Southern Crescent set dropped

That's a darn shame.  The Southern set was on my "hit list."

Rusty

I too, don't care much for the clear versions of items.  And the Southern Crescent train, which looks great, is currently available through American Models.  Their current MSRP for the set is $714.90 (5 cars).  Compared with Lionel's MSRP of $899.99, that's about right.  The extra cost of the Lionel is the cost of the Legacy components (which I would rather do without anyway).  And AM's train still has smoke, "chug", a whistle and bell, plus an "extra" car. 

BTW, I have no connection with American Models.  I just happen to like their products (Lionel's too....).

Jerry

Wayne, MI

I wonder if it was lack of orders or technical issues with getting Legacy electronics into the locomotive?

Could be technical, the Western Pacific Mikado w/Legacy never saw the light of day.

Rusty

And I thought it would be a great seller. 

As did I.  I didn't hear any negatives about the Cresent Limited.

I suspect, outside of technical issues, that maybe the "preorder dollars" are getting sucked up by SD70ACe's, Y3a's and new run of U33C's.

Even though there is new interest in S from the ouside world due to recent events, it's still a small market.  It may take a little time, but if the market expands accordingly, perhaps Lionel will revisit the Cresent Limited at a later date.

Rusty

Money's tight now, but Flyonel squandered much of two decades with a "don't compete with O strategy".  Lionel mysteriously failed to capitalize on the great "G" boom, too.

Tell me about it.  I got hit by several "surprise" bills this spring.  Blew a pretty good hole in the old budget.

I agree there were several squandered opportunities over the past years.  Part of it was also due to the revolving management door over the years.   Believe me, I had little love for Lionel O and especially Flyer S around the turn of the century.

There was a glimmer of hope in 2003 with the Mikado announcement, Lionel reps talked of "scale friendly" S Scale versions of the better O scale cars.  Then BAM! another management change.

Frankly, when the current team took over, I thought "Well, here we go again."  I have to admit to being pleasantly surprised at how well things are going in general. 

Perfect? No.  But, darn better than some of the predecessors have done...

The fact that Lionel is actively trying to break into the S Scale (and I mean us small flange, Kadee coupler guys) market indicates a change of thinking.  Sure, they've taken their lumps on the Yahoo S Scale board, but even there the thinking began moderating somewhat once the U33C hit the streets.

We'll have to sit tight and see how this whole S thing shakes out, I'm going to try to keep a positive outlook with the Flyer line.  A little competition from MTH won't hurt, either...

Rusty

Regarding the Southern Crescent:  Every now and then a "new in box" American Models set shows up on Ebay at much less than the suggested retail price.  I paid slightly less than $400 for mine, and it is worth every penny just in the enjoymentof running the train.

I believe that the hi-rail S gauge market hit significant L-AF Mikado/Pacific fatigue some time ago. Several of each along with the C&A and Blue Comet sets are tied to Lionel having gone to the well a few too many times. The cataloged and cancelled WP Mikado was missing an oil tender for that prototype, too. The 'Legacy' versions of these engines would have had an electrocoupler and a possible sound upgrade, but little more. No speed control was slated for the WP and the Southern Crescent and they both would have had the Seuthe smoke generator again. And, importantly, as others have mentioned, there are newer, more up to date, and more impressive goodies vying for the preorder dollar such as the Y3 and the SD70ACe.

IMHO

Bob

Funny -- when Mikey  reissued "Gabe" and some other long-unavailable accessories, Flyonel jumped in with what seemed like dozens.  But  Lionel seems to count small successes as failures while Mike built his empire on such.