Although I consider myself to be little more than an armchair railway enthusiast who happens to play with O Gauge trains in his spare time on a primitive, “suburban 1950s basement” layout, I enjoy looking through the new Lionel catalogue when it is released online each year. This year, its release happened to fall on my 25th birthday!
Here are a few musings on the new catalogue[s], their look, and their products:
1) I’m beginning to tire of the “misty black” hue which has been dominating the look of Signature Line catalogues for at least a couple of years now, sometimes with the ghostly outline of a locomotive blueprint in the background. Frankly, it makes the hobby of playing with, collecting, and opearting Lionel trains look like a very dark and forboding experience, which takes place only after the sun goes down and the lights turned off. As uninspiring as they sometimes were, the glossy white background of the last decade or so was more welcoming and refreshing.
While we’re on the topic, is it not possible for Lionel’s graphic designers to incorporate the photographed products into a digitally-enhanced landscape drawing, as was the case in the first few pages of the 2002 Vol. 2 and 2004 Vol. 1 catalogues? Surely, the technology exists which can put a photographed train into a realistic-looking setting, reminiscent of the o
No toy train company will please everyone with their offerings. With that many issues you should send your post to Lionel. Two fat catalogs of product. There should be something for you.
Oh, I’m not complaining. The CPR SD90MAC looks great, and the range of accessories is amazing. But do we really need a huge articulated locomotive every year? Or rolling stock advertising the same railways year after year? Methinks that it’s time for something different.
As a fellow Canadian who collects and operates Lionel trains, I too usually look to see what the new Canadian roadname offerings are as well. There has been a decent assortment of Canadian roadname themed product of the past few years. It certainly helps that both CP and CN operate an extensive network on both sides of the border, making them appealing to American hobbyists as well. I’m curious what the big shout out is about the SD90MAC fuel tank. I have the original CP SD90MAC from 2000 and the tank looks pretty darn close to scale to me. I know they had to shorten the height a bit in order to clear some switches. It is difficult for some manufactures to make certain models if they only have a limited manufacturing run. For instance, I’ve wanted an O gauge (non-brass) CP SD40-2F for years. CP was the only user of that model and they only ordered 25. So, Lionel or MTH would not get a decent return on investment in tooling to make such a model. Unfortunately, my biggest issue right now is our dollar exchange rate. It may be a lean year for any purchases.
A few years ago I e-mailed Lionel about your idea of including a station with their starter sets. I suggested using a cardstock one like they did in a few sets in the 1970’s. I mentioned it wouldn’t cost much, it wouldn’t take up much space in the set box, it wouldn’t likely compete with existing stations in their product line, and if anything, would encourage a future purchase of a better station later when the cardboard station got dog eared.
I got a nice form letter email thanking me for my valued input.
