What is one thing you would like the mfgs. to get rid of?

Vistadomes. Especially on roads that never had any such as the LIRR...

THE HIGH PRICES-how can we get children into this hobby wnen we older members are having a hard time affording our hobby-look what a scale boxcar or caboose go for now-tooling on most of the engines produced has to be paid for by now especially f3's.why are they over 100.00 more now-did the price of rice increase that much.forget a scale steam engine-over one grand on a engine that has been produced several times in the last 12 years.

i'm good.  i even like traction tires.

hello challenger.........

 

I think a lot has to do with GREED.......as my days of being able to afford 1000 plus dollars for a steam engine are OVER and come to think of this, what will happen to most of us in 10 years from now (2022),will we be able to afford those expensive toys then ? as i know i wont.   I just paid 1300 dollars(with tax) for a Sunset 3rd engine and this is my last purchase.  In the near future the most i can afford is 175 dollars at a given time and that would be a Williams diesel.   The GREEDY train companies are slowly driving themselves out of business if this keep up. 

 

the woman who loves the S.F.#5021

Tiffany

I'm good also. Love it all. I look forward to things not working just so I can fix and make it work. 

 

Its all good. 

As much as I love the dome car, I do agree that sets of passenger cars should not include domes on railroads that never had them at all.  Sometimes you can stretch it a bit, as in Southern, or Norfolk & Western, who did have domes for limited time and limited routes. 

 

I also hate that streamlined sets made for the Nickel Plate Road always seem to have domes, observation cars, diners, and baggage cars.  None of which ever made it to the roster at NKP.  How about a nice set of just Sleepers and Coaches mixed with a heavyweight baggage car and diner. 

 

 

I have bought 4 Proto 3 locos since it's introduction. The scorecard reads as follows:

Premier SD-24...WAY wimpy horn, lower motor volume than RK SD-9 with Proto 2.

(2) Premier GP38-2's...Low horn volume but everything else okay.

RK SW-9...Better horn but still not as good as PS2, low engine sound.

Conclusion: At least in the above cases, totally true

Jeff wrote

"I'm good also. Love it all. I look forward to things not working just so I can fix and make it work."

Man I truly love that attitude

As to what mfgs could change, it would be the scarity or charging for cataloges.  

 

I'm sure many of you know my feelings on this!

<<Lets keep this on topic, talk of $100 sets, not going to happen>>

 

Real close on the new RTR Remote Thomas set discounted at some dealers at $109.

Maybe they can modify the engine chassis so you easily remove the drivers with traction tires and drop in the drivers without them. Didn't MTH do that with scale locos? They can offer the conversion kit for a extra charge.

For Lionel, it'd be the piston driven smoke units in their rtr sets and low end locos. Would the additional cost of installing fan driven smoke units in all Lionel steam engines cut into Lionel's profits that much ?

For MTH, it would be having the interiors in their RailKing line of passenger cars come with people already in them just like the Premier line. It's a hassle of time and money spent searching for just the right size and mix of people to fit the cars let alone then having to open up the car and glue the figures inside. Many folks have small layouts with no room for the large radius track required by MTH Premier scale passenger cars, butto put the people in it.  they still crave for the realism and detail of the Premier cars..

For all makers of buildings, it would be offering all their HO and N scale buildings in O scale. 

 

Granted they may not be as detailed as Premier cars but all of my Railking cars have detailed interiors. I also added some people into them. I'd be curious to know which RK cars do not have interiors. 

Equivalent to about thirteen 1955 dollars.  Not bad!

 

Pete

 

I'm pretty happy with what's out there.  Can't imagine any kind of train with Cruise working without Traction Tires of some kind.

 

One thing I'd like from LIONEL: replace their crappy little red Accessory buttons with a well-built button based on the #90.

 

Jon

Think this thread is turning into a wants list...  What I can do without is plastic and styrofoam packaging. Bring back good old cardboard.  At least its one thing still made in the USA.

The crew talk. I mean how often are you standing near an engine (within lets say 30 feet), do you hear the crew talking normally louder than the sound of the locomotive?

