Regarding Lionel pass. cars & rolling stock, are there any differences in quality between say a 1977 “Mint in the box” car and one fresh from the 2004 catalog. Note that I’ve intentionally excluded Locomotives & high tech activity cars. I realize this question might be dealt with in previous threads but it’s a topic that doesn’t lend itself well to a search, so forgive me if I’m wasting time. Any pointers in the right direction will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
One difference would be the new passenger cars are more to scale. I just saw an ad for Lionel’s new Southern Crescent passenger set. The passenger cars in the new set are larger (closer to scale) than the ones offered in the original Southern Crescent set from the 1970’s.
I have a set of the MTH short 0-27 Coaches painted in Santa Fe with a red stripe above & another below the windows. When I seen a similar Lionel train set at the hobby shop I recognized my coaches. I could be wrong, but it looks like all the new stuff is made in the same factory? Probably somewhere in Asia? Also, the MTH Santa Fe paint & lettering is an exact match with my K-Line Santa Fe S-2 switcher.
I don’t have the old Lionel coaches, so I can’t give you a comparison. Some people like that old beat-up shop worn look that only old Lionel can give you, and others like myself like the new made in China look. I’m sort of glad that Lionel started selling the Chinese stuff, and will probably add their diner coach to my MTH set.
Richard
The older rolling stock was made for either the O27 or O-gauge market with “Standard O-gauge” being closest to scale. Size was geared to fitting the track. Newer O-gauge equipment, passenger and freight tends to be a bit larger than postwar unless “Classic”.
With the passenger cars, the newer ones lean more to detailed interiors and overhead lighting while postwar used sihouettes and floor mounted bulbs. Other not so obvious changes are in the trucks: fast angle, bearings, etc…
As to which is best, it is your preference, nostalgia or realism. The important think is to enjoy the hobby.
The facility, or should I say city is Sanda Kan in China. This is where “everyone’s” trains are made. I understand it’s a huge place and that’s all they make there is trains. MTH recently has got their own facility separate from everyone (Lionel in particular) else in Korea.
I will also add even though products from different companies look exactly the same, there are almost always subtle differences. The 6464 box cars from Lionel and K-Line look the same, but there’s a small difference in length, so you can’t swap frames from car to car. The repro Banjo Signal from MTH Railking is bargain priced and very nice. It’s also taller than the Lionel version it’s cloned after.
Or another prime example are the plastic thumbtack coupler arms. They look identical on first glance. But the ones made for Lionel LTI, Lionel MPC and K-Line are all different and non-changeable between makes. At least not without a dremel tool.
I can’t say as I happy about everything being made in China but that’s an issue best left to a forum on politics and unemployment. One thing for sure… Even though stuff is far far cheaper to make in China, we sure haven’t see too much of a drop in train prices here in the states. Some thought there would be a dramatic drop in Lionel prices when they went off shore… they’re still waiting.
Since passenger cars have been mentioned already, I will say rolling stock is better today too. Granted, Lionel MPC made many paint and lettering improvments over the postwar Lionel, it’s generally better today. And I’m not just talking all the new scale sized cars, but even the “traditionally” sized cars are generally better. But there are clinkers now as there were during the postwar years and the MPC years. For example, the CNJ 2-bay hopper from 1996 was unpainted red translucent plastic. Bleech! And I really wanted that car too. But I’ve bought MPC cars that I know were unpainted plastic, but MPC still managed to make the molded color dark enough so that the car was opaque!
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