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The Lionel 2007 Volume 1 and K-Line by Lionel 2007 Volume 1 catalogs are now available on-line.  Lionel’s catalog includes a new 246E tinplate set and a beautiful Southern Pacific GS-4 (MSRP $1,199).  The K-Line catalog is interesting, lots of SuperStreets and a few steam locomotives including K-Line’s rendition of the Southern Pacific GS-4 (MSRP $599.99).

On January 18, 2007, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals posted on its PACER web site that a letter was sent to Lionel’s lawyer, Walter Dellinger, notifying him to respond MTH’s petition (filed with the court on December 28, 2006)for an en banc hearing. Lionel’s response is due by February 1, 2007. An en banc hearing means that the full court will consider it, which could be a group of anywhere from 15-20 judges (in other words all the judges of the court), instead of the 3 that orginally heard the appeal on June 7, 2006.

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Continue to read Appeals Court Orders Lionel To Respond To MTH's Petition by Erol Gurcan

Here’s a new press release from Ready Made Trains:

READY MADE TRAINS, LLC announces new road names to the series of "Ready Made Toys" 0/0-27 scale 3-rail toy train BEEP diesels representing some old favorites, industrials and today’s regional carriers as the listing grows.

Using classic tooling originally created by Kusan  in the early 1950’s, RMT has upgraded the BEEP to utilize 21st Century production techniques of painting and decorating with the highest level of detailing at an affordable retail price. These BEEP diesels are fully compatible with existing BEEPs and other RMT toy train products.

The BEEPs can operate on 0-27 curves and feature…

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Continue to read More New Product Announcements from Ready Made Trains

MTH announced yesterday in their electronic newsletter that some of the Premier steam locomotives appearing in the 2007 Volume 1 catalog will be produced with a wireless drawbar.  The  wireless drawbar will replace the Proto-Sound 2.0 wire tether that was used to connect the locomotive to the digital soundboard in the tender.  This wireless drawbar setup was first introduced by MTH on their new HO scale locomotive.   

The list of models to get the new drawbar includes:

Greenbrier 4-8-4 Steam Engine w/Proto-Sound 2.0 (Hi-Rail Wheels)
Class A 2-6-6-4 Steam Engine w/Proto-Sound 2.0 (Hi-Rail Wheels)
Canadian National 4-8-2 Steam Engine w/Proto-Sound 2.0
Z-6 Challenger 4-6-6-4 Steam Engine w/Proto-Sound 2.0

These locomotives will also receive an number of other tweaks that will make them look even more prototypical.  None of the tweaks were listed in the 2007 Volume 1 catalog descriptions for these models. 

MTH announced recently that all of the above models are in danger of not being produced because of low early order volume.  Maybe the addition of the wireless drawbar and the other tweaks will spark enough interest for MTH to produce these models.

The decision to build these models will be made on 2/1/07 so get your orders in by 1/31/07.

On January 16, 2007, Lionel filed its monthly operating report with the bankruptcy court. It is required to file a monthly operating report since it is in bankruptcy. The report was affirmed to by its Chief Financial Officer, Scott Turkington. December’s numbers were obtained directly from its profit and loss summary filed with court.

The interesting thing about December’s numbers is that it allows us to see how Lionel did as a company for the calendar year 2006, rather than just a monthly snapshot, which I have reported on in the past.

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Continue to read Lionel's Gross Sales In 2006 Top Million by Erol Gurcan

Today, I received this press release from Ready Made Trains maker of the "Ready Made Toys" line of products.  Good news for us fans of Ready Made Toys.  Glad to see my favorite, PRSL, made the list.

READY MADE TRAINS, LLC introduces another addition to the series of "Ready Made Toys" 0/0-27 scale toy trains… freight cars suitable for both the steam and diesel era with railroad names to represent old favorites, ‘fallen flags’, shortlines, and today’s newest regional carriers and mega-railroads as the listing grows.

Using classic tooling originally created by Kusan and Marx in the early 1950’s, RMT has upgraded these cars to utilize 21st Century production techniques of painting and decorating with the highest level of detailing at an affordable retail price. These freight cars are fully compatible with RMT BEEP and BEEF diesels and cabooses and an exciting addition to any toy train empire.

First in this new product line is a 2-bay "smooth-side" coal hopper that features…

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Continue to read New Product Announcement from Ready Made Trains