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Post by rockymountaineer on Oct 24, 2023 1:05:29 GMT
In the recent updates from Lionel's large dealers highlighting new product arrivals, I noticed an interesting trend: a noticeable number of the company's 21" passenger car offerings are listed as "sold out" -- both in Lionel's webstore (which is almost always MSRP-pricing) as well as among several large dealers. It'll be interesting to see if this trend continues. I suspect it will, as nobody wants to carry unnecessary inventory these days.
OTOH, keeping a "few extras" on-hand in the back room (i.e., temporarily off the market) was often a common practice in the 1990's-2000's in order to drive prices up on "hot items". Ironically, the items I'm referring to in this post happen to be passenger cars from trains expected to be in high-demand following corresponding locomotive sales earlier this year: namely the AC&W, Chessie, and Sleigh Bell Limited. So I guess it begs the question: Are these items REALLY "sold out"? Or might dealers happen to magically offer a few extra of these items after the dust settles a bit... this time at slightly higher prices?
Bottom line: if you pre-ordered these goodies, you'll be good to go. But if you're waiting to see what was actually delivered, you might be paying PREMIUM PRICES for them now if you really want them. Sigh.... 
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Post by runamuckchuck on Oct 24, 2023 14:31:01 GMT
You bring up an interesting point about the Lionel Store that I have a question about.
Does anyone really know the inventory relationship of the Lionel Store to Lionel Corp? In the past I have taken the sold out at the Lionel Store to mean that not only the store allocation was sold out, but that Lionel Corp's inventory was sold out to their dealers and distributors. Now whether or not the dealers and distributors are also really sold out is the material question of your post.
But back to your 'SIGH'.
Ah yes, the insidious 'warehouse find' ploy. I have no doubt that there is a shell game of sorts going on. The BTO model definitely benefits the manufacturers and especially the dealers as it reduces the guess work of what to order and not get stuck with over stock. If he who hesitates is not lost, they will almost certainly pay more.
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Post by rockymountaineer on Oct 24, 2023 18:10:13 GMT
I don’t believe Lionel’s webstore inventory status speaks on behalf of dealer inventory — just Lionel’s webstore/warehouse inventory. So if the webstore shows “sold out”, that indicates Lionel has no more product to ship to dealers or sell directly to consumers.
The one exception appears to be Lionel’s webstore “exclusives”, such as the “Locomotive of The Year” offerings. The 2023 offering is currently “sold out”, which would lead us to think Lionel took reservations for all they plan to build. But the same thing happened last year. And when the locomotives arrived in December, they were available to purchase online. So we never really know if everything we read is ACCURATE.
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Post by harborbelt70 on Oct 24, 2023 18:28:13 GMT
In the recent updates from Lionel's large dealers highlighting new product arrivals, I noticed an interesting trend: a noticeable number of the company's 21" passenger car offerings are listed as "sold out" -- both in Lionel's webstore (which is almost always MSRP-pricing) as well as among several large dealers. It'll be interesting to see if this trend continues. I suspect it will, as nobody wants to carry unnecessary inventory these days.
Anyway that's a preface to saying that these cars have had a lot of (deserved) bad press and I imagine they don't sell in huge quantities so Lionel is reluctant to make, and dealers reluctant to stock, anything more than what they have firm orders for.
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Post by rockymountaineer on Oct 24, 2023 19:20:07 GMT
I agree with your comments regarding Lionel’s 21” passenger cars in general. Whether folks are rationalizing it or not… I think two roadnames are an exception that rise above Lionel's "typical" 21-inchers: The Chessie… paired with the now tough-to-find Silver/Orange Chessie Greenbrier #612, and the Sleigh Bell Ltd set, paired with either the matching E-8’s or next year’s matching Legacy steam loco. Especially with respect to the latter, I expect large dealers will want to grab whatever inventory remains in the sales distribution channels, since those cars will create a highly desirable COMPLETE SET. And whoever holds that inventory can control the pricing for different components in the set.
I have the Chessie Greenbrier #612 on my roster, and I’m paring it with a nice MTH 18” Chessie passenger set that I already own. I have a Lionel heavyweight StationSounds diner on order that will complement the MTH Chessie cars nicely. Not an exact match, but then again... passenger train consists often had mixed rolling stock over time. Both the MTH Chessie passenger cars as well as Lionel's HEAVYWEIGHT StationSounds diner have detailed interiors WITH passengers. So I'm passing on Lionel's silver/orange Chessie 21" passenger cars WITHOUT passengers -- even though those cars might arguably be a better match color-wise.
Meanwhile, I do have my eye on the Sleighbell Ltd passenger cars and pre-ordered them back when Lionel announced the matching F-19 Pacific steam locomotive in 2023 Volume 2. Had Lionel not announced a steam locomotive to match the cars, I probably would have passed on them completely. But I succumbed to the magic of a Christmas steam train in traditional Christmas colors. 
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Post by keithb on Oct 25, 2023 20:43:12 GMT
What radius track do the 21" cars need?
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Post by rockymountaineer on Oct 25, 2023 23:39:18 GMT
What radius track do the 21" cars need?
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