# Mike Reagan Resigns from Lionel



## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

From Notch 6:
https://www.facebook.com/Notch...NEWSFEED&fref=nf

We have just received word that Mike Reagan has resigned from his position at Lionel as of November 14, 2016.

I sure didn't see that coming!


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## HarborBelt1970 (Sep 24, 2015)

*Mike Reagan leaves Lionel*

which is not good news. I am sure some of you have seen this on another source as I just have. It's confirmed and I expect that there will be some official announcement from Lionel sooner rather than later.

I certainly wish Mike well whatever he is going to do now. 

There is no report of the reason for his departure but it is with immediate effect.

Bummer. :thumbsdown:


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## laz57 (Sep 19, 2015)

Great GUY!!! Gonna miss him at YORK.


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## Don F (Dec 5, 2015)

Wow, me either! I talked to him at York and thanked him for the recommending me as a source for coal loads for the Lionscale 3 bay hoppers. I wish him well. Now our club car committee from another forum has to find another Lionel rep for our next club car project.
Don


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## BFI66 (Feb 7, 2013)

Bad news for the hobby.....his enthusiasm and knowledge will be missed.

-Pete


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## Guest (Nov 14, 2016)

Really not surprised. Adds up to other things I have heard.


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## Stoshu (Jun 20, 2015)

Hate to see that happen. It looked like he was doing a great job, It was probably tough for him to work for someone else after doing his own thing for a while. Did he leave on his own ? or just a friendly disagreement....


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## Jeff T (Dec 27, 2011)

I wonder what type of non compete he had to sign with Lionel... Not good for Lionel as he was one of if not their best ambassador.


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## DennyM (Jan 3, 2016)

I just saw a email from a friend from another forum about it. I just saw him at York talking to the Ross Switch guys.


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## seayakbill (Jan 16, 2016)

One of the better communicators in the O Gauge hobby. With his quick exit I would say he had a better opportunity somewhere.

Bill


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Merged the two threads on the same topic.


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## Rocky Mountaineer (Sep 19, 2015)

Folks have already been reprimanded on "the other forum" for some really minor speculation -- no surprise there. But let me just add to Mike's well-deserved kudos, that he's leaving huge shoes to fill -- both physically and figuratively. . He understood the importance of good communication with the end consumer. And that will be missed, since I don't see anybody else in Lionel's management team doing that.

With Mike's sudden departure, I think we're gonna go back to seeing excessive product delays fom stuff shipping out of China. Mike was a driver, and he seemed real determined to get product shipped the same year it showed up in the Volume 1 catalog. In his absence, we'll likely see more 2016 products slipping well into 2017+. I hope I'm wrong, but time will tell.

David


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## seayakbill (Jan 16, 2016)

We will just have to wait and see how this all works out in Lionelville. I would guess that Hitchcock has all his ducks in a row and there will not be any downside to Mike's departure.

Could be a management restructuring or Lionel had to make some financial restructuring.

Bill


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## Lee Willis (Jan 1, 2014)

seayakbill said:


> One of the better communicators in the O Gauge hobby. With his quick exit I would say he had a better opportunity somewhere.
> 
> Bill


Well, noting is definitive but in my experience a really sudden departure means someone was really p.o.'ed at someone else. Generally when you leave for a good opportunity you do so gracefully with a transition period. At least I always did (when I left gracefully).


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## Spence (Oct 15, 2015)

That's too bad because everything I have read about him over the last few years have been positive. I wish him nothing but the best.


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## Fabforrest (Aug 31, 2015)

I have never met Mike, but dealt with him on the phone since his trainsamerica days. Has helped me a lot. Hoping he stays in the hobby, but wish him well whatever he does.


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## seayakbill (Jan 16, 2016)

Maybe Reagan made a trip up to Columbia, Maryland.

Bill


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

DennyM said:


> I just saw him at York talking to the Ross Switch guys.


I doubt that means too much. Mike also talked to me at York, but I'm not hiring him.  Mike is truly a "larger than life" character, both in stature and in his involvement in the hobby. I hope he's still involved and we'll see him surface somewhere else.

Like Lee says, if it's an amicable separation, it's usually not a sudden departure.


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## JimL (Aug 16, 2015)

Good luck, Mike!

Lionel is why I play with trains, and .... you helped make Lionel so much better.

