Check it out.
http://www.lionel.com/products/catalogs/LionelSig_09v1/index.cfm
laz57
I have paged through it twice. Nothing jumped out at me, which is good.
Really???
The $2,500 price tag on the 2-10-10-2 leap right off the page and poked me in the eye. [B)]
The UP Genset Switcher looks great, but alas, at $800, unattainable.
Kurt
The $2500 price tag was not a surprise to me, I read about it a few days ago.
IMHO the 2009 Signature catalog does not live up to its hype.
For the first time, I was actually able to watch the clock count all the way down to 0 (it was funny watching the clock count up before I refreshed the page: -1-1-1-1-1 ? [:D]) Really, believe it or not, I was impressed. The new catalog design is very nice, and so are all of the products. A nice variety of steam, diesel, electric - modern and old - and not so much that it’s overwhelming.
I thought a number of things were interesting in the catalog. First, the Evolution Hybrid. Although extremely expensive ($1,000), it looks pretty awesome. Although I don’t know why Lionel didn’t make regular Evo’s first and offer them in a bunch of paint schemes, the locomotive looks like it will be really well made with a lot of new features. It’ll be interesting to see what it’s like later this year. The Canadian National set looked neat, too, with an SD70M-2 and Legacy control. Although, the Photoshoppers forgot to put the CN lettering on the nose! [:-^]. I was also surprised to see that they’ll be making a Saskatchewan cylindrical hopper. I saw this car on a video on YouTube and really liked it (kind of has the same appeal as the “Canada Wheat” and Alberta hoppers). Very colorful! Probably what I liked the most out of the catalog was the Acela HHP-8 set. I wish they’d put a Genesis diesel in the set instead, but it still looks pretty cool. Getting the locomotive, three cars, an oval of track and transformer for only $500, it looks like the best deal in the book. An interesting note, however, that the HHP-8 doesn’t have RailSounds or TrainSounds - the catalog lists the engine as having a “horn and bell” but nothing else. Oh well, there isn’t much to electric engine motor sounds anyways. The engine IS command-equipped, though, so that’s a good deal, too. I also liked how they divided some of the products by railroad and region. The new White Pass equipment was interesting.
There are, of course, some strange things as well. What’s with the Santa Fe SD40 and
The Vision items have no interest to me, even if they did they’re beyond my price range at this point. Be curious to see how many pre-orders are received. For the rolling stock that piques my interest its the same stuff from previous catalogues with different road numbers and a much higher price.
Well, I’m in for a NYC water tower from the RTR catalog. And an NYC business car from the K-Line job.
The UP work train in the classic line jumped out of the catalog at me. If there’s one item in the entire catalog that turns my crank, then it’s a good catalog. Otherwise I did not see anything that enticed my taste buds. I was hoping for black ethanol cars but they are silverish white. Maybe next time…
The Vision line appears to Lionel’s response to the level of detail the 3 Rail Scale society is calling for. Out of my budget for routine purchases on that. However, if they were to do my absolute favorite diesel, an SD-40T-2, with everything right, in Espee, I might do a once in a lifetime spring for that.
BIG LETDOWN … to say the least . Love those prices … that’s what we’ll get when they buy out all the competition !
I looked at it one time and I was not impressed I thought Lionel would come down on some of their prices not double them to where we could barely afford them or not at all, really big letdown!!!
The discounts with big dealers have typically been in the 25 to 30% range.
So much for “made in China” keeping the cost down. Looks like I will stick with Atlas O. If Iam going to spend that much I will buy 3rd Rail. At least the detail is better.
Actually the prices of several of the command control locos (TMCC/RS) are the same or lower than they’ve been in previous catalogs and lower than the competition in some instances. I think if you look at recent Atlas pricing, you’ll see that all the importers are experiencing dramatic cost increases. As for the high end stuff, nothing made by Atlas, 3rd Rail or Weaver really is competing with this cutting edge technology and detail. 3rd Rail has offered $2,000 locomotives before, and Atlas has diesels in the same price range as Lionel’s Legacy diesels. There are still less expensive traditional style three rail stuff in the catalog for those who budgets and/or tastes run in that direction. I don’t think anyone is making scale, hi-rail type locos or rolling stock whose street price is significantly less than Lionel’s overall at this point in time.
Welcome to the era of increased production and shipping costs, for better or worse.
I think the only thing that interested me in the catalog was the ES44AC. I would pay about $500 to $600 for this because of the new Die-Cast Body, New Side Lighting and other small detail like opening small doors or compartments. I would not buy the the steam for $2,500. The other engines and stuff is to high price.
Theres really nothing im that interested in… I dont like their choice of engines for the vision line…
Yes, I agree 2009 cat. prices out of hand, so much for china, How about bringing those jobs back to the USA and I would not mind paying those prices. Lionel and every other manufacturer (not just toys) has sold this country out . look at the mess were in . Thanks!!!
I will second that!
Unlike others, I like the overall catalog presentation and I liked quite a few items from the “Ready To Run” and “K-Line by Lionel” catalogs.
That said, yes, the price increases seem rather dramatic on some items. $40 list for the basic standard rolling stock is a lot for a car with plastic trucks in comparison to MTH Rugged Rails, Williams, RMT and Industrial Rail cars, which all have die-cast trucks. And especially considering that many prices increases on starter types of products are for itmes that are NOT from new costly tooling and dies. I wish Lionel would reconsider the price increases at least on the lower end items, which I think could hurt the recent increases in sales they’ve had on such items.
BUT as far as being made in China and the perception of that keeping prices down one needs to go back to what Dick Maddox said when the decision was made. He stated Lionel needed to be competitive and he meant new scale products from brand new tooling (that is STILL costly even in China). One only needs to look at Lionel catalogs before and after the official plant move to China to see that.
A thought has come to a few folks that with the purchase of Sanda Kan by Bachmann, they may have raised their production costs and so these price increases are being passed down the line? Just a potentional possibility. We have yet to see new catalogs from the other companies that are also using Sanda Kan as their production vendor.
MTH is in a better circumstance here having their own production facility. But even they may have to raise prices due to the same increased raw material and shipping costs that effect all the others.
Regardless of all that, I agree with others that it seems like a bad move to raise prices so much on a line of products that are non-essential at a time when the economy is in so much turmoil. And again, specifically on low-end products that are not from new tool
LIONEL’s MSRP on a lot of it’s product is prohibitive to the average buyer this time around. Nice seeing the new offerings, but c’mon, a diesel is a diesel and nothing justifies those prices. I thought the Grand Central station tooling was beautiful, but again, out of my budget.
Might as well leave this stuff on the docks, Jerry.
Did I read the description of GCT correctly? The whole building does not seem to be cast resin, just the decorative features. The building itself seems to be made of “heavy” cardboard or posterboard. To me, that doesn’t justify a $ 1,500.00 price. I have made a wish list of 9 items but I am not sure I will “pull the trigger” on all of them.
High 20’s tonight in the Sunshine State. Durn Yankee weather!!!