What Was Lionel Thinking?

 

56, we both forgot about an Esskay reefer and a Greenspring or Cloverland operating milk car!

 

Jerry

 

Can't believe I left out Koontz. We used to get our milk from them. Still have the metal milkbox that was on the porch, it's seen better days tho, been painted yellow and has a rusty bottom.

 

God, I sound like an old guy saying things like this!

 

Jerry

YES!

Looks like they are using the staff system of train dispatching!

Yea people will buy anything. Not me, I buy smart things like the MTH Eagles set. Yep, in the box waiting for our Super bowl win to make it's victory lap.

 

Boy, it's been a looooooooong wait. 

Never lived in Houston?

I think there is whimsy on one hand and a true collectible on the other and Lionel going the route of whimsy, in my opinion, missed the target by a country mile, going after a niche within a niche. My idea of a collectible is geared toward the majority of their market, we aging baby boomers. An example is my dad toured the country with his tank destroyer outfit to raise money for war bonds. A consist of tank destroyers, etc with a buy war bonds coach to me would appeal to many without being cheesy. These went over many roads.

Another one maybe could be a stock car consist with a drovers caboose in back. Another could be a supply train that they used to use to restock repair shops. I can think of others, but I think it can be done the right way, and I think folks would buy them. Maybe I am all wet, but I don't think they would blow out as fast as the goofy NASCAR money pit. Of course, then again, I imagine they would of course exploit the cost. 

I think we hobbyists have good ideas as we are the customers who buy this stuff, and I have read many a great idea here for new product and this Cheese Wiz whimsy seems to fly in the face of some really good ideas posted by others. Although I don't take this as serious as some, I really do think at times, product development exists in a bubble like DC. I never heard any great outcry for baseball trains..lol.

Wow, lots of jerks in this thread.

 

i guess I'm one of "those suckers who will buy anything," since I like the kinds of "screwy" things that have been produced for the past 113 years.

 

Wow, this board gets more "high horse" and "we're better than you," every day.

 

 

I would INHALE such a set if the #1 driving wheelset was easily removed for kitbashing into a FAVORITE prototype!!!, Syracuse & Baldwinsville RR # 3

I was thinking the same thing.

 

Martin

I agree with your view of my original post and it's simply an opinion not any sort of crazy personal indictment of folks who happen to buy these things, as I don't much waste time about other folks preferences one way or the other as that's their row to hoe and frankly, it's none of my business, and it was not directed at anyone, but rather at what I thought was Lionel jumping the shark too far into their trend of niche collectibles, at the expense of the majority of what folks are expressing what they want. It is so goofy, I got a chuckle out of it. If you like this sort of thing, who am I to put you down? We all have opinions and as long as they are not insulting directed at individuals, but rather the point of the post being what I consider a goofy choice in light of others, I am not aware of being politically incorrect. It was about Lionel choice which to use a pun, seemed "out of left field."

And whose infallible opinion is supposed to be used to determine where that line lies?

 

The original post, while mentioning Franklin Mint, was specifically talking about the baseball sets (Yankees version pictured).

 

Lucky for us, Lionel will continue to do what they do(across the whole spectrum of O gauge trains), I don't fear them ever polling this board directly to determine what they should offer or not.

 

-Dave

 

 

It was an observation not a defacto determination. You are reading stuff into this way too deeply in terms of inference. Do we become so politically correct that we cannot criticism a manufacturer's choices without someone taking a personal offence simply by the inference that they buy it? If you don't think it was a Franklin Collectible sort of mash, or you disagree that it was a good choice, then fine. I don't consider myself a jerk for expressing what seemed obvious to me rightly, or wrongly. 

You may be saying you don't intend to disparage, criticize, etc, but then your comments are written in a way that does exactly that.

 

Indicating you think they are "jumping the shark" implies you are ridiculing it as absurd. (and whose to say no one liked that episode of Happy Days? )

Majority where? Here? This board does not represent the entire pie.

Again, calling it "goofy", but saying you are not trying to criticize or judge, does not compute. A simple, "it's not for me" suffices here.

There's that word again.  Of course you aren't insulting any specific person, you're insulting anyone who may happen to like this stuff.

Right, but again, you aren't' judging. Got it.

Frank53

Elitists, jerks , high horses.. a great deal of defensive backlash over a simple opinion that suggests Lionel made a crummy choice. That in of itself is comical. The stereotyping of who and what "we" are shows the kind of off topic misinformed swipes over essentially nothing. I drive a 1994 truck, buy mostly used stuff, and have 0-27 curves on my layout. You are making incorrect assumptions to make mountains from molehills. If you are confident in your choices why all the drama? Personally insulted and then insult me over what? A baseball train?  Oh, please..I have to mow the grass now. I don't have a yard service. Get the drift? Whats up with the thin skins? No sense of irony or humor? All this language of name calling seems turgid and misspent over a criticism of Lionel. heaven forbid that. Unless you own Lionel, I would take a deep breath and relax because I will leave the rants in your capable hands. If some folks can't distance themselves from being "Lionel"love it or leave it, or mistake comments clearly pointed at Lionel for themselves..its not my problem. I leave the rancor over to more serious stuff other than baseball trains, for heavens sake..

How about the A Rod Tank Train set full of PED's!

