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Post by JDaddy on Sept 18, 2024 2:51:33 GMT
Too rich for my blood. Even though, this is a really cool model. I am really struggling finding a spot to run it on a Montana themed layout.  Oh man as much as this has my name I have to concentrate! Concentrate Danielson!
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Post by rockymountaineer on Sept 19, 2024 18:47:43 GMT
Lionel posted these two photos of the Halloween model on their Facebook page today. They’re such a tease for posting this fantasy model for enthusiasts who are Halloween fans.
This will be quite a nice headliner locomotive to lead the “Midnight Flyer” doomliner passenger train that was just catalog’d 2024Vol2. But those passenger cars aren’t due out until August 2025.
You gotta REALLY love Halloween to plunk down this kind of change for a passenger train. But this hobby is wrought with all kinds of temptations these days… oh my!!! If you can afford it, I say “go for it”!!!
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Post by runamuckchuck on Sept 19, 2024 21:19:47 GMT
Now, now let's not be too judgmental for those of us who consider Holiday items prototypical for the occasion. As for the proper consist I will have to take issue with your conclusion about the 'Midnight Flyer'.  On page 130 of 2024 Vol 1 there appears six prototypically correct Eerie wooden coaches with ghost and ghoul silhouettes which are the perfect match for the Triplex Halloween edition. These scale cars were back in the Halloween section away from the Triplexes which I am certain accounts for your overlooking them. This Triplex behemoth looks suitably sinister for the purposes of Halloween.  But to be honest for the Halloween version flames shooting out of the stacks and fire box would have been preferable to wheel slippage. Perhaps Harmonyards can work on an after market solution. |
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Post by rockymountaineer on Sept 19, 2024 22:13:30 GMT
Oh I didn’t overlook those woodside coaches at all. I pre-ordered them for use with the Halloween F-19 which is sailing the high seas these days. So that’ll need to be a Halloween 2025 train as well.
Looks like the only Lionel Halloween locomotive of note that’ll make it in time for this year’s Halloween is the METCA A5, which is a real looker — not to mention much easier in the wallet… and something that can run on layouts of all sizes.
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Post by rockymountaineer on Sept 19, 2024 22:27:35 GMT
I’ve been waiting to see this online, and Jeff from The Train Loft just posted this YouTube video a few hours ago. Very nice color-scheme, indeed!!!
youtu.be/M1BQpzk9aq8
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Post by runamuckchuck on Sept 19, 2024 22:32:56 GMT
Oh I didn’t overlook those woodside coaches at all. I pre-ordered them for use with the Halloween F-19 which is sailing the high seas these days. So that’ll need to be a Halloween 2025 train as well.
Looks like the only Lionel Halloween locomotive of note that’ll make it in time for this year’s Halloween is the METCA A5, which is a real looker — not to mention much easier in the wallet… and something that can run on layouts of all sizes. Oh aren't you the sly fox? You bring up a pet peeve of mine as respect Lionel and perhaps MTH on Halloween trains. The F-19 has one road name for Halloween. The Triplex is another road name for Halloween. I don't recall the Halloween Camelback road name. Now perhaps because these are pure fantasy items the typical prototypical rules may not apply but it is a bit irksome since the Triplex has a designated consist based on the 'road name' while the F-19 has nothing. nor does the camelback as I recall. This strike me as more an issue with passenger consists than freight which can and is a hodgepodge of road names. With the traditional line O/O27 items it is even a worse miss mash. Is it too much to ask to flesh out one line's consists before creating another road name? Or is this some evil marketing ploy befitting of the Halloween season? By comparison North Pole Central seems to have stuck for the Christmas O scale offerings for the most part.
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Post by runamuckchuck on Sept 19, 2024 22:42:11 GMT
I’ve been waiting to see this online, and Jeff from The Train Loft just posted this YouTube video a few hours ago. Very nice color-scheme, indeed!!!
youtu.be/M1BQpzk9aq8
While likely impractical seeing the blue version for comparison would have been a plus.
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Post by runamuckchuck on Sept 19, 2024 22:50:06 GMT
Oh I didn’t overlook those woodside coaches at all. I pre-ordered them for use with the Halloween F-19 which is sailing the high seas these days. So that’ll need to be a Halloween 2025 train as well.
Looks like the only Lionel Halloween locomotive of note that’ll make it in time for this year’s Halloween is the METCA A5, which is a real looker — not to mention much easier in the wallet… and something that can run on layouts of all sizes. Agree entirely on the METCA A5 Halloween version; not to mention the Christmas version as well. Both are lookers and relative bargains in this market.
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Post by rockymountaineer on Sept 20, 2024 0:51:05 GMT
If you do a Google search of "Norfolk and Western blue", you'll see a few hits of prototype trains in N&W blue. I think the maroon locomotive will be more popular, but ultimate N&W fans might spring for the blue model. Both locomotives will have matching MTH high-side coke hoppers, so that should ease the anxiety of folks looking for matching colored rolling stock to create a "set" appearance. MTH is usually very good about color-matching accuracy for their custom-runs. Then again, folks can always toss in some black N&W coal hoppers, which are quite common from Lionel, MTH and Atlas-O over the years.
