I would be interested in hearing comments about the quality of the Lionel train sets that are sold in the big box stores such as Target, Menards, Hobby Lobby, etc. in respect to those sold by other sources.
Thanks
TMT
I’m not a Lionel owner, but if they’re anything like the other brands of train sets they would be the cheapest of the cheap.
You might want to ask this over on the Toy Train section of this forum. They know more about that stuff.
Probably last a couple of Christmas’s.
Train ‘Sets’ are for little kids. Hobby shops are for ‘bigger’ kids.
Secifically: Lionel went chapter 13. Anyone can pay and use the name.
Yes, but the sets were I believe over $200. I would expect for that price that the quality is not too bad.
I still have the Lionel set I got for christmas in 1948. Cast iron engine! Lost count of the times it fell on the floor. I restored it to new condition. Back then, you got waited on by a salesperson in the big dept stores.
$200 is nothing for a Lionel set. Many of the sets on their web site are in the $500-$700 range. Some over $2000.
Hold on there guys. These are Lionel starter sets. Equal in quality to the ones sold at hobby shops. In the last couple years Lionel has been selling at the stores mentioned. These are top quality Lionel sets. The ones sold at Menards are nice as they have regional interest, the Wisconsin Central, and Chicago Northwestern.
[#ditto] I wholely agree here. I have to say that Lionel is right on track by useing these stores as outlets for these starter sets. I’ll bet that 99% are purchased for kids by grown-ups that know very little about trains. I also believe that, in the long run, hobby shops will also benefit from this as well as future purchases for expansion of these starter sets will be made there. If the kids have a good experience with these trains, which they should, our hobby will be reenforced as they mature and start modeling in other scales, again the hobby shops. Just an opinion, Ken
Lionel starter sets are of very good quality. The engines have whisper quiet gear trains and can motors. If treated right, they will last for a very long time with very little maintenance. The only thing to be careful about is putting too much load behind a small starter set engine such as a 2-4-2 or single motor RS-3 for an extended period of time. The engine will pull the load but heat up when doing it and tax the small transformer that generally comes with the set. Overheating is when you start having problems because there is a lot of nylon plastic and electronic parts in these things. Neither like heat.
When I say too much load, I mean like 15 modern free rolling cars or 10 old heavy not so free rolling cars. Small starter set engines just aren’t designed to take it. That’s what the $200 and up engines are for.
I was in the UP on vacation for a couple of weeks and went to Menards. They had the Lionel WC and CNW sets. From what I could see they seemed pretty good.
They also had a Model Power HO set. Even that one seemed okay. It certainly was not a Atlas Trainman or similar set but for the 79 dollar price it was okay.
A lot better than my first Tyco set. [xx(]
Its good to see train sets being sold once again in retail stores.
Jim
I envy you folk that have this. I’ve been to all the stores mentioned in the past week looking for these, but haven’t been able to find them. Everyone says the Lionel starter sets are a decent deal and I’d love to get started in O with one.
-Matt
I just did a quick search on the Target website, and came up with this:
If you can’t find it in local stores, you might be better off searching through their websites (I’ve run into this a number of times where Brick & Mortar stores don’t carry everything that the website does)
And some are purchased for kids by grown-ups who know something about trains. We just bought one of those sets for our new grandson. While it will be a couple more years before he can actually use it himself, it’s up around the Christmas tree this year.
Looks and feels much like the one I had a a kid (with nicer track). If it got me into model railroading, I figure it’s worth a shot for him.
Got ours at a Hobby Lobby. They already discount the price way below what msrp is, and they usually have a 40% off coupon in the paper each week (in the localities where they have stores).
Plus, now that he “has” his first train set, my Christmas and birthday gift selection process for the next few years has been greatly simplified. What with track expansion sets, switches, cars, buildings, etc, it ought to be easy shopping for a while.
Regards
Ed
Go to the stores that have them on December 26th. This is a completely seasonal item, and Target unloaded its post-holiday inventory at fire-sale prices last year. They’ll be gone by New Years.
Where do you live??? My Hobby Lobby is pretty poorly stocked and even THEY carry Lionel sets year round.
I believe that OR lives in Washington state where, unfortunately, there are no Hobby Lobby’s.
There aren’t any where I live either. Luckily we had to make a trip up to Texas at Thanksgiving so I had easy access to several.
Regards
Ed