Lionel Catalog Volume 1 for 2024 is filled with plenty of treasures. What’s there? How about fantastic locomotives loaded with tons of special effects and realistic details as well as lots of superb pieces of scale rolling stock and entertaining operating cars of all sorts? And plenty of spectacular and enjoyable train sets for modelers at every level of interest.
How do I know all of this? Well, while many of you have been paging through a copy of the new catalog at your leisure, I’ve been examining every one of the 226 pages. I’ve even been studying the front cover with artwork showing a stunning Polar Express 2-8-4 Berkshire steam engine bursting ahead to mark the 20th anniversary of Lionel producing locomotives, passenger cars, and accessories tied to that children’s classic.
Scrutinizing every page of a brand-new Lionel catalog is all part of my ongoing responsibilities as editor of the annual Lionel Pocket Price Guide assembled at Kalmbach Media. I’m honored to oversee publication of this authoritative reference book so many collectors and operators trust. And I’m happy to have finished my tasks for the new book.
Set for the ages!
Okay, now that you know the reason I’m very familiar with the latest catalog put out by Lionel, let me remind you of something else I’ve been doing ever since the first weeks of the new year. Those of you who look regularly at the forum maintained by Classic Toy Trains may remember how I asked for ideas on the perfect postwar train set. I established some guidelines and then called on readers to put together the ideal outfit.
With sets very much on my mind, I couldn’t help focusing my attention on the range of outstanding ones illustrated in the Lionel Catalog Volume 1 for 2024. Believe me, there are more than a few that look perfect in my estimation. Many are incredibly pricy, but there are a number of other terrific and entertaining sets most of us can afford.
I am in absolute awe of the No. 2422010 Erie Vision Triplex Super Set. There’s really no way anyone can’t feel their socks being blown off when they look at the two-page illustration of the train headed by an Erie Triplex steam engine and consisting of 14 great freight cars, including four billboard refrigerator cars, plus a woodside caboose.
Has there ever been anything like this magnificent outfit in the history of Lionel? To equal the Erie Vision Triplex Super Set, the Standard gauge Blue Comet and State Sets from the prewar era would have needed to include 10 passenger cars. And Lionel would have been required to pack a dozen scale pieces of rolling stock with its No. 700E Hudson steam engine and tender to create a set on the level of this immediate classic.
Envision a top-of-the-line locomotive with every feature designers had come up pulling a parade of excellent models. In the 2422010, operators start by getting six freight cars with Erie RR markings to fit with the Triplex, along with a matching Erie caboose. Then you a have pair of double-sheath boxcars and a single-dome tank car decorated with graphics for businesses in the southern and western parts of New York State, where the network of Erie tracks once played a major role in the economic affairs of those regions.
But the price tag specified cooled my jets pretty darn fast. At a penny below four grand, the 15-foot-long freight outfit will remain little more than a sweet dream for me.
Equally enticing Legacy sets
Equally enticing to my eyes though still a challenge to my budget were two of the brand-new Legacy sets. They promised plenty of exciting sound and lighting effects. I think many of you will love them as well, when you’re considering another set to operate.
I’ll begin with a cool concept — a freight train that boasts plenty of illumination as well as glow-in-the-dark effects, not to mention Legacy RailSounds. Check out the No. 2422080 Atomic Energy Commission Glow-In-Dark Scale Legacy Set, which is listed on page 60 of the catalog at $999.99. Leading the way is an AEC GP9 reminiscent of the No. 28527 model released back in 2016. Behind the Geep are a gondola with canisters, a boxcar with Geiger counter sounds, a single-dome tank car, and a bay-window caboose.
Next, I admired the truly handsome outfit keeping alive the history of the Illinois Central’s City of Miami streamlined passenger train that once ran between Chicago and Miami (the IC took it as far south as Jacksonville, Fla.). Set No. 2422090 uses an E6 A unit on the point to lead a quartet of yellow-green-red cars. You can expand your train with a two-pack of matching coaches (No. 2427330) and a diner with StationSounds (No. 2427340). The basic four-car City of Miami Legacy set has a price tag of $1,499.99.
Entertaining LionChief sets
I really couldn’t wait to flip the pages of my Lionel catalog until I finally got to the section on LionChief sets. There, I discovered a couple that appeal to me and work beautifully with my disposable income to be spent on trains. I bet you’ll feel the same.
Illustrations and descriptions of four entertaining sets equipped with LionChief and Bluetooth capabilities fill pages 92 through 99. A couple of them look interesting to me, while the other two seem to be attractive and enjoyable yet aren’t my cup of tea.
To start, I like the No. 2423010 Looney Tunes Set, which has some of the most colorful and whimsical models imaginable. Just about all of my favorite Warner Bros. cartoon characters make an appearance in the three-car outfit that comes with a boxcar, an operating gondola, and a caboose. The FT diesel showcases Bugs Bunny and Wile J. Coyote of Roadrunner fame (or infamy) —he’s smashed against the nose of the engine! The other components of the set, which is priced at $529.99, include Daffy Duck, the Tasmanian Devil, Yosemite Sam, and Elmer Fudd. Sylvester the Cat is there, too.
I also have a thing for the No. 2423050 Prairie Freight Set. Priced at $429.99, the three-car outfit wonderfully conjures up memories of the simple yet entertaining steam freight sets Lionel placed in its cataloged line after World War II. The 2-6-2 locomotive with the familiar number “675” pulls a Pennsylvania RR gondola with barrels, a Sunoco single-dome tank car, and a bright red Pennsy caboose. The O gauge set would have been a star in the catalog Lionel released back in 1947, which may be why I like it so much.
The Nos. 2423040 Disney’s Frozen Olaf LionChief Set and 2423070 John Deere Steam Freight LionChief Set will attract different groups of Lionel enthusiasts. Both of these O gauge outfits are priced at less than $500 and offer action, color, and fun.
My problem may be that as an aging Baby Boomer I’m too engaged in postwar American culture. By this I mean the nostalgia stirred by seeing the Prairie Freight Set and recalling fondly watching the cartoons that inspired the Looney Tunes Set have left me certain these two sets will best satisfy me. Other folks will like the Frozen and the John Deere trains for similar reasons, depending on their experience and background.
Plenty more to come
Time to rest a bit from our exploration of Lionel Catalog Volume 1 for 2024. If sets oriented toward Halloween, Christmas, or some other theme or motif grab you, then there are other sections of the catalog you’ll want to check over. I’m more than pleased with what Lionel has offered and will look forward to sharing with you my thoughts on the outstanding assortment of locomotives and rolling stock filling many other pages.
more overpriced stuff that will be late as usual in being delivered !!!
It did not knock my socks off.