According to popular belief, this will be the last Hanukkah and Christmas of the millennium
and the first New Year of the next one.
Of course, the big news is in the year ahead when Lionel
will celebrate its 100th Anniversary. When you've been around that long, you're
bound to have a few low points. But, to be around that long also means a lot of things
were done right, too. Just think, in