I agree! I've collected Lionel for many years from different eras, but the postwar trains are my favorite because they are plentiful, affordable, durable, and easily repairable. And there's no mistaking the "feel" of quality as you handle them.
Post-war had plastic sealed Scout motors, MPC had the cheap starter sets, modern era has quality control issues. But each has advantages as well, great comparison video. Recently I have gotten into pre-war and I'm loving it.
You left out the prewar era. I have enjoyed all Lionel from prewar to modern. However if I had to pick my favorite era it would be prewar. For me the high water years for Lionel are from 1937 to 1941. Incredible build quality.
I decided not to include the prewar era because I don't own any prewar stuff and wanted to make this based on my experience. But there is lots of awesome prewar lionel that I look forward to collecting in the future
Very informative.My collection is post -war:2 GG1's Congressional and B'way limited sets, turbine and switcher steam engines.Thank God for ebay, I'm working on my Super Chief set. Suggestion, slow down, you can catch the next train.
I myself have Prewar Lionel, some Postwar Lionel, some MPC era Lionel, Modern era Lionel in conventional, TMCC, Lionchief and Legacy control, and even OO Gauge and HO Gauge Lionel products and I love them all :D Although since im not too sure if the modern era ended some years ago or not.
Got to agree. My collection has a little of every era up to the early 00s but my mainstay is the postwar era. I will say I do like the early LTI era as well for the simplicity before things started getting into Lionchief….. I prefer conventional control
Have a bit of every era in the fleet from prewar to present day, it's all fun to run. Price is decidedly an issue with modern Lionel, even the traditional O rolling stock is hovering around the $100 mark for toolings they've had for years. Another one for me is the heavy leaning on all the licensed tie-in stuff. All the sets are basically the same engines and cars that have been made for a while now, just with pop-culture paint and decal jobs.
I'm a big fan of Lionel's starter sets, especially the ones made from the early 2000s to the late 2010s, I've got several Lionel starter sets in my collection.
@davidstrainsandlego I recently had the NYC 0-8-0 yard goat a few weeks ago that came with the set however the cars I gave to my cousins son with a dummy GP9 for him to much play. As for the loco and tender recently I traded it along with 3 milwaukee passinger cars from Railking for a almost complete lionel 2207w Santa fe set that I found at my local train store in San Diego. It was a A-B-A set with operation log and ore car, with original 3 dome tanker and operating box car without the operation and the caboose.
with what we got today with model trains i bet the people from the 40s would be amazed if they saw the steam and diesel model locomotives we have today and other stuff cause the imporvemnts in tech from wireless viewing ect
I think people from 40’s period would wonder what today’s train interest are thinking. Nothing toy about offerings that interest kids today. Remember in 40’s children were the target market. No such thing as train collector in 40’s.
The bad rap MPC gets is I think partly due to the fact that the collectors had left the hobby by the time the later postwar years rolled around: 1964-69 saw a huge drop in quality and a lot of starter sets with heavy cost-cutting from Lionel… they never experienced that gradual decline in quality though having already left the hobby so it was a shock when they returned, even though MPC wasn’t really making anything worse than the very late postwar period stuff which was pretty terrible compared to early offerings. Totally understandable if you went from the last train you got being a Postwar Berkshire or something to then seeing the MPC stuff… the only real difference being that you were seeing the MPC stuff again whereas late Lionel was essentially slipping into product obscurity and irrelevance and getting harder to obtain at all.
Personally I like the 1980s-1990s era the best. Mostly still simple mechanically but much more modern and reliable, and with much better graphics! A lot more real road names and better paint schemes. I guess that would be late MPC & early modern… I mostly collect K Line. I have handled some early postwar era stuff though and especially the early stuff is amazing quality. Far better than even later more famous postwar pieces…
I hear nostalgic, nothing to worry about, quality, solid, heavy, no circuit boards, easy to work on to get running, and trouble free, most popular, with post war Lionel. No argument here. Also post war is lower cost and plentiful at train shows. No doubt about it as he says here scale and modern detail cost expensive big money. Not a good sales pitch talking about sending a new engine back to Lionel for repair. Why not just replace it as Loews or Home Depot or any other manufacturer would do.
