Why are there no Lionel trains this year?

Thanks Emile. It’s an interesting comparison, if in many respects very sad but I am not going to dwell on that. One difference, apart from the fact that Lionel doesn’t manufacture anything much now, is that there are Lionel trains being made and even delivered.

Example: I recently got a Union Pacific Excursion 2-car expansion pack, which I believe was part of a sizable shipment of 21” cars that came in last month. Everything else in the shipping schedule has gone back at least two months, especially if you cross-check it against what Charles Ro publishes online as expected dates of delivery. Other tidbits of info confirm that manufacture of the VL GS series is underway but nothing from that offering is likely to appear until Christmas.

Anyway, in wartime days Lionel seems to have had a better sense of how to communicate with their customers than they do any more but times and people have changed fundamentally, and not necessarily for the better.

These booklets are a fascinating piece of history. Thanks for sharing them with us Emile!

It's been a minute since I bought a train. Now that I have been called back to work, I went to Oberlin OH and bought me a car that would go with the training first responders train.