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Trainz News October 2008 - Volume #22 ● Trainz Has A Redesigned Website ● New Lower Prices! ● Lionel Cancellations ● MTH PreOrder Coming Soon ● Lionel Conventional Classics A Hit Trainz Unveils Its Redesigned Website
It has been a busy summer and autumn here at Trainz, and just a few days ago we unveiled our new and improved website. Many of you already received an email announcement from us, but in case you missed it [or your spamfilter ate it], here are just a few of the new features on the site:
We are very excited about the new design. It is the end result of months of research and customer feedback. Feel free to tell us what you think by emailing us at customerservice@trainz.com. And along with our new and improved website, we now have new and improved prices as well. Thousands of items on at Trainz have been reduced, just in time for the holiday season. Some of Lionel's 2008 Line Cancelled In early October, Lionel announced that these items have been cancelled and will not be produced: We notified customers with outstanding PreOrders for these items. For those who did not PreOrder these items but were planning to check them out once they were released, we hope this announcement saves you some time and frustration. Why do manufacturers cancel items after they’re catalogued? There are several reasons. Most of the time, it is due to lack of demand. Production is based on the number of orders received following the release of the catalog, and if dealers do not provide enough orders to justify producing the piece, it could be dropped. Other reasons include difficulties in licensing or a technical problem in production too large to overcome. The licensing issue in particular has been a problem over the year. For example, in 1980 Lionel produced boxcars for MLB, the NBA, and the NHL, but not for the NFL, because Lionel could not get the necessary permission to use NFL trademarks before the 1980 line was announced. Also, Lionel and MTH occasionally delay the release of some items. Here is the link to each company’s webpage listing estimated release dates for new items: It’s October, and that means the new MTH catalog will soon be released! Be sure to check out Trainz’ PreOrder website for the new releases. Lionel’s Conventional Classics a Hit
Lionel hit a home run with its Conventional Classics Line, announced in 2008 Volume 2 catalog. The conventional Classics are exact replicas of Lionel sets from the 1940s and 1950s. Best of all they are very attractively priced as well. Trainz ordered extra Conventional Classics above the number PreOrdered by our customers, so it’s not too late to order. But hurry—they’re selling out fast! |
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Question: Why does Lionel make O and O27? It’s confusing and I’ve never understood it. Answer: O27 grew out of the Great Depression. Like all other companies in the early 1930s, Lionel was looking for ways to save money and make its products more affordable at the same time. In 1931 Lionel introduced the ‘Winner’ line, which were small, inexpensive electric trains that ran on track the same width as O Gauge track, but was made with rails and ties that were smaller and thus a bit cheaper. This track also had a curve diameter of 27 inches versus the 31 icnhes of normal O Gauge track. After a couple years the Winner line morphed into the ‘O27’ line, which consisted of engines and cars that were slightly smaller than the normal Lionel O Gauge trains. O27 and O were fairly separate until World War II Most O27 cars would not connect to O cars because their couplers were different heights. After Lionel resumed production in 1945, however, the tow lines became intermingled and difficult tell apart, and many items were offered in both O and O27 sets. Over the decades O27 and O have battled for supremacy. From the late 1960s to the early 1980s, O27 was the only track available from Lionel. But starting in the late 1980s, s scale-sized engines and cars became more popular, O27 and its more restrictive curve diameter began to lose popula rity. In 2002 Lionel replaced O27 with Fastrack in all of its train sets. All three track lines—Fastrack, O, and O27—remain popular and all are still in production. If you have O27 track and are not sure if a particular item will work on your layout, always ask before buying. There is nothing more depressing than buying a new engine or car and watching it careen off your layout when it arrives at its first turn. Unfortunately Lionel does not have a definitive system for identifying O27 items in its product line, but the numbers provide a hint. All Lionel cars have a 5-digit product number. If the second digit is ‘6’ [such as 16382, 26488, etc] the item is O27 compatible—most of the time. If the second digit is ‘7’, that denotes a scale-proportioned car and is not O27 compatible. Cars with a ‘9’ as the second digit are wild cards—some work on O27, some do not. Also, nearly all MPC-era freight cars and engines (those produced from 1970 to 1986, when Lionel only offered O27 track) are O27 compatible, as are most Postwar-Era (1945-69) Lionel trains. And always remember that O27 trains will always work on O Gauge track. |
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