Modern, hands down. I was staunchly a conventical operations guys until about `2015 when I finally caved and got the legacy system. No way can I go back. Especially now with the newest 5 horns/bells to select from. Anything prior to 2009 is a no from me. I also always look for the kinematic pilots for more realism
I like the modern era of lionel. Postwar is okay i have few of there models The modern era is in my opinion very realistic and I'm amazed by all the sounds and features of the models.
The biggest problem with modern era Lionel is the lack of quality control. The next problem is parts availability. Do you seriously believe that you'll be able to find a part for a modern era locomotive 30 or 40 years from now? You can find virtually any part for any postwar Lionel or American Flyer either at a show or online. Next to impossible with modern era where every locomotive has unique parts- nothing shared.
Yeah, that's something that does concern me, as I mentioned, postwar engines are easy to fox, modern stuff requires lots of knowledge, plus those computer boards and high tech component have the potential to go bad over time.
I agree! I've collected Lionel for many years from different eras, but the postwar trains are my favorite because they are plentiful, affordable, durable, and easily repairable. And there's no mistaking the "feel" of quality as you handle them.
For sure
I would have to agree the postwar era is my favorite as well. Great video for newcomers to the hobby!
The best Lionel era is usually the one you grew up with. For me, it's the "Golden Era" from 1950-64
I would slightly change to 1938 to 1957. Before things got cheapened up.
I think my favorite era was from about ‘87 to ‘06. It seems to be kind of a sweet spot of technology and price, with pretty decent quality overall.
Post-war had plastic sealed Scout motors, MPC had the cheap starter sets, modern era has quality control issues. But each has advantages as well, great comparison video. Recently I have gotten into pre-war and I'm loving it.
Thanks for watching, I want to get some prewar stuff at some point, just haven't yet.
My first experience in model trains was my father's Lionel Post-War trains, and they will always have a special place for me.
Very similar for me, my first exposure to lionel was my grandpa's lionel postwar
You left out the prewar era. I have enjoyed all Lionel from prewar to modern. However if I had to pick my favorite era it would be prewar. For me the high water years for Lionel are from 1937 to 1941. Incredible build quality.
I decided not to include the prewar era because I don't own any prewar stuff and wanted to make this based on my experience. But there is lots of awesome prewar lionel that I look forward to collecting in the future
Buy a prewar set and see bro!@@davidstrainsandlego
Great thoughts on the mpc era .
Thanks
OUTSTANDING VIDEO! 👍🙏❤️🔥💪🇺🇸
@@RABSTRAINS thank you
Very informative.My collection is post -war:2 GG1's Congressional and B'way limited sets, turbine and switcher steam engines.Thank God for ebay, I'm working on my Super Chief set. Suggestion, slow down, you can catch the next train.
I myself have Prewar Lionel, some Postwar Lionel, some MPC era Lionel, Modern era Lionel in conventional, TMCC, Lionchief and Legacy control, and even OO Gauge and HO Gauge Lionel products and I love them all :D Although since im not too sure if the modern era ended some years ago or not.
Good information !
Got to agree. My collection has a little of every era up to the early 00s but my mainstay is the postwar era. I will say I do like the early LTI era as well for the simplicity before things started getting into Lionchief….. I prefer conventional control
Thanks for watching, I enjoy collecting a little of everything
Cool collection 👍🏻
Thank you
Have a bit of every era in the fleet from prewar to present day, it's all fun to run.
Price is decidedly an issue with modern Lionel, even the traditional O rolling stock is hovering around the $100 mark for toolings they've had for years.
Another one for me is the heavy leaning on all the licensed tie-in stuff. All the sets are basically the same engines and cars that have been made for a while now, just with pop-culture paint and decal jobs.
Agree with you there, especially about the rolling stock
Largely why I buy Menards for new and used for everything else. Easier on the ol' wallet that way.
I got my Ontario Northland Power/dummy set at a TCA show for $75. A real good deal.
Nice, I'd like to find a dummy for it at some point
About the modern Era of Lionel what about those between conventional sets and the newer bluetooth starter sets?
I'm a big fan of Lionel's starter sets, especially the ones made from the early 2000s to the late 2010s, I've got several Lionel starter sets in my collection.
