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Post by david1 on Jul 1, 2024 3:05:08 GMT
Hennings apparently has a back log of repairs so they are not taking anymore till its reduced. They also said the lack of parts from Lionel and MTH are delaying repairs.
Dave
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Post by rtraincollector on Jul 1, 2024 5:34:39 GMT
Henning's is a very busy shop as they get a lot of repairs as they are known for there excellent work. I remember them doing this not that long ago because of have a over load of work.
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Post by harborbelt70 on Jul 1, 2024 7:13:44 GMT
I have seen the same notice and not for the first time. In fact all expert repairers seem to be overloaded with work - my last couple of inquiries where I thought I could/should not do the work myself have resulted in being turned away until backlogs decrease. In part I think that this must be to do with the sheer number of bad assembly or software issues as well as importers not keeping spare part supplies at the sort of levels that they used to. This is no encouragement to buy anything new from either Lionel or MTH, in particular things like the CAB3 where despite the very long testing and production process you can't help but expect issues.
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Post by seayakbill on Jul 1, 2024 9:54:26 GMT
I wonder what the percentage of repairs are, mechanical vs electronics. I am guessing that electronics out paces the mechanical issues.
Bill
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Post by superwarp1 on Jul 1, 2024 11:44:17 GMT
I wonder what the percentage of repairs are, mechanical vs electronics. I am guessing that electronics out paces the mechanical issues. Bill Well if it's Lionel my bet is mechanical.
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Post by healey36 on Jul 1, 2024 12:13:29 GMT
My repair guy in Gettysburg PA (Don Carver) has a backlog in excess of a year. He is swamped.
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Post by rockymountaineer on Jul 1, 2024 12:45:23 GMT
We are our own worst enemy in this regard. Who would buy a car — or for that matter any other home electronics device today — if spare parts were the issue they’ve become in our hobby? Answer: NOBODY.
Word on the street is China won’t provide “extra parts” for our trains. They only provide finished goods at the time products are delivered. So the importers must order extra product — from which they then disassemble the extra’s to create their inventory of spare parts for servicing. What a ludicrous business model for the importer… and a shrewd business model for the manufacturer.
And yet we buy more new product each year, after being mesmerized by the catalogs and product announcements — knowing full well that the parts situation is as dire as it is. Simply amazing.
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Post by Sir James on Jul 1, 2024 13:21:23 GMT
Totally agree. Buyers are paying thousands of dollars for something that has next to nothing in parts. That would worry me big time. And yet they keep buying.
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Post by josef on Jul 1, 2024 14:16:33 GMT
They keep buying and harking the new catalog edition and what they are purchasing.
Model Trains, especially "O" is the only manufactured product I know of were a catalog is put out with items that may not see daylight for months or years in the consumers hands and sometimes not meet the catalogs renditions. Yet, people keep buying. I bet the Chinese are laughing as they sit in front of their work benches every day figuring how they can slow down more.
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Post by rtraincollector on Jul 1, 2024 16:15:23 GMT
We are our own worst enemy in this regard. Who would buy a car — or for that matter any other home electronics device today — if spare parts were the issue they’ve become in our hobby? Answer: NOBODY.
Word on the street is China won’t provide “extra parts” for our trains. They only provide finished goods at the time products are delivered. So the importers must order extra product — from which they then disassemble the extra’s to create their inventory of spare parts for servicing. What a ludicrous business model for the importer… and a shrewd business model for the manufacturer.
And yet we buy more new product each year, after being mesmerized by the catalogs and product announcements — knowing full well that the parts situation is as dire as it is. Simply amazing. I have to say it has been about 15 years since I bought a new engine. I have bought some used ( tested ) but my main buy right now is like 1942 and before. I use to buy some engines to put electricRR in but that has gotten more expensive than I can get back out of it. I keep hearing these buyers complaining when they breakdown and there are no parts to fix, but then turn around go buy another. And to me the prices are forbidden for me.
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Post by superwarp1 on Jul 1, 2024 16:40:30 GMT
We are our own worst enemy in this regard. Who would buy a car — or for that matter any other home electronics device today — if spare parts were the issue they’ve become in our hobby? Answer: NOBODY.
Word on the street is China won’t provide “extra parts” for our trains. They only provide finished goods at the time products are delivered. So the importers must order extra product — from which they then disassemble the extra’s to create their inventory of spare parts for servicing. What a ludicrous business model for the importer… and a shrewd business model for the manufacturer.
And yet we buy more new product each year, after being mesmerized by the catalogs and product announcements — knowing full well that the parts situation is as dire as it is. Simply amazing. Doesn't help that Lionel has purged all TMCC and first generation legacy modules from inventory for some odd reason.
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Post by harborbelt70 on Jul 1, 2024 18:36:16 GMT
And yet we buy more new product each year, after being mesmerized by the catalogs and product announcements — knowing full well that the parts situation is as dire as it is. Simply amazing.
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Post by david1 on Jul 1, 2024 18:37:37 GMT
Doesn't help that Lionel has purged all TMCC and first generation legacy modules from inventory for some odd reason. Because they don't want you fixing the older trains but buy the newer ones instead. Why would anybody buy the newer models from Lionel if they won't even back there trains with parts. Btw this type of business in not new, many businesses do the same thing. MTH is even doing it to a lesser degree. If this is the future I feel for the runners and collectors buying the trains now and in the future. Dave
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Post by superwarp1 on Jul 1, 2024 22:27:43 GMT
Doesn't help that Lionel has purged all TMCC and first generation legacy modules from inventory for some odd reason. Rumors, I heard they were on a pallet in the warehouse, I’m sure long in the trash
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Post by harborbelt70 on Jul 1, 2024 23:04:00 GMT
Weren’t those parts supposed to end up with Trainz or somebody? I haven’t followed the saga about them for a long while so I don’t know where it ended up.
However, I did mange to find on the LionelSupport website some six-wheel trucks for a project based on their relatively recent UP Excursion Train cars - some years after they were actually issued. I'd been looking for these over the last year and they popped up in that most unlikely source. A few years back when I got wind of their withdrawal of such parts I laid in some replacement early Legacy boards and other electronic components for some favorite engines - but I am no electrical engineer and I would not know how to diagnose a board issue . . .
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