Passenger trains are where we tend to be more picky about color-matching. I recall a recent Lionel N&W "J", where the maroon coloring from the factory was almost PINK... and it was nowhere even close to the color of earlier maroon N&W Powhatan Arrow as well as Pocahontas passenger cars from ANY supplier. I'll check the color-match of this Triplex's maroon with Lionel 18" aluminum Powhatan Arrow cars already on my roster. But the color match won't be a deal-breaker for me, since I'm planning to pair N&W #1959 with the high-side coke hoppers on the layout.
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Post by david1 on Sept 20, 2024 0:55:49 GMT
The triplex looks great in the pictures posted so far. Good luck with them to the guys that ordered them.
Please post some videos when received!!
Dave
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Post by runamuckchuck on Sept 20, 2024 20:15:55 GMT
As I looked briefly at Mr. Muffins video of his custom run Triplexes with no white walls, an old gripe came to mind.
When the Triplex was announced, a number of folks (me included) let it be known on forums and directly to Lionel that the white walls were off putting. Could the white walls not be on every version. As usual the response was crickets.
Then when Trainworld hosted Ryan Kunkel et al live stream I messaged can we lose the white walls on at least the Halloween version?
The response (not from Ryan Kunkel) was that was what black Sharpie pens were for.
Can anyone explain how Mr. Muffin was able to get black walls and the rest of us got whitewalls if we ordered stock?
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Post by rockymountaineer on Sept 20, 2024 20:53:40 GMT
As I looked briefly at Mr. Muffins video of his custom run Triplexes with no white walls, an old gripe came to mind. When the Triplex was announced, a number of folks (me included) let it be known on forums and directly to Lionel that the white walls were off putting. Could the white walls not be on every version. As usual the response was crickets. Then when Trainworld hosted Ryan Kunkel et al live stream I messaged can we lose the white walls on at least the Halloween version? The response (not from Ryan Kunkel) was that was what black Sharpie pens were for. Can anyone explain how Mr. Muffin was able to get black walls and the rest of us got whitewalls if we ordered stock? I'll have to take a look at Mr. Muffin's video. But to answer your question... these are my thoughts with the admission they're based on no "definitive" inside information. As I've said all along, Lionel is producing FAR TOO MANY SKU's these days. And only the good Lord knows the process they're going through to publish a catalog and sign off on production plans.
Bottom line: COULD they have changed some models to lose the whitewalls? Of course. But DID they contact the factory to make those changes. Probably not, because they already crossed that bridge and moved on to other products. In the case of Mr. Muffin's custom-run w/o whitewalls, that was clearly a spec that Steve wanted going into the model. So Lionel was able to affect that without going back on prior agreements with the factory.
I do know this. There is a point beyond which no changes are entertained by the factory for a specific model. Not sure how "arbitrary" that is on the part of the factory, but I know it exists. Stu from METCA and I were discussing the A5's he was producing... and he wanted to make a slight decoration change on the Halloween model after that model was announced. Might have been something to do with orange whitewalls, rods or cylinder caps. But perhaps Stu can confirm, since my memory isn't as sharp as it once was. However, the factory supposedly rejected ANY changes to what was already agreed upon. No exceptions.
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Post by runamuckchuck on Sept 20, 2024 21:01:08 GMT
Thanks Dave for the detailed insight.
Maybe that is what a black Sharpie pen is for after all, or maybe orange!
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Post by rockymountaineer on Sept 20, 2024 21:19:03 GMT
Nice that Steve provided the video of his custom-run Triplexes, although I would have liked for him to have featured the whistle, bell and roadname/number-specific dialogs. But in time, I'm sure we'll hear those.
I will say this... Lionel's distribution can be quite puzzling at times to us mere mortals. Steve apparently got his custom-runs direct from Lionel first, with the regular catalog production models due in later through his distributor. Yet places like Nicholas Smith Trains and Charlie Ro already have the catalog Triplex models in-stock from Lionel directly. And sometimes, items are drop-shipped from different distributors depending upon the stock situation at retail shops.
Case in point: I just purchased the passenger Pennsy Mountain M1 from Steve, and picked it up at the UPS Store today. I was surprised when I checked tracking info the other day, that my package apparently began its journey from Tampa, FL... and only took two days to get to southeastern PA via UPS. So it must have shipped UPS Air. Haven't opened it yet, but I'll post some photos when I get a chance... perhaps later tonight. I was preparing for these purchases most of the year. But there's still no easy way to pay the credit card bill, when everything arrives at once. And The Train Loft wanted payment via personal check or Paypal cash transfer for their custom-run Triplex (same as their custom-run Big Boy). No credit cards for the super big-ticket items. OUCH!!!! 
I might have been tempted to spring for Steve's U.S. Army Triplex, which would have been even more trouble this month. But earlier in the year, I snagged one of the VERY LIMITED (15) MTH custom-run U.S. Army Challengers from Clyde (Stockyard Express). That model looks real cool with the platinum wheel bearings.
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Post by healey36 on Sept 20, 2024 21:37:40 GMT
This nonsense of a retailer saying they accept credit cards until they don't is for the birds. The credit card companies need to start cracking down on these guys, the same with nailing folks with a 3%-4% surcharge if they use a credit card. I know many merchants do it, but there was a time when this practice was illegal. I guess the states folded and it no longer is, or is just not enforced.
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On page 130 of 2024 Vol 1 there appears six prototypically correct Eerie wooden coaches with ghost and ghoul silhouettes which are the perfect match for the Triplex Halloween edition. 
But to be honest for the Halloween version flames shooting out of the stacks and fire box would have been preferable to wheel slippage.
