Summer is here, and so are the mid-year announcements from Lionel. Lionel released two mid-year catalogs in O scale, and HO scale, and in this blog, I wanna go over what Lionel had to offer in their HO scale catalog. I won't be going over everything, but I will be going over things that I felt stuck out the most.
Right from the get-go is an advertisement for a sweepstake involving Lionel's new Berkshire HO scale steam locomotive. From July 16th to August 22nd, folks can enter the sweepstakes in order to win the Berkshire steam engine, with a winner being selected on September 2nd.
I think it's neat that Lionel's giving people a chance to win the Berkshire for free, especially as it's a newly tooled engine as opposed to something made from the Model Power molds.
While Lionel has had cars in HO scale that make sound before, the stock sound cars are a nice new welcome edition, and can add some depth and realism to your HO scale layout.
Glow in the dark and weathered cars are also a welcome edition. I know pre-weathered cars are becoming more of a thing in HO scale, but I can't say the same about glow in the dark ones.
For those who love Halloween but are sadden by the lack of HO scale Halloween trains (or the fact that Bradford Exchange is your only option), Lionel has you covered. Alongside some new box cars, Lionel also has a Halloween billboard to put on the layout.
Honestly? Good for Lionel. It has bugged me a bit that Halloween hasn't been that represented in HO scale as much as Christmas, and I'm sure there's someone out there looking for a Halloween train to run around their Halloween village.
While not new, I do want to bring up the Halloween train set that Lionel currently has which is the Translyvania Railroad train set.
While yes the steam engine is a repaint of the Polar Express engine, the colors do look nice and I really like the Midnight Hallow box car.
As I mentioned at the start of the blog, Lionel has released sound cars already, with one example being the Halloween sound car that plays as long as their is power to the track.
Lionel's cash cow (AKA the Polar Express) has some new items in HO scale this year too, with a reindeer stock sound car and present transportation.
Lionel is also offering Polar Express billboards which I do like.
Alongside the Polar Express, some other new Christmas stuff Lionel has is a Christmas reindeer stock car (with the same features as the polar express one), and sled ex transportation car.
Final Christmas item I'll mention is the Santa's Choice Milk Reefer. The tagline "Cookies have never had it so good" alone makes me want to buy the car.
The only thing I have to comment about the Harry Potter cars is while yes Lionel, they look good, I kind of wish you'd give us a Hogwarts Express HO scale engine. I don't know if they have the rights to do it in HO scale, but I know it's been a LONG long time since Bachmann did one...
I will give Lionel some props for the Peanuts and Tom and Jerry box cars. It's not much, but a part of me has been wanting to see more HO scale Peanuts stuff, and I do still like Tom and Jerry.
The last noteworthy thing in the catalog I want to talk about is some of the buildings that Lionel is releasing in HO scale. The more urban buildings look nice and can go next to each other in any order that you please, and I do like the town hall building Lionel is releasing.
The Cape Cod buildings are something I would like to see a bit more of. Maybe it's because I'm looking in the wrong places or haven't considered building it myself, but I feel like there's just not that many beach buildings or shacks in HO scale.
And yes Lionel I think the "On fire" building kit is cool. Expensive? Yes. Cool? Also yes.
Closing Thoughts:
I do like how Lionel's HO scale line is starting to come together, and I'm still hopeful that by 2026-2027 at the latest diesel's will be introduced into the line (doesn't have to be anything too fancy Lionel, it can just be a simple F7 Diesel's.)
I also would like to see Lionel continue to produce some more buildings in HO scale, specifically Halloween and Christmas themed ones. Nothing against Lemax or Department 56, but their houses aren't exactly in scale with HO, and it does bother me a bit that there are a ton of HO scale sets out on the market, yet nowhere near as many HO scale buildings.
To see the full Lionel catalog, click here
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