Lionel/MTH Catalog Still MIA

Well, the clock is still ticking. Here is the advantage of the Internet vs. old time paper communication. In the old days, Lionel or toy train companies could wait until the Quarterly, a Bulletin or a new catalog to come out to trumpet new achievements. Albeit with 4 to 6 months inbetween Yorks, catalogs, whatever. The old days are gone and when announcements are made, the clock is ticking.

So where is the new catalog? Yes, I know it is a Herculean effort to bring out a great quality catalog with the finest trains available to man in a period under 2 years. Yes, it is difficult to choose products that will sell and weed out others that won't. Yes, I know MTH needs Lionel's approval to move forward. My guess is that there are more chefs in the Lionel/MTH kitchen than at a Golden Corral Buffet in Florida on a senior citizen's half off night.

I would still like to see a little more cohesive communication from both companies. Perhaps a teaser of a few of the items in the catalog in one of MTH's newsletters? Perhaps an actual update to the rapidly aging/mediocre website that was hastily set up to highlite the new found venture? How about something a little less scripted than the Taylor "interview" by Bob Keller of CTT? By the way, I have always really liked Bob Keller's writing. I do hope he gets another shot at a real interview or review that isn't quite as scripted.

So how about it MTH and Lionel? Guys, here's the deal (and I've said it before): web marketing and sales is probably one of the best ways to reach massive numbers of customers in a very personal way. Really, it is great because it panders to the instant gratification monster in everyone, especially train people. But you can't throw a website out there and then ignore it for months or years. It just doesn't work like that. As a matter of fact, it actually works against you and quite heavily. Look at it this way, you're working with one of the worst economies in decades; you need to keep the attention of your consumer base beyond eBay. MTH Mega Stores are terrific but they are few and far between, even here on the East Coast. You need to keep people intersted. Please, get the catalog out and hire some people that can really keep your websites interesting.

Marc

New Lionel Catalog (Yawn)

Well, the above is all of the new Tinplate from the Lionel catalog. A Lionel Christmas set. Go out and take a look at the catalog for another (better) shot of it.

All told, the catalog is mediocre at best. It's a yawner. Hey, they have the new GG1! Ok, so that's been done (alot) before. They also have exciting new roadnames of the GP-7. Yawn, been done before. They also have a ton of new electronic gizmos to further enchance the running of trains! And if your brother in law or family member is an electrician, maybe you can get them installed and decypher how to use them.

By the way, I am going to ask this "Conventional Classics"? Why? To compete with Bachmann or low end MTH? Wow.

Conventional Classis is truly is one of the worst marketing attempts at branding I've seen or heard in a long time. It's like calling a Batman Villian "the Mediocre Menace". And worse, it's already been done by Jerry Williams.

Look, I still like Lionel but they're going to have to come into the 21st Century both with their product direction and with some kind of understanding of their demographics. Did the spirit of Gary Moreau creep back into Lionel headquarters somewhere? I'm not going to hide my disappointment at the non-existent tinplate offerings but do we have to see the same postwar crap vomited up every year as well?

I'll leave one ray of hope open, I did like the MTA offering. I also would love to see Lionel keep evolving products like the Harry Potter Train and Acela. The Acela is the kind of innovation that makes the catalog worth looking at. The 101 Trolley was our mini-ray of hope for tinplate people.

How many UP Boxcars or Christmas sets have we all seen floating around train shows or hobby stores?

They can do better than reheated Postwar.

Marc

The Aftermath....

I perused the new Lionel and MTH catalogs. The Red Comet isn't bad but is kind of underwhelming. I was hoping for something a little more inventive like the Silver Streak set. Lionel now has all of the tooling to build it (from the Zephyr and the O Gauge Vandy). Let's hope they pursue this direction with some vigor.

The MTH catalog was nice but didn't knock me off center either. I was kind of hoping for some starter sets with the 390E. I know the 384E seems to be the current favorite for the starter sets. This was also the case in the 1930's. I guess I was just hoping for a little more. One thing I did focus on a bit in the MTH catalog was the accessories; I definitely need some track and bumpers.

The new auctions are unreal. The NETTE auction is impressive. I am definitely going to it to just see some of these lots.

I'll watch the Stout auction from eBay live. There are some beautiful sets however we all know that Daddy Warbucks and all of his friends also attend Stout Auctions. I'm sure we'll see some record breaking $$$ on some really nice sets.

The one item that caught my eye at the NETTE auction was the Lionel Interurban below. It may look a bit scratched up but this is one of my favorite trains. It's one of the few I think Lionel or MTH should reproduce. It isn't easy because of how the cars were assembled. Still, this is one of Lionel's first Standard Gauge trains, it is rare and it does have a real life prototype mirrored in several of New York City's earliest trains. Quite a few Interurbans graced the rails all over the country and looked very similar to the below. Again, it's one of the things that makes the below antique so special.

Marc