Jim


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## chipset35 (Sep 4, 2015)

Not good.


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## Rocky Mountaineer (Sep 19, 2015)

:stroke:e


gunrunnerjohn said:


> ...
> 
> Like Lee says, if it's an amicable separation, it's usually not a sudden departure.


I don't know Howard Hitchcock personnally and have never talked to the man, but my "gut" tells me there's more going on than meets the eye in the statement attributed to him in the original posting on FB about Mike Reagan's departure. Just something about the wording that sounds too "scripted". In its attempt to sound so sincere, it comes off insincere. I could be 100% wrong on this, but I gotta agree that these quick departures aren't always the most amicable. We just don't know enough about the insider management styles to say anything more definitive at this time. In some corporate cultures, senior executives desiring to leave are out as soon as they resign -- especially if a person is moving to a position that's viewed as a competitive move. In others, the culture is more open to a transition period if somebody is just desiring to do something different with their career. Time will tell the real story here.

In this case, folks are hit by the news particularly hard since Mike was THE voice of Lionel to so many enthusiasts. Nobody else in the company -- and I mean nobody -- understood that role better than Mike. Or if they did, they certainly were OK with Mike handling that role solo.

David


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## HarborBelt1970 (Sep 24, 2015)

GRJ, I did not see your thread when I posted mine. It obviously makes sense to combine them.

What makes no sense is to speculate at length about the reasons behind MR leaving although I will say that a sudden departure can reflect long-standing underlying differences. The same goes for there being no joint agreed statement about resignation. But that's just business. P.S. I mean no disrespect to David's comments posted just before mine; I see the force of what he says.

In any case, he's a loss to Lionel and my hope is that he stays in the model train industry. Whatever transpires I certainly wish him well.


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## Norton (Nov 5, 2015)

Rich Melvin just posted on OGR that he spoke to Mike and while he doesn't divulge details it appears the departure was Mike's choice and he left on good terms. Bad news for Lionel might still mean good news for his fans, of which I am one.

Pete


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## Rocky Mountaineer (Sep 19, 2015)

HarborBelt1970 said:


> ... P.S. I mean no disrespect to David's comments posted just before mine; I see the force of what he says.
> 
> ...


Absolutely none taken. I was thinking out loud -- given the times I've been on both sides of corporate separations. Press releases and statements about resignations/departures are never quite what they seem, and yet other times it's simply a person's desire to do something different, which may be the case here. 

I've always been openly candid about giving Mike Reagan lots of well-deserved kudos for doing what he did so well at Lionel. For many of us, our trains are a hobby. For insiders, it's their business. And there's a huge difference. I can only image the long hours of dedication required to guide, monitor, and ensure overseas factories stay on track to agreed upon manufacturing priorities and shipping schedules -- all of which Mike probably undertook in his new role as head of product development (if I'm correct in the promotion he took on a couple of years ago).

As I mentioned earlier, Mike was a driver to get products catalog'd each year delivered quickly. And there are quite a few 2016 products already slipping into 2017 -- like multiple sets of 21" passenger cars that aren't even listed on the shipping schedule yet, and even the VisionLine GG-1's are now showing Jan 2017 on the shipping schedule. There's only so much one person can affect when they're fighting the "tail wagging the dog syndrome". I know my personality, and I don't think I could willingly handle the job under those conditions for too long.

I only hope Lionel exec's truly understood the "social component" that Mike also brought to the party. Whether they "got it" remains to be seen, as not too many execs today are truly comfortable stepping out from the behind-the-scenes machinations of the corporate world. And Mike was one of the few who did that very well.

David


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## walter (Jan 31, 2014)

Sorry to see him go. Personal opinion, sometimes when management wants to go in a different direction, or change its vision, good people rather then argue the issues, leave. Rather then see all their hard endeavors disappear.
Good people, give notices, when its sudden, there's more to a story.


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## Norton (Nov 5, 2015)

Some assume this was sudden but Mike may have given notice a month or more ago. The OGR guys talk about hoisting a beer with Mike. Who knows, maybe he was given a chance to take over or work at OGR.
Most may have forgotten that Lionel Service remained in Ohio for a number of years after corporate moved to North Carolina. Maybe most of them wanted to stay in the area. One did (Brian ??) and went to work for Dave at Mercer Junction. Maybe Mike wasn't too thrilled with Charlotte either. NC is one place I would consider moving to but never Charlotte. Its turned into a zoo, the opposite of small town Ohio.

