What was the longest wait on a engine that you preordered?

I placed a pre-order for an Atlas 0 Trainman Penn Central U23B ---> on September 16, 2010. 

 

It still hasn't arrived.

 

Fred

2 to 3 years, wow!  I pre-ordered the Williams NS OCS engine set and think it took 18 months or so and that seemed like forever. 

 

I'm with Fred on this.  I ordered Atlas O Trainman BNSF Dash-8 and NH RS-3 engines sometime in June of 2010.  Still a no show. 

 

Not an engine but I ordered a British Railways passenger set from MTH a few years back that took over 3 years to get to me.

 

I used to live in San Diego and had ordered it from Reeds in La Mesa. I moved to NYC two years later. I forgot about the set then I got a call from Steve and had to figure out how to get it shipped to me. I'm lucky I still had my San Diego Cell number.

 

I'm sure people die, have changing interests or leave the hobby given a multi year span like this. It really doesn't seem like a great system and is upsetting customers.

It's not a locomotive, but just a plain ole boxcar... almost FOUR years now.  Catalog'd in 2012 Vol 1.  ETA's have slipped for a couple of years now.  But the current ETA on Charlie Ro's website says TOMORROW, 10/28.  Could it be the wait is finally over? 

 

Well, I'll believe it when they show up on my front doorstep.    (I ordered a bunch of them.)  My money is on another delay, but I'll be pleasantly surprised if Lionel proves me wrong.  

 

David

The Atlas Dash 8's have to take the cake...with frosting. Its been so long I cancelled my order and gave up.

Im with LOS, ill let you know when the wait is ove, Dash 8s keep getting pushed back

Eighteen months on this RailKing Cab Forward.

Check it out and pass it on….. from my You Tube Channel.

Gary

• Cheers from The Detroit & Mackinac Railway, “ A Toy Train Layout” 

A B&O Q4B from GGM.

David,

I do believe the wait is over! From my emails yesterday I can say that mine are paid for, but not shipped yet.

 

Paul

Forever...it was canceled.

Although not an engine I ordered the Lionel 37921 smoke fluid loader on 9-22-11. It is finally supposed to go in to production and be here in January.

 

Neal Jeter 

Ordered a lionel veranda march 1998 and received it june 2002. But it w as worth the  wait.

Like Fred and Robert above, I've been waiting since 2010 for an Atlas Trainman engine, in my case a Jersey Central RS3.  Tick, tock, tick, tock...

Longest wait on an engine - 10 months beyond initial ETA.

 

Longest wait on rolling stock - 18 months beyond initial ETA.

 

Longest wait on accessory - TBD (when smoke fluid loader arrives).

 

I don't mind waiting.  Train shows, meets, eBay, club meetings, train-watching trips, excursion rides, train videos and playing with what I already have fills up the wait times nicely.

 

Andy

What is so special about the Atlas Dash-8 and any other Atlas locos you guys ordered?

I don't see myself getting one of these but what is the signifigance of buying a smoke fluid loader?

Not model trains but I waited almost 8 years for a book I'd ordered to be released...

I forget exactly, but there have been 3 - 4 year waiting periods, here and there. Not many.

Some have come sooner than I wanted and the money wasn't completely saved up yet - had to do a budget dance. 

H-A-L-L-E-L-U-J-A-H !!! 

 

Thanks for the heads-up, Paul.  You may very well be correct.  I just checked my credit card activity, and there are two pre-auths by Charles Ro from yesterday... one of which looks to be for these jewels.  Let's hope!!!

 

Shipping emails should hit today or tomorrow. 

 

David

Just another remote-controlled accessory to add to the fun.  Might also end up being a collectible, since, based on statements by Mike R. at Lionel, it is unlikely Lionel will ever make it again.  The original produced by TAS sold out, and I have never seen one on the secondary market.

 

Here is the TAS one in action:

 

Andy

I refuse to do a pre-order if they can not produce it and have it as stock I don't want it as that tells me parts will be a nightmare

MTH Crocodile - three years plus  from time I placed order.  I am 76, don't preorder anything anymore.

I think 6 months to a year from the time a catalog comes out is pretty much a standard waiting period for just about everything.

 

My dealings have been mostly with MTH products and I have been pretty lucky, usually about 6 months to a year wait on pre-orders. The last year or two MTH has been pretty close to their original ship dates on most items I have ordered, but they have missed a few by various time periods.

 

I don't have as much experience with Lionel pre-orders. I have only pre-ordered 3 or 4 Lionel items, they have been about a year or maybe slightly less from catalog to arrival.

 

Guess I have just been ordering things that no one had problems with during production? Also, so far nothing I have ordered has been cancelled (keeping fingers crossed here), although a cancellation could be a big help to the old train budget every now and then.

 

I think it was about four years for the LIONEL ACELA .My youngest son built an elevated roadway(trestles,etc.) while we waited. Added a lot of enjoyment to the layout.

I pre-ordered a PS 3.0, 20-20359-1, PS 3.0 UP propane turbine on June 12, 2013.  MTH has repeatedly pushed the delivery date back.  The MTH web site currently alleges that the propane turbine will be shipping in February 2016.  That would make a two year, 10 month wait.

 

I didn't see a sample of the propane turbine at York; consequently, I'm skeptical about the delivery date.  I wish that I could cancel the order and buy a PS 2.0 version on ebay.  MTH has the dies for this engine, so I can't understand what the problem is.

 

Apart from the propane turbine, I've waited as long as two years for pre-ordered engines to arrive.

 

Made my first ever pre-order in July for a Railking N&W 611.  Suppose to be in Sept.  Now looks like January.  Luckily I found a plan B for my son's Christmas present.  Guess I will have to make it my birthday present when it does arrive. 

Atlas O GP-7 Erie-Lackawanna.  Ordered them (3 in total) in February 2011 from Bob Thatcher at AM Hobbies. Closing in on 5 years now.

 

Two weeks ago I called Petersen Supply to confirm my order with them.  Petersen would be vendor number 3 holding this order.

 

Hopefully they will be built before the order passes to a 4th vendor.

 

George

They are on their way and I will have them Friday.

 

Paul

 

My longest wait for a Pre-Ordered item was Lionel's L.I.R.R. N5b cabin car.

It seemed to take forever, with updated 'New' release dates being advertised, every so often.

Now, I FINALLY have it and I'm awaiting the 1:48 scale size smoke stack, which I ordered from Lionel's Parts Dept., as it was not included in the clear plastic parts bag.

Ralph 

Atlas U23B in Reading Northern.  Same old saying from the ATLAS people 3rd quarter of this year.  It's been three years same thing 3rd Quarter of the year.

Well, I could say 17 years. The Lionel die cast Veranda from 1998 (I believe finally produced in 2002). Lionel had production problems and also the switch from an actual Odyssey motor to the Odyssey system. I wound up cancelling the preorder. I just purchased a new one at York, on Saturday. So, I could say 17 years . By the way, it was worth the wait. It is a beautiful and well detailed locomotive.

For me it was the K-Line Collector's Club SD-70, which took about two years.

 

Slightly nerve-wracking ordeal, as I ordered from K-Line, which then went bankrupt. Their assets were divvied up in court and, after about two years and lots of uncertainty, I finally received it, from Lionel…

I waited about 2 1/2 years for the MTH Swiss Crocodile engine.

 

And I'm still waiting for a McKeen motor car which MTH cancelled after I preordered.

 

Eric Hofberg

TCA, LCCA

The new Lionel SD40. It's my first preorder so it gets longest as default  Looks like it was delayed too based on the shipping schedule.

I can honestly say it was 55 years.  When I was 7 I wanted a GG-1 in the worst way.  I had it on every Christmas Wish list I wrote.   Now the really weird thing is my dad was an engineer for the PRR and after the war he drove GG-1s.  He was also a very big "closet" Lionel train guy.  Why he never put one of them under the tree still bewilders me.  Could be, he drove them all day and he just didn't want to see one running the tree.

 

But I finally got my "pre-order" GG-1 a few years ago.  It was worth the wait. Just wish he was here to see it.  

 

Ed

 

 

They should refund you because they will not be making it.

Atlas O Trainman Penn Central U23B.  I ordered it when it was first announced in 2010, then again in 2012. 

 

When I call my dealer to place an order, the first thing he says when I tell him my name is "No, Its not in yet"  I told him I quit holding my breath a long time ago.  I will believe it when he personally hands it to me.

 

Tom

That's great, Paul.  I still haven't gotten my shipping emails yet... but they did hit the credit card.

 

FWIW, the latest Charles Ro "just in" email that came out tonight shows these boxcars as SOLD OUT already!    Either they were really popular, or Lionel didn't make that many of them.  These were WAY before Lionel's formal BTO program started, so these are just open stock items already sold out at Lionel's largest dealer.  Interesting.

 

David