Star Trek First Contact Day April 5, 2063 Special Video! Lionel's Star Trek Trains!

Great job MARTYE!!!  Love the crystals car especially at low light setting, very cool.  Also nice consists you have running.  I too am a big fan of WILLIAM SHATNER!!!!  I enjoy the older STAR TREKS along with him on History Channels THE UNEXPLAINED!!!  He has the voice….Yes live long and prosper.

Thanks Laz.  I've met him 3 times now, twice in Ticonderoga.

It was one of my longer videos, I like to keep them around 12 minutes, but we covered a lot.

BTW the special effects budget is shot for the year.  LOL!

Thanks for the video.  You have a fun looking layout and it is obvious that you really enjoy it.  I had no idea Lionel had offered so many different cars to go with the Star Trek set.

Happy railroading,

Don

@DGJONES posted:

Thanks for the video.  You have a fun looking layout and it is obvious that you really enjoy it.  I had no idea Lionel had offered so many different cars to go with the Star Trek set.

Happy railroading,

Don

If we could have only got a caboose / hanger deck for the speeder to sit on.  I don't think did as well as they or I hoped.  I don't know if they did any marketing towards the Sci Fi community but that might have boosted sales if they didn't. 

Thanks for watching and the comments on the layout.  It was due to be disassembled this year but my daughter moved back in and took up the new space.  It serves it's purpose though.

Live long and prosper. See you at York. Since I have been disgusted with the DC traffic lately, rather than drive I-95 from Richmond, I am piloting the Galileo and will set down in the Round-the Clock Diner parking lot in time for breakfast Tuesday AM.

Since I am flying alone, and the shuttlecraft can seat seven, I'll have lots of room for my purchases from the Bandit meets and York, itself!

Great review, Marty!

Peter  

Peter

I hate traffic too so I’m using the transporter. I already paid for it. Lol!

Marty, your video celebrates the wonderful "anything goes" nature of Three Rail O Gauge. It's fun and nuttier than pecan porridge.

Terrific, that was fun and congrats on your autographed pieces. Those are really special!

@Golden Prairie Railroad posted:

Marty, your video celebrates the wonderful "anything goes" nature of Three Rail O Gauge. It's fun and nuttier than pecan porridge.

Agreed.  The hobby can be for everyone from rivet counters to geeks like me.  A guy I work with was busting my chops for the open of the video and I told him I don't care I was having fun.  Star Trek and trains in reality have nothing in common but put them together and I'm a happy boy!

@Tuscan Jim posted:

Terrific, that was fun and congrats on your autographed pieces. Those are really special!

Thanks!  I actually saw William Shatner in an airport once but in that case I respected his privacy and I just casually nodded at him as I passed and left it at that.  The fanboy in me was in full restraint.  In events like I attended in Ticonderoga though he embraces the fans and its easier to interact even briefly.  I suspect though he is surprised by some of he stuff he signs.

Fun  Stuff Marty!  Congrats on your autograph cars!  In addition to lights on some of the mint-style cars, I think you should modify the tribble car.  Set it up so that on command a bellows underneath the tribble expands until the little critters are bursting at the car's seams .

Also, I feel obligated to once again post a few images that I know make you want to scream .  It's all in fun - Have a great day

New episode of Picard tonight @MartyE  First two seasons were a joke but season three is the trek I've been waiting for.

@superwarp1 posted:

New episode of Picard tonight @MartyE  First two seasons were a joke but season three is the trek I've been waiting for.

LOL!  Already watched this morning.  It starts off slow but really gets going.  This season has been incredible.

Nicely done review Marty! I'm not a big Star Trek fan today, but Captain Kirk is still the most iconic, to me.

When I was a much younger man, back in the 70's( with a small lurchy A.H.M. H.O. train set.)

We watched the reruns of Star Trek on WGN9 in Chicago every Sunday evening after dinner. I can't remember if it came on before or after Happy Days.

It is interesting how we all have "communicators" now. That was pure Sci-Fi back then.

@MartyE posted:

Thanks Laz.  I've met him 3 times now, twice in Ticonderoga.

It was one of my longer videos, I like to keep them around 12 minutes, but we covered a lot.

