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Post by Sir James on Oct 29, 2019 2:44:48 GMT
I had already planned to run George's but I guess I could share.
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Post by rockymountaineer on Oct 29, 2019 5:11:42 GMT
Pat's "special-run" #5416 is essentially the twin-sister to #5410 that Lionel catalog'd as part of The Pacemaker passenger set. When these locomotives were catalog'd, some folks got into all kinds of tizzies as to whether or not the classification lights/markers should be there or not. So as a result, I recall Pat saying his "special run" would have them installed from the factory... but will also come with an optional, plain boiler front w/o classification lights too. So folks who don't want classification lights will be able to swap the plain boiler front appearance with the one that comes from factory.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 29, 2019 9:44:10 GMT
Mr muffins stated to me he sold over 80 of his special version. On top of what Lionel catalog and Pat’s special run. You can get a sense how many engines Lionel is making. I seem to recall Pat limiting his special-run to 25 units, but he would have to confirm the final tally. David I believe you are correct. From what I understand Lionel requires special order engines in quantities of 25 or at least a minimum of 25 so that makes sense.
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Post by JDaddy on Oct 29, 2019 11:31:55 GMT
Jim you can play with John's and I'll run George's. This way I can save money to buy more Milwaukee stufff! And Loco Greg's, Ryans, Dave Smith's, … the list goes on!
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Post by JDaddy on Oct 29, 2019 11:34:05 GMT
These special order locomotives have really spiced up the model variations... love it. Who else did a special release?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 29, 2019 11:35:23 GMT
I seem to recall Pat limiting his special-run to 25 units, but he would have to confirm the final tally. David I believe you are correct. From what I understand Lionel requires special order engines in quantities of 25 or at least a minimum of 25 so that makes sense. Why would Pat limit the amount over 25? Mr Muffin's sold over 80 of his special run. More sales, more money.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 29, 2019 11:40:00 GMT
David I believe you are correct. From what I understand Lionel requires special order engines in quantities of 25 or at least a minimum of 25 so that makes sense. Why would Pat limit the amount over 25? Mr Muffin's sold over 80 of his special run. More sales, more money. While I certainly don't know Pat's details, if he limited it to 25 it's because of the minimum run Lionel required. So he at least had to sell 25. It would be up to him if he could sell more and if there was a next tier of required minimum. I'm not sure if Pat had a pre order time frame or how he handled it but Pat is a pretty good business man so I don't think he would do a run of more than he could sell.
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Post by JDaddy on Oct 29, 2019 11:45:23 GMT
Nicholas Smith Trains did a run of K4's with the shorty tender and brought the remaining locomotives to York... they were gone in a day. They are great variants that are unique and probably collectable too. When I talked to the folks at Lionel, I did confirm there was a MINIMUM order... but not sure if it was 25, 50, or a 100.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 29, 2019 11:48:06 GMT
Nicholas Smith Trains did a run of K4's with the shorty tender and brought the remaining locomotives to York... they were gone in a day. They are great variants that are unique and probably collectable too. When I talked to the folks at Lionel, I did confirm there was a MINIMUM order... but not sure if it was 25, 50, or a 100. I maybe wrong about the 25 number but I seem to remember Pat mentioned that number once before when doing a special run.
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Post by JDaddy on Oct 29, 2019 11:51:22 GMT
Did Mr. Muffins do a special run too?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 29, 2019 11:54:55 GMT
Did Mr. Muffins do a special run too? Yes he did and it's the one I have on order.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 29, 2019 12:03:41 GMT
One thing for sure is these special runs are definitely giving folks a variety of choices. I'm always interested to see who comes up with these when the catalogs are released. SO far I haven't taken advantage of these but maybe someday.
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Post by rockymountaineer on Oct 29, 2019 13:43:07 GMT
One thing for sure is these special runs are definitely giving folks a variety of choices. I'm always interested to see who comes up with these when the catalogs are released. SO far I haven't taken advantage of these but maybe someday. I could be wrong on this... but I think the number of special-run offerings has increased significantly in the past few years as a way of generating interest in pre-order sales, when folks have otherwise been hesitant to pre-order because of Lionel's factory issues. By keeping the special-run offering to a very limited run, it temps buyers to pre-order rather than miss out. 25 isn't a lot across the whole country. And I believe that IS the minimum requirement -- provided Lionel is already making other variations of the same product in the catalog. I recall Nassau Hobbies limited their special-run Western Maryland Challenger to 25 units too.
OTOH, MTH might even go lower... to only 10 units for some of their Standard Gauge offerings... again, as long as they're making more of the same product for other liveries. Last year, when MTH was closing down production with the expiration of its Lionel Corporation Tinplate license, they produced a whole bunch of 400E locomotives. And about a half-dozen to dozen dealers jumped on board to sign up for 10-unit special-runs. SideTrack Hobbies sold out of their Christmas Express 400E WITH matching passenger cars rather quickly. And I think Pat's Trains did a couple of 10-unit special runs from the same batch of 400E's: one in the black bonnet paint scheme, and another in the US Navy livery.
All in all, the special-runs are a great way to stoke interest beyond what's in the main catalog. And if the paint schemes and features are well thought out, I'd say most of these special-runs sell quite well. Of course, the trick -- as always -- is to get the factory to deliver on whatever is unique in the different offerings. I know both Mr. Muffins Trains and Pat's Trains jumped on board quickly to address the fact that folks didn't want the classification lights on their J3a Hudsons. And all of Lionel's Hudson offerings in the catalog had them. So those who didn't want the classification lights tended to buy from Steve or Pat. And I know Pat's Hudsons are supposed to give buyers the option which way they want to run their Hudson when they open the box... either with or without the classification lights. Not sure if Steve offered the same flexibility.
So let's hope all goes as planned, and everything is delivered as described. A few years ago when Lionel produced the streamlined NYC ESE Hudsons, I recall 3 variations illustrated in the catalog -- the differentiating feature being the style of drivers: spokes, boxpox, Scullin, or a combination. But when the models were delivered, the driver configurations were NOT as illustrated in the catalog. Why that happened still remains a mystery. So go figure.
Lionel NC is due to receive the J3a Hudsons this Friday, Nov 1st. Steve told me he expects his shipment from Lionel about 10 days after that. And then dealers will ship them out to buyers accordingly. We shall soon see what actually arrives in a couple of weeks.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 29, 2019 14:10:38 GMT
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Post by laz57 on Oct 29, 2019 14:21:52 GMT
With HALLOWEEN being this week and Lionel getting the Hudson’s, will this be a trick or a real treat? Hopefully a great treat. We shall see...
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