Pete


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## njrailer93 (Nov 28, 2011)

Sad to see him go I was starting to regain some confidence in Lionel. Whom ever takes his spot truly has to have a passion and not just be worried about the almighty dollar.


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## DennyM (Jan 3, 2016)

gunrunnerjohn said:


> I doubt that means too much. Mike also talked to me at York, but I'm not hiring him.  Mike is truly a "larger than life" character, both in stature and in his involvement in the hobby. I hope he's still involved and we'll see him surface somewhere else.
> 
> Like Lee says, if it's an amicable separation, it's usually not a sudden departure.


What I was saying is I just saw him chatting with those guys. I didn't think anything of it.


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## Jeff T (Dec 27, 2011)

I'm in the Highway Safety business and while there is no correlation to the toy train business, there is one similarity, management.

We had a company, to rename nameless let's use XYZ, and they had a great tech guy. Everybody loved him, he went out of his way to help whenever he could. When at industry meetings he was often referred to as Mr. XYZ.

At XYZ company this really gnawed at their president and this tech person was eventually relieved of his duties.

I don't even want to suggest that might be the case here, but I've seen crazier things happen in corporate boardrooms.

Mike will be fine, Lionel will be fine and once the dust settles we will be fine as well.


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## Guest (Nov 15, 2016)

*"Mike will be fine, Lionel will be fine and once the dust settles we will be fine as well."*

Jeff, you are entirely correct.


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## Steamfan77 (Jan 28, 2011)

Passenger Train Collector said:


> Really not surprised. Adds up to other things I have heard.


 Brian,
You can't throw that out there without a clarification. :sly:So, what other things have you heard? :dunno:

Andy


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## Bill S (Nov 21, 2015)

Brian you know you can say it here, your post won't get deleted! 

I was able to meet Mike last year at Milwaukee's Trainfest. In my opinion it was the first time Lionel had anyone at their booth that had a clue since Chuck Horan was still with them. Mike was very nice. I had a question about a missing side rod screw on my 38096 773. One year production engine, with specific metric screws. I knew they were sold out, Mike gave me the name of three parts suppliers that may have it. Nobody had it but Jeff Kane Train Tender and I, through phone calls and emails, came up with a solution and by the first week in December my 773 was running again. I also was able to thank him personally for his customer service videos, especially the one showing the full potential of the ZW-C. I really credit Mike with taking the arrogance out of Lionel. Mike seems to be someone that really "gets it" when it comes to customer service.


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## Don F (Dec 5, 2015)

He will definitely be a tough act to follow. I just hope this doesn't affect the Lionscale project he Headed.
Don


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## Guest (Nov 16, 2016)

I receive many e-mails and calls regarding our hobby. Some things are just better not repeated unless I was there and experienced the information personally. Let's leave it at that.

And yes, the MTF is very fair about the information we all post. Some of the posts made to this thread would have been long gone at another place. Glad we are here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## MOVL (Aug 23, 2015)

Shocked to read this news.
Wishing Mike R. the best, wherever the rails may take him.


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## Yellowstone Special (Jun 23, 2015)

I too, am sorry to learn of Mike's departure from Lionel. He was truly a good ambassador for the company and for the hobby. However, I'm amused with some of the replies on this thread. These things happen in the corporate world and for any of us to speculate on why or what we think might have happened is really just a waste of time. 

I wish him well in his next endeavor, but I'm sure Lionel will soldier on. At least for awhile.


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## Lee Willis (Jan 1, 2014)

Frankly I don't feel really good about Lionel right now. I hope Mike Reagan leaving was not part of a bigger pattern but I feat it might be . . .


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## Rocky Mountaineer (Sep 19, 2015)

Lee Willis said:


> Frankly I don't feel really good about Lionel right now. I hope Mike Reagan leaving was not part of a bigger pattern but I feat it might be . . .


I've been saying for months now that Lionel's pricing structure is pretty much built on a house of cards -- with many folks selling older items to fund new purchases in an effort to mitigate the nosebleed prices. You just gotta believe that at some point, Lionel is gonna hit a threshold that's gonna test the limits of even the most die-hard enthusiast (given what folks are getting for premium dollars).

I've recently heard more enthusiasts indicating their growing reluctance to pre-order BTO items, because Lionel is delivering these items with noticeable differences from catalog images and descriptions. Yet a subset of folks overlooked these nuances as long as a guy like Mike Reagan was holding down the fort in NC to make everything alright. With his departure now, one can only wonder what the "typical" enthusiast's comfort level of pre-ordering premium BTO products will be now. Only time will tell. I guess it'll also be very interesting to see Lionel's 2017 Signature Catalog -- both in terms of prices as well as products/features. At this point, I'd expect the Mike Reagan influence to still come through with that catalog. But beyond that, all bets are off.

Definitely interesting times for sure.

David


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## DennyM (Jan 3, 2016)

I never spoke to Mike, but his videos helped me a lot.


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## Rocky Mountaineer (Sep 19, 2015)

Folks, I just wanna say how lucky we are to have a great forum like MTF where the content isn't "controlled" by the forum admins like the other place (you all know the other place I'm referring to).

This particular topic naturally has a way of heading in somewhat related directions after awhile. And as long as it's done respectfully, I see no harm in these offshoot discussions. Over at that "other place" a chunk of posts just got deleted from the Mike Reagan thread because they were no longer part of the MR lovefest. Don't get me wrong, MR deserves a ton of respect for his contributions to the hobby. But a couple of folks also began posting their recent experiences with Lionel customer service when inquiring about products. The ensuing results were not pretty. In one sense, the posts were light-heartedly entertaining, but OTOH they were quite sad at the same time.

The point being... Lionel needs to decide just how important MR's style of executing his job will be in the big picture going forward. The general theme of the deleted posts hit upon the lack of accurate information that comes when sending product inquiries to Lionel CS. Case in point... I recall all too well when lots of folks were inquiring about whether Lionel's California Zephyr would have a dome-observation or not. And NOBODY we asked knew the real answer until product shipped to the States to be examined. Now I can't say I ever asked Mike Reagan that question directly, but the fact that so many Lionel employees didn't know the answer with any degree of certainty was pretty sad. No company should ever get to the point where only ONE person knows those basic answers. And speaking candidly, I'm sure there were a few times when even Mike Reagan might not have known until the product actually arrived in NC.

With Mike Reagan gone now, I can only imagine we're gonna see MUCH more misinformation in terms of folks Stateside not having an authoritative handle on what's being manufactured overseas until they actually see the product with their own eyes. Not exactly the kind of confidence that we want to see in a BTO era of pre-ordering products at super premium prices.

Just something to re-emphasize now that Lionel has lost a great fellow who could at least give us the accurate answers we were looking for most -- if not all -- of the time. But right now, I don't think we have a prayer of getting authoritative, accurate answers out of Lionel.  Hopefully, they'll prove me wrong... but I doubt it. And that concern needs to be heard by Lionel executives -- not have it swept under the carpet by forum moderators who don't think that kind of content "measures up" to their site's standards.  

David


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## Traindiesel (Sep 8, 2015)

Mike Reagan did a lot of good things at Lionel. But I don't know how much he had to do with pricing of the products, if at all. With this "BTO" the last few catalogs it's taken me longer each time before I pull the trigger and order something, if I order anything.

The Vision Line GG1's I think put me over the edge. I absolutely love the GG1, but I couldn't rationalize paying double the cost of a MTH GG1 just so the pantographs "spark".

Lionel is run by a big corporation and Mike, as good as he is, was just another cog in the wheel. It seemed like he had a huge impact because he was the buffer between the corporation and us hobbyists. He was the most visible but it doesn't mean he was the only force behind Lionel. I suspect it'll be business as usual. Their marketing, or lack of it, will be the driver of how Lionel moves forward.


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## Volphin (Dec 7, 2015)

That's not all that is happening at Lionel. They are currently training so many new service techs that they are not doing any repairs until well after Jan 2. My question is, where did they all go and why?


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## Guest (Nov 17, 2016)

*"My question is, where did they all go and why?"*

Trickle down effect???? As Brian has so aptly said, the sky is not falling. Give them some time to regroup over their loss and the world at Lionel will continue to move forward. They have the resources.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

What confuses me about Lionel's service is they suddenly stopped servicing product more than three years old, yet they have not conducted any service training classes in years! Where do they expect all those people with older Lionel products to go for service if they don't have any new techs coming in to replace the ones that are no longer in the business.


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## Rocky Mountaineer (Sep 19, 2015)

gunrunnerjohn said:


> What confuses me about Lionel's service is they suddenly stopped servicing product more than three years old ...


John, I thought that was just a warranty issue. Are you saying they no longer even service stuff older than 3 years now??? 

David


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## Norton (Nov 5, 2015)

For the past year or more Lionel has said they plan to put service classes online. I asked Dean Brasseur how that was coming along at York and he said they were too busy to get to it. Mike would have been the perfect person to set that up since he was largely responsible for the online repair part database. With his departure they have lost their "expert systems" guy.
Having taken Mike's training class I can tell you he has an encyclopedic memory of just about every Lionel product and part number.

Questioner, "I need a side rod for a Lionel Mohawk"

Mike, "Is that and L2 or L3 Mohawk?" 

Questioner, "L2 Mohawk"

Mike, "That would be 6SP-8057-212"

Other than taking his class I never interacted with him much other to than to point out an error in one of their schematics which he corrected. Its his personality that will be missed most.

Pete


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## Norton (Nov 5, 2015)

Rocky Mountaineer said:


> John, I thought that was just a warranty issue. Are you saying they no longer even service stuff older than 3 years now???
> 
> David


Thats actually been their policy for the past couple of years.
Also the warranty clock now starts at the product release date, not the date it was purchased. Keep that in mind when buying New Old Stock.

Pete


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## Rocky Mountaineer (Sep 19, 2015)

Wow!!! I knew about the warranty clock starting at product release, but had no idea that Lionel stopped servicing stuff older than 3 years even at the consumers cost. That's just crazy! So now folks are paying nosebleed prices for the privilege of owning new items that will only be serviced for 3 years??? 

David


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

I've been told by several people that they refused service on older Legacy units and suggested local repair shops. It was mentioned over on OGR at the time.


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## Yellowstone Special (Jun 23, 2015)

gunrunnerjohn said:


> What confuses me about Lionel's service is they suddenly stopped servicing product more than three years old, yet they have not conducted any service training classes in years! Where do they expect all those people with older Lionel products to go for service if they don't have any new techs coming in to replace the ones that are no longer in the business.


When I called the main North Carolina service center last year and was told that they no longer serviced product over 3 years old, they also stated that they're trying to route their older products in need of repair to the regional service centers. 

Fortunately, there is one 50 miles from where I live up in Ogden, and the Lionel service tech up there had my stuff up and running within a reasonable amount of time and charged about 10% less than Lionel's NC service center would have charged. I later sold the ones he repaired and kept only one Legacy locomotive.

When Traindiesel Brian stated "Their marketing, or lack of it, will be the driver of how Lionel moves forward," he made a very good point. Yes, Mike Reagan was just another cog in their corporate machinery, but he was also a great marketing and PR guy, which is what Lionel needs this time of year as we get into the holidays.

Then Volpin stated that the NC service center is not making repairs until after Jan. 2. Hmm. If I still had one of Lionel's newer expensive locomotives in need of repair, that means they couldn't get to it until after the holidays? Wow.

PTC Brian stated that we should give Lionel some time and that they will move forward and have the resources to do so. The thing is, Lionel should have been moving forward all along if it wants to continue sustaining the dwindling 3-rail O scale market.

With Lionel's latest somewhat disappointing and ho hum new catalogs, losing Mike Reagan right now, and delaying repairs in their NC service center until after the new year, Lionel does need to move forward and very soon. 

It's just that with all of the above points made, I'm glad I run conventional only and don't need any repairs from Lionel. With conventional, you can do most of the repairs yourself, with the needed parts readily available and I love that.


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## walter (Jan 31, 2014)

gunrunnerjohn said:


> What confuses me about Lionel's service is they suddenly stopped servicing product more than three years old, yet they have not conducted any service training classes in years! Where do they expect all those people with older Lionel products to go for service if they don't have any new techs coming in to replace the ones that are no longer in the business.


That's wrong. If Ford, Chevy dealership had that kind of limited service, then take your car to an independent for servicing. I'm sure their sales would drop off.
Besides, I'm sure Lionel makes money on out of warranty service work.
Does MTH and Atlas have the same kind of policy?
On a personal note, I've had more work done on Lionel then any other. None ever on a Weaver.


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