|
|
Post by rockymountaineer on Sept 20, 2024 21:46:58 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%-5% surcharge if they use a credit card. There was a time when this practice was illegal, but I guess it either no longer is, or is just not enforced. We can go 'round and 'round until the cows come home on this one in terms of how you "bury the hat" in your expense report. But until you run a small business, I'm OK with a shop asking for a personal check instead of a credit card for big-ticket items. If you haven't noticed, MANY small businesses of ALL types now include a credit-card surplus charge. Sort of a fall-out from the COVID days. But it's not going away anytime soon for those who started factoring in that fee.
Bottom line: as Dave Ramsey would say... if you can't afford to pay cash for something, then you can't afford to buy it. So in this case, when I pre-ordered the N&W Triplex from The Train Loft, Jeff was offering a discounted price that included free shipping and a N&W MTH Premier woodside caboose with illuminated LED marker lights for "early buyers". So I knew what I was getting into... and I'm OK with that. Seemed very fair for a unique product offering. But I completely understand it's not everyone's cup of tea.
|
|
|
|
Post by rockymountaineer on Sept 22, 2024 0:23:30 GMT
The Triplex eagles have definitely landed this weekend… and as I predicted, dealers are shipping them out as fast as they can. The cash-flow infusion has gotta really boost their September revenues!!! 
Here’s the fantasy D&RGW model I pre-ordered, when the Vision Triplex models were first announced. My wife and I had just returned back from a RockyMountaineer “red rocks” vacation in Colorado and Utah. So this was a natural choice to bring back fond memories of a magnificent trip.
Here are some iPhone images I snapped during the unboxing and subsequent placing the model on a display shelf in the train room.
As you can see, the Triplex ships fully assembled with its tender. And it was quite easy to remove out of the box by grabbing the double-wrapped clear plastic to lift it out. I wouldn’t risk walking around with a $2,000 locomotive like that. But lifting it out of the box was easy and safe. Once on the carpet, I was able to safely grab the locomotive at both ends and place it on the display shelf for some photography. Then I just needed a pair of tweezers to grab some protective foam inserts out from around a few wheel locations. As an FYI... UPS shipping tallied in at 22lbs weight including boxes. So there's some serious heft to this steamer.
A quick inspection of the locomotive led me to conclude the decoration scheme is EXCELLENT. No flaws that I could detect. And I was relieved that Lionel’s factory essentially used the same D&RGW green boiler and gray smokebox coloring that was chosen last year’s METCA D&RGW Mogul. Thankfully, no more chalky, unprimed gray color for the smokebox. Yay!!!
I’ve had a year to collect my favorite freight cars to make my own Triplex "superset". So I’ll post a video of the whole train, when I get a chance. Until then, I’ll leave the videos to the professional YouTubers!!!
Oh… and one last item worth noting… take a look at the OBS date of 7/2/2024, and today is 9/21/2024… so we’re looking at roughly 10 weeks travel time from China to consumer… which pretty much implies stuff you wanna see by Christmas is gonna need to ship from China by very early October — which is just over a week from today.
Anyway, now back to our regularly scheduled Vision Triplex programming….                
|
|
|
|
Post by david1 on Sept 22, 2024 2:36:47 GMT
Dave, it looks great, I hope it runs as good as it looks. Good luck with it and thanks for posting pictures.
Dave
|
|
|
|
Post by harborbelt70 on Sept 22, 2024 12:13:12 GMT
Dave, it looks great, I hope it runs as good as it looks. Good luck with it and thanks for posting pictures. Dave
|
|
|
|
Post by rockymountaineer on Sept 23, 2024 2:58:39 GMT
For those of you curious about a side-by-side comparison between MTH’s original Erie Triplex (top of image) vs. the Lionel VisionLine Triplex (bottom of image), here ya go.  Given that Lionel purchased the Triplex tooling from MTH, it’s not surprising that there are no discernible differences upon quick review. Although obviously the electronics for Legacy, the wheel-slip feature, and the swinging bell would account for some internal changes.
|
|
|
|
Post by frankmulligan on Sept 23, 2024 4:30:15 GMT
Beautiful engine, but that's a mortgage payment for me! Enjoy to all those that ordered one.
|
|
|
|
Post by MartyE on Sept 23, 2024 12:16:22 GMT
I saw someone who got theirs posted a video posted of the wheel slip. It was pretty awesome!
Can't wait to see David's look.
|
|
|
|
Post by rockymountaineer on Sept 24, 2024 2:42:25 GMT
I saw someone who got theirs posted a video posted of the wheel slip. It was pretty awesome!
Can't wait to see David's look. Here ya go, Marty… youtu.be/c6nU0VuE7oQ
|
|
|
|
Post by david1 on Sept 24, 2024 2:56:28 GMT
Looks great Dave, does the rear smoke unit work?
Dave
|
|
|
|
Post by rockymountaineer on Sept 24, 2024 3:02:21 GMT
Looks great Dave, does the rear smoke unit work? Dave Oh yeah… this thing smokes up a storm. I just needed to blow down the tender stack to get rid of an air bubble. But of course it had to misbehave for the video. LOL!!!
|
|