@davidstrainsandlego I recently had the NYC 0-8-0 yard goat a few weeks ago that came with the set however the cars I gave to my cousins son with a dummy GP9 for him to much play. As for the loco and tender recently I traded it along with 3 milwaukee passinger cars from Railking for a almost complete lionel 2207w Santa fe set that I found at my local train store in San Diego.
It was a A-B-A set with operation log and ore car, with original 3 dome tanker and operating box car without the operation and the caboose.
my favorite era is modern era especially TMCC /Legacy stuff which i can't afford so i stick with lionchief stuff i have to have my sounds
with what we got today with model trains i bet the people from the 40s would be amazed if they saw the steam and diesel model locomotives we have today and other stuff cause the imporvemnts in tech from wireless viewing ect
I wonder how Joshua Lionel Cowen would feel seeing today's visionline stuff
I think people from 40’s period would wonder what today’s train interest are thinking. Nothing toy about offerings that interest kids today. Remember in 40’s children were the target market. No such thing as train collector in 40’s.
Hey, is there someone walking over your head? This is messing up your sound of video.
Lack of quality control is Lionel’s biggest problem.
Agreed, especially with there paint jobs
Lionel post war for reliability.
MPC for color.
Modern for realism.
The bad rap MPC gets is I think partly due to the fact that the collectors had left the hobby by the time the later postwar years rolled around: 1964-69 saw a huge drop in quality and a lot of starter sets with heavy cost-cutting from Lionel… they never experienced that gradual decline in quality though having already left the hobby so it was a shock when they returned, even though MPC wasn’t really making anything worse than the very late postwar period stuff which was pretty terrible compared to early offerings. Totally understandable if you went from the last train you got being a Postwar Berkshire or something to then seeing the MPC stuff… the only real difference being that you were seeing the MPC stuff again whereas late Lionel was essentially slipping into product obscurity and irrelevance and getting harder to obtain at all.
Ive never thought of it like that, interesting
Personally I like the 1980s-1990s era the best. Mostly still simple mechanically but much more modern and reliable, and with much better graphics! A lot more real road names and better paint schemes. I guess that would be late MPC & early modern… I mostly collect K Line.
I have handled some early postwar era stuff though and especially the early stuff is amazing quality. Far better than even later more famous postwar pieces…
My trains are toys… all good if you want scale but I’m just an old kid.. lol
Postwar Rules!
Agreed
I hear nostalgic, nothing to worry about, quality, solid, heavy, no circuit boards, easy to work on to get running, and trouble free, most popular, with post war Lionel. No argument here. Also post war is lower cost and plentiful at train shows. No doubt about it as he says here scale and modern detail cost expensive big money. Not a good sales pitch talking about sending a new engine back to Lionel for repair. Why not just replace it as Loews or Home Depot or any other manufacturer would do.
Modern, hands down. I was staunchly a conventical operations guys until about `2015 when I finally caved and got the legacy system. No way can I go back. Especially now with the newest 5 horns/bells to select from. Anything prior to 2009 is a no from me. I also always look for the kinematic pilots for more realism
I like the modern era of lionel.
Postwar is okay i have few of there models
The modern era is in my opinion very realistic and I'm amazed by all the sounds and features of the models.
I love the realism and features of modern stuff, that's one of the reasons I love 3 rail o scale
@@davidstrainsandlego Same. I'm more of an ho modeler but 3 rail o scale is my personal favorite of mine.
☑️
Lionel S gauge steamers of the last ten years have been awful, regarding their eletronic quality control.
I dont have any experience with lionels modern s gauge stuff, but I don't doubt it
The biggest problem with modern era Lionel is the lack of quality control. The next problem is parts availability. Do you seriously believe that you'll be able to find a part for a modern era locomotive 30 or 40 years from now? You can find virtually any part for any postwar Lionel or American Flyer either at a show or online. Next to impossible with modern era where every locomotive has unique parts- nothing shared.
Yeah, that's something that does concern me, as I mentioned, postwar engines are easy to fox, modern stuff requires lots of knowledge, plus those computer boards and high tech component have the potential to go bad over time.
In 2001 Lionel shut down their Michigan plant and moved production to China.That is probably where the quality problems began.
@@gregoryhainsworth2663
EXACTLY.