Frank53

My personal view is that if someone gives the impression that they are looking down their noses at your choices, then you have to be confident in your choices and if you are, who cares what sort of delusion of superiority they are under? None of this can be quantified as to superior or inferior but I think manufacturer's choices do in a variety of ways. A lot of folks ( I think) take all this way too seriously in a personal way, which I have to be honest, I don't get that. I run whimsical tinplate and participated in your forum, and you were kind enough to invite me to participate, and your layout reflected another direction but the one thing we can agree on is that any manufacturer is fallible and many times, we don't agree with the direction they go because it simply doesn't suit us  or goes counter-intuitive to common sense however we define common sense. Saying so sometimes gets wrapped up in folks taking all this personally. I may have been derogatory about Lionel's tastes  in terms of the market and their choices, and some folks transferred that to themselves, which I could care less what they buy. Its incidental to the point. I dont even know who they are but I do now, I suppose. I am an oddball as I run G, clockwork, tinplate and modern..and modern offerings could be better than a baseball train in my opinion and others as well. Is this a affront to people who buy baseball trains? No, not unless they take it personally. 

If I wrote "What were you thinking?" that would be another story entirely.

I would just love to see how they do on items like  Nascar and Baseball. I have always wanted to know. 

Here's their foray into computer games..virtual train game versus requiring a layout. ..if you look carefully, it looks like it runs on Super O track..LOL. 

http://digital.lionel.com/battletrain/

If the stuff sells, good. If not, it will be blown out to guys like me who will repaint them into something decent.

$$$$$ - what else?

 

Tin Plate Art really gets it!

 

If the marketplace likes these sets, they will purchase them. If the marketplace does not like them, they won't. Only the marketplace will have the final say is to whether their introduction was a good or bad marketing decision. End of story.

I am amazed that no one mentioned what I think would be the all time best seller form the Christmas season. Bring back the pink train in Barbie theme. Hot tub gondola, suntan booth boxcar. Dinner date with Ken dining car. Shampoo tank car. And of course the convertible steam loco with sun deck and swimming pool tender. Toss in figurines like Ken and the others. Think of the accessories. Hair salon depot, shopping mall overpass. Etc, etc. Why should toy trains just be for a bunch of opinionated aging codgers who like to argue about everything. Let the free market decide. LOL. Fred.

Hey Mario,

 

i may not live long enough to see that set run, it's tough being a Eagles fan Lol. 

I generally tend to avoid the novelty sets, but I can't say that all of them repulse me.  Some look fairly decent, others are downright hideous.  I do like Lionel's Peanuts line of trains (would go well around a Charlie Brown Christmas tree ).

 

I would like to see some equipment decorated for video game franchises, such as Super Mario Bros. or Portal.  Trains are rare in video games, but MTH's RailKing 19th century 4-6-0 and some of their old time equipment (would require the Premier coaches, though) would be a close match for the train in Red Dead Redemption.

 

I would also like to see a Jurassic Park line of equipment.  It could feature relatively modern equipment painted in either camo colors or blue and silver with the "InGen" logo.  One of the operating cars could be the jumping hobo-style box car, but with a Velociraptor jumping at the guy!  It could also finally give us some decent 1/48 scale dinosaur figures.

 

Aaron

I'll tell you what they weren't thinking, That a vibrating platform or building, and vibrating operating passenger car (like the PW cattle cars, and luggage station) along with a set of sports team figures on "moooving cow" bases, would get even me to buy one. Or just use the vintage vibrating football/baseball games as a figure source. They are still made by a few companies. I just think the team loading into a car to go to a game would be pretty entertaining, and then it would not just sell to sports fans, and those who "need it all". 

Lionel is just trying new venues to attract potenial customers. Next Year Lionel has added a number of new licenses that should do very well! You will find out aprox. Feb. 1st.

Sooner or later I would imagine that Star Wars has to make it to the rails.

 

Sunrise

Whatever floats your boat, if ya like it buy it. They all are toy train from the $2000 big boy to the $20 Menards flatcar.

Sooner or later I would imagine that Star Wars has to make it to the rails.

 

Licensing fees would probably be prohibitive for small production run toy trains.

But just think of what you could do with a Legacy controlled Death Star!   May the 455MHz be with you. 

While this is a resurrected topic from several months ago, I had this very discussion over the weekend with someone who's getting back into O gauge.  He was a bit repulsed by all the "ugly and ridiculous" stuff in the catalog, like the Area 51, Peanuts, and Thomas items.

 

I told him that if someone were to offer me a free, brand new Lionel GG1, shay, cab-forward, zephyr, or other non-traditional design, I would politely decline their offer.  There's no way I'd ever want any of those on my layout, and when thumbing through a catalog, I'd skip over them as readily as I'd skip over the baseball, Monopoly, or most other licensed sets.  Interestingly however, I have every Hershey-branded car Lionel has ever made--my kids love them, but many here no doubt find them unappealing.

 

When your hobby provides such a broad spectrum of alternatives, there's likely going to be a larger amount of stuff with which you don't identify.  At best, I'm interested in 5% of what's in any given catalog, but I'm glad others are buying the rest!

I totally agree with this sentiment, especially as it applies to Menard's.

 

We don't have Menard's here in Arizona, but every time we visit back home in Wisconsin, I wish we did. I like the fact that they offer O-Gauge equipment and I intend to support them as I build my freight rolling stock inventory. I'll order online and either have the items shipped to me or have my sister pick them up for me to get on my next visit home.

OGR forumites are quite fortunate to have so many discerning and intelligent participants who can apprise us of what we should and shouldn't care to own.  I'm so dumb I used to think folks could buy whatever they happen to enjoy, no matter how tacky or how red their necks.  Thanks for setting me straight.

 

Pete

Bill T,

 

If Lionel can deal with Disney licenses in the past...who knows..

 

Sunrise 

i see no reason for mfgs. Not to make the fantasy items if they sell. When in retail you make or import items that will sell and add to the bottom line. Be it sponge bob, Lone Ranger or alien 51, or a scale big boy, it is all good. 

 

I myself only buy the scale items of real railroads but everybody is not the same so please keep on buying what you like and don't listen to the nay Sayers that you have to do it one way. Trains are fun no matter how you do it.

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