next S Fest will have a set.  One of the big dealers usually has hard to find stuff, trouble is, they might want an arm or a leg.

 

Rusty

I don't doubt that at some point I will be bale to get my hands on them, its just B S that we have to go about it this way. (and we will have to pay way more for them) Its like selling 10,000 boats, but only making 5,000 trailers to pull them, I get mistakes are made...but fix them.  Do another run of the cars!

 

Ben

It's just one of those adorable little quirks that endears Lionel to all of us.

 

Still waiting to hear on my U33C...

 

Rusty

After multiple attempts I managed to piece together a full set of DR&G passenger cars at reasonable pricing using two dealers. So, evidently, they are obtainable, but one should not have to work quite this hard at it.

 

Bob Bubeck

I happened to find the 3 car set at the Great Mid-West Train show today in Wheaten IL.  It was one of two sets the guy had.  There was just the one left by the time I found it.  I paid about 30 bucks more then MSRP, I figured given the circumstances that was not to bad. 

 

Ben

I do not know the price, but Doug Peck of Portlines.com sent me an email stating he has one set for sale if anyone is interested in reaching out to him.

 

Ben

If you can find them at a reasonable price, don't hesitate. Saw only 1 set at York and they were in the $400 range. Rio Grande PA's also scarce only saw 1 set at $550.

 

Rich