I agree! A few years ago the tires on my 2 Williams brass engines were rotted after years in storage, which was no big surprise. I got and installed new ones from Williams, and they dried-out and broke apart after one year ON THE SHELF!

Lobster claw couplers.  I wish they would make them removable on both rolling stock and locomotives, and have body mounting holes for kadees.

 

My 2 sets of Railking cars, PRR heavyweight and streamlined, have interiors, and I put 80 MTH figures in each.

Do away with wire tethers and traction tires. Also offer the option to purchase a sleeper without the diner. Not much more from me.    

I agree. I can't think of a Eastern RR that had them except a few ex-C&O cars bought by the B&O.

Really dumb licensed products. The Wizard of Oz? NASCAR? Elvis? Those licenses cost serious money, but do they sell enough to be worth it? Do people really buy that crap?

Yet, somehow Postwar Locomotives like the 746 J have managed to survive over half a century wrapped in brown paper tucked neatly inside a compact cardboard box.  How many of you have difficulty storing all of those bulky styrofoam boxes?  Really, bring back the old cartons. I guarantee you, they will outlive the paper board wrapped styrofoam.

Jumijo is right: too many licensed product cars. The catalog gets more crowded with them all the time and we get fewer and fewer "traditional" sized regular rolling stock to choose from. It seems like most everything is either "scale" or "licensed" these days. I find virtually no rolling stock that interests me anymore.

This thread has gotten off track but what the ****. 

 

As far as licensed product goes, it must sell or why would they keep doing it. They will keep making what sells, economics 101. Besides if it helps to build things I want then I am all for it.

Get rid of those stupid 22 gauge solid conductor wires included with lock-ons and accessories that use 153C contactors! Way too small for the currents involved.

 

 

Crew talk,every now and then I will press the crew talk on the legacy remote and just be embarrassed at how lame it sounds...

I'd like to see MTH offer non-PS 3 versions of the SW1500, SW1, NW2, and SW9/1200

switchers.  I don't want or need all the sophisticated electronics.  I like Williams because they are more reliable--probably because they aren't loaded down with all the PS3, Legacy, TMCC-whatever...

 

As an aside, this move would probably bring in more customers to MTH.

I am with "artyoung" on this...What you read on here are the posts about how my

1000 buck loco's electronics fried after ten minutes and I have this freebie advertising

pocket calculator whose electronics have worked for a decade?  I am really glad that

Lionel is offering some in conventional...although, so far, no prototype I can vote for with my dollar.  (whoops, I did pick up an 0-8-0 switcher) I have inquired of a noted loco repair man, and he says he can remove and bypass all the Mickey Mouse electronics, and guarantee that it or they can run and run and..... The problem is you have paid for that junk, and then you pay to get rid of it!  I read about service problems and sending it back, and Detroit went bankrupt because people didn't want to pay for constant service, so the import cars came in with durability and reliability.  With trains, the import equation is not working out.  They are not offering a 100,000 scale miles warranty.

My last car was in the shop for a month, under warranty, luckily, because...guess why?

the factory put the wrong computer in it....and kept sending the wrong replacement...

and I have a sneaky notion more R&D and testing went into vehicles than less

expensive, but not inexpensive,  "toys".  I want boxes I can check, "with" or "without".

Directional lighting. I have never seen a headlight go out when a diesel backs up.

 

Bruce Clouette

That's the nice thing about DCC, you can set a CV so the headlight stays on unless you, the engineer, turns it off.

 

Rusty

Poor quality components & materials.

 

In my opinion, most all of the complaints re traction tires, metal deterioration and the short life of electronics are due to the use of least cost inferior materials and or components.

I really don't understand.  I've had traction tires allow some tractive feats not otherwise possible.  Not all engines are bulky enough to pull as they should.  I have a Lionel GP9 from mid 90's that would slip after about 1/2 hour running with maybe only six cars or so on 090 curves.  I had Timko put traction tires on it and can pull twice as many cars without incident.

Delays. When a shipping date is set, stick to it.

Yeah, good catch 

 

I was having a shipping discussion with one of my kids at the time regarding the east coast where I'm currently vacationing.   

 

Although sometimes the delays make me wonder.... 

Sure, and easily cleaned off for resale.