BTW the special effects budget is shot for the year.  LOL!

Wow MARTYE!!!!  I wish the BOSS aka wife, would allow special effects into WSWV? LOL!! Don’t think that’s gonna happen?🤔🥹😔😟😱

@MartyE posted:

I don't think did as well as they or I hoped.  I don't know if they did any marketing towards the Sci Fi community but that might have boosted sales if they didn't.

Marketing to the general public has always been a little weak on Lionel's part.  The build-to-order model also makes it tricky and requires them to get way out ahead of it in trying to let a targeted audience know about these things.  Personally, I think if the wider Trek community was aware of this product line, it would have been a good seller.  Look at the Harry Potter Hogwarts sets and the Polar Express sets -- both are great sellers, but both had the advantage of being associated with trains, so they were easy to find by their respective fan bases.  Trek isn't normally associated with trains, so the fan base is not likely to stumble upon this without some outside help (targeted advertising and press releases to target-oriented publications and chat/message boards, etc.).  I suspect that this is also what is happening with the cancellation of recent horror-themed items.  To slightly alter and paraphrase a line from Field of Dreams: if they don't know, they won't buy.  And with the boatloads of other memorabilia out there, expecting someone to stumble upon your product is expecting too much.

Considering the popularity of the Hallmark Trek ornaments. and I know several people that have dedicated Star Trek Christmas trees full of these ornaments, a train to run around these trees would seem like a no-brainer.  A one-time ad campaign could include flyers at Trek conventions, ads in Trek fan magazines, Trek comics, and online boards pointing to a web page explaining how they could get the sets and add-ons on pre-order and offer more details and artwork and perhaps ways for Trek memorabilia dealers to get in on the action.  Once word gets out, and items start showing up for sale at conventions, fans (and dealers) would be looking for future releases without the need for further advertising.  This is sort of what happened in the beer memorabilia world; although there was no ad campaign to start it that I know of, word got out -- my LHS has regular, non-train-person beer memorabilia collector customers that only order the various beer cars made by manufacturers, regardless of scale.

Andy

@Andy Hummell posted:

Considering the popularity of the Hallmark Trek ornaments. and I know several people that have dedicated Star Trek Christmas trees full of these ornaments, a train to run around these trees would seem like a no-brainer.  A one-time ad campaign could include flyers at Trek conventions, ads in Trek fan magazines, Trek comics, and online boards pointing to a web page explaining how they could get the sets and add-ons on pre-order and offer more details and artwork and perhaps ways for Trek memorabilia dealers to get in on the action.  Once word gets out, and items start showing up for sale at conventions, fans (and dealers) would be looking for future releases without the need for further advertising.  This is sort of what happened in the beer memorabilia world; although there was no ad campaign to start it that I know of, word got out -- my LHS has regular, non-train-person beer memorabilia collector customers that only order the various beer cars made by manufacturers, regardless of scale.

Andy

I've been to several Cons and a few other events and never seen any Lionel Star Trek sets or cars.  You are right, Star Trek and trains really don't go together but as funny as it is, you could put Star Trek, Star Wars, nae your SciFi show on a turd and people will buy it.  LOL!  That's extreme but we geeks tend to purchase some off the wall items because they slap our favorite SciFi characters on them.

@MartyE, cool video, thanks for sharing! However, I am concerned about the positions of Annie and Clarabel on your layout. Clarabel, who had a luggage compartment and room for the guard, was positioned at the opposite end of the train from Thomas, and would have be facing away from him. Annie, was positioned between Thomas and Clarabel. Annie's face isn't shown in the original stories, but in the TV shows, she is always facing Thomas. (In the original stories Thomas was turned around at then ends of his branch line, but not Annie and Clarabel.)

According to ST canon, I will only by 93 when Zefram Cochrane flies the Phoenix, the Vulcans see the warp signature and First Contact happens.  I think I can make it…except there will be this little nuclear war and post-atomic horror…ok, maybe I will pass.

Marty, I am also a Star Trek fan. I remember watching the original series back in the sixties. And many times since. Here is an idea to haul your Star Trek speeder on your train. I use the MTH NASA flat car wheel carrier 30-76620. It is space themed, the colors coordinate. Plus the flat car has wheel groves on it and the speeder is held in place while the train is moving. Just pull the speeder up off the flat car to run it. Another well done video.

I also agree Lionel doesn't market the best at times. The Pokémon train set I have really speaks to that. That really should have been a bigger hit with fans but no one even knew it existed.

@Alec_6460 posted:

According to ST canon, I will only by 93 when Zefram Cochrane flies the Phoenix, the Vulcans see the warp signature and First Contact happens.  I think I can make it…except there will be this little nuclear war and post-atomic horror…ok, maybe I will pass.

I'll be 97.  You can push me around in my wheel chair.  LOL!

@Dan VM posted:

Marty, I am also a Star Trek fan. I remember watching the original series back in the sixties. And many times since. Here is an idea to haul your Star Trek speeder on your train. I use the MTH NASA flat car wheel carrier 30-76620. It is space themed, the colors coordinate. Plus the flat car has wheel groves on it and the speeder is held in place while the train is moving. Just pull the speeder up off the flat car to run it. Another well done video.

Thanks.  I'll keep that in mind.  I have a few thoughts as well.  I just need to think about it some more.  Star Trek has been with me since the seventies I would guess.  If I watched in the sixties, which is very likely with older siblings that watched it, I don't remember.  The animated series is probably the first "first run" series I watched.

@RamblerDon posted:

I also agree Lionel doesn't market the best at times. The Pokémon train set I have really speaks to that. That really should have been a bigger hit with fans but no one even knew it existed.

We could have come up with a few more cars for sure had the series continued.  Definitely the first officers and crew boxcars.

Just a quick thanks. For the second video in a row it received the most views in the shortest time. According to the analytics a lot of those views came from OGR.

I appreciate everyone checking them out.

Great video. I already had the Picard, Sisco, and Janeway cars but after your video found the set on sale at Charles Ro for $299. They also have the Janeway and Sisco cars on sale.

Marty, I really enjoyed your video. I am a Next Generation guy, for the most part, so the set resonates with me. I wish Lionel made a Borg Car…after all, “ resistance is futile”.

@Mark RNJD posted:

Great video. I already had the Picard, Sisco, and Janeway cars but after your video found the set on sale at Charles Ro for $299. They also have the Janeway and Sisco cars on sale.

Gotta collect them all.  LOL! 

@jay jay posted:

Marty, I really enjoyed your video. I am a Next Generation guy, for the most part, so the set resonates with me. I wish Lionel made a Borg Car…after all, “ resistance is futile”.

A Borg HiCube.  Yep so many ideas that have nothing to do with trains.  What a great hobby!

Not to get us off subject. But considering Lionel has the Disney license and they like to use it. Why hasn't that other big sci-fi franchise that Disney owns now getting any product from Lionel... Lord Vader your train has arrived!

I suppose the same can be said about the Superhero side of Disney...

Sorry to have changed the subject a bit... but one has to wonder...

Actually,  because of this thread I looked up the dimensions of Star Trek lore shuttle craft.  The originals were only 3 meters wide, so 1:48 scale models on a flat car would be an easy fit for this train.

I was not able to locate any 1:48 plastic model kits unfortunately, just 1:32.

@jhz563 posted:

Actually,  because of this thread I looked up the dimensions of Star Trek lore shuttle craft.  The originals were only 3 meters wide, so 1:48 scale models on a flat car would be an easy fit for this train.

I was not able to locate any 1:48 plastic model kits unfortunately, just 1:32.

1/48 scale anything seems to be a problem when you are talking SciFi.  I've done some casual looking for things I could add or make as well.  So far the Lionel Star Trek Speeder seems to be the best bet to put on a flat. Warp nacelles, deflector dishes are too big.  Maybe a Photon Torpedo load?  Then again with transporters what's the point of trains?  LOL!

I do have a Hallmark ornament of a shuttle craft but I believe it to be too small.

I was hoping they would do Star Trek loads. Like the Model Shop Aquarium Cars from some years back that had the die cast Hudson and J in them. Put a small Enterprise or maybe even DS9 in them. Label the cars as parts of the Museum Fleet on display. Plenty of possibilities.