Why Uncataloged Items??

Most uncataloged items in todays world are usually club cars or dealer exclusives. They are manufactured in minimum quantities to satisfy the needs of the dealer or specific clubs such as the LCCA, TCA, LOTS, TTOS just to name a few.

 

   Bill T.

Some are also late ideas that didn't make the catalog.

 

My favorite uncataloged item is the Lionel Legacy Polar Railroad GP7.  That was a gem of the 2010 Year-End Flyer.  I'd love to see it reissued in a new road number.

To make some people feel special for knowing something you don't.

for id10t's like me, it makes me think they may be worth more $ in the future even though it most likely wont.

I like them and buy them both in speculation of financing other purchases (sometimes it works sometimes ...) and to run / display. There are some very nice uncataloged items produced by various clubs (TCA and individual divisions) LCCA, LOTS, NLOE,CLRRC (Chicago CLub), and many more. Each of their websites show a history of cars offered. Some of my favorites include the Boeing Cars made by the NW Div of the TCA and the Marble Load on Depressed Center Flat (I forget who had that one produced).

 

I like the fact there are more scale offerings as compared to a few years ago when it comes to uncataloged cars - especially Lionel. Lionel used 6-52xxx as the catalog numbers for these items. There are several forum members who can chime in with extensive uncataloged collections.

 

BTW - I wouldn't suggest to anyone to buy any trains on speculation - this be a fickle market.

 

Paul

Uncatalogued items from the Mfg. are usually limited runs planned well in advance. They usually send out fliers to the dealers. It's just a way for them to catch your interest and make you wait some more.

Keith,

 

I would love to see the GP-7. Have you posted it on Youtube?

 

JoeG

Yes, here are two of my videos with it pulling Polar RR freight...

 

 

MTH usually has a few un-cataloged items every year. Not clubs or anything special, just things that were not in the catalog. I have purchased several pieces of their un-cataloged rolling stock over the last few years. They are not collector's items or worth any more than their cataloged items, just not in the catalog. 

I have noticed that un-cataloged are items that are for local markets. That would have no national interest.

Gary - Cheers from The

Best question on here in weeks!

I would guess looking at MTH, it seems to be a local area road type thing?

Like - LIRR and others.

 

If there is a multi-page, printed new items announcement, that should be considered a mini-catalog.

 

Any item in the multiple page announcement should be considered cataloged.

 

 

Andrew

My favorite is the MTH N&W ticket office. I also have a couple of uncatalogued Budweiser cars.... In my case, the "why" is simply because I liked the item, nothing more. Collectible, or not I could care less.

MTH has had BNSF, UP, PRR etc. un-cataloged items. I don't know that I have any Lionel un-cataloged items? I am not as familiar with Lionel, but MTH has had many in many road names.

 

You can search MTH's Product Locator using the 'Uncataloged Items' in the catalog selection box. Brings up a ton of stuff, 60+ pages.

I think they are mostly produced in smaller quantity, which helps with inventory not lasting  excessively  long once the word gets out.   My problem is when I don't get word in time and miss out on say the add-on cars for a passenger set.

Just a marketing technique to sell products

And that's as good a reason as any.  

 

Although the operator-culture tends to dominate the landscape these days, the collector mentality isn't completely gone.  And the importers play to this factor.  

 

So whether you call them uncatalog'd or "special introductions", I'm sure the importers tend to market these offerings as items that are exclusive, short-production-run in nature.

 

I agree that the term is way overused today -- especially now that lots of high-end items are BTO.  Back in the day, some of the truly uncatalog'd items were built "on spec" and released as surprise products that were immediately available.  

 

There's a lot less of that nowadays, although it's refreshing to see it happen when it does... the most recent example being MTH's Standard Gauge 400E done up in the Chessie livery (with matching caboose) just a couple of months ago.  Not part of any catalog... Not many made... And we first heard about it just as it was shipping to dealers.  For me, that's the true essence of an uncatalog'd item, although club pieces come in as a close second.    

 

Having said all this, it's still best to just buy something 'cause you like it.  Not as many folks today really care whether they own 1 of 18, 1 of 500, or 1 of 1,000.  It sure looks good in the collector pricing guides though.  

 

 

David

I have seen very little un-cataloged items in tinplate, except for TCA convention cars. Would be nice to have other items

 

JoeG

Another possibility is availability of factory production time.  Sometimes production runs finish ahead of schedule (not often, but it does happen, mostly due to mistakes in scheduling) and the factory wants to fill that time (idle equipment makes no money), so they offer it at a discount.

 

Andy

They give people on internet forums something to talk about...........

I have the un cataloged MTH CWI flats with trash containers, 2 bay hoppers, and 50 foot high cubes all in the two different road numbers. I feel I was lucky to get them especially here on the west coast. For those who don't know, CWI (Consolidated Waste Industries) was the company Tony Lash owned who was a big collector of MTH items and had a beautiful layout. I believe he was a personal friend of Mike Wolf. 

My thoughts exactly, nothing special.

 Nobody has been flat out wrong, as long as they realize their answer is not the only reason.

 

Big catalogs take time and effort to prepare for.

Maybe the ad guy or artist lost a page of pre-print work.

Maybe the storage of the materials limits size.

 

 

 Variation, possibly due to availability, possibly due to a customers request for variation on an order, I don't think was touched on. (More a PW thing).

 

  I can remember my Grandpa talking on the phone often with someone at Lionel, discussing possible set variations before he ordered.  

 It was my understanding numbers were also to be assigned to large orders around a certain dollar amount, even if the customers order was completely original.

(he wanted a set with a number.)   

  My "space" set was an un-cataloged one. Possibly a dealers layout set.(?)

  I vaguely remember D-1**-S stamped unevenly on the side above a nice neat Land, Sea and Air.

  Box gone (Mom), I've had way too many trains to remember details about exactly came in that big box, but the land sea and air sets I've seen, seem like they are short some things. Mine definitely had a fire critter, ladder car & redish gang car to service the rocket gantry; a mercury car & ladder car; but no large space rocket. Two transformers, KW & a little 25w-50w(?) red button whistle transformer.  

 

 There was times one-off stock that would be used to fill orders if they were out of some things too. Did that ever change the set number?

   

  The KW in that set wasn't even close to normal. The right handle operation was reversed. When it died & needed repair, gears like a prewar Z were found inside.(awaiting repair, and a TCA meet, where it went after Grandpa passed is a mystery). 

(I still have to watch myself with the one I use now, else my childhood reaction to stop the train on the right, causes speed and crashes instead. Both handles FWD was throttles up, both towards you off)

 

A one page flyer, is just a one page catalog to me.

But I can easily see those records being lost quickly too.  

Un-cataloged to me is something not announced to the general public, or not recorded well, or at all, by Lionel. IE, something that went unknown about for a decent length of time.

 Documentation is a must, otherwise its just a story.....

 

OK, now who has my KW now, and isn't talking to back me some...

 It was bought, fair deal....I know it existed, just like 2:1 blk:grn GG-1s 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

The Train Loft in Winston-Salem NC had MTH make a Southern water tower, N&W ticket station, Southern ticket station, Southern billboard, Southern train station and Southern switch tower. All of these items are special runs for the Train Loft.......rogerw.

Not near as many at MTH as in O gauge (63 pages), but here are 2 pages of un-cataloged tinplate items. A few did have TCA in the description, many did not, but it wasn't a really large list.

Ditto.

As for MTH, some of the rarest cars are some of the uncatalogued cars they've produced and have been commissioned by private companies and organizations for various reasons (corporate promotion, corporate award/acknowledgement and other purposes) and are a general concept MTH has offered for many years.

 

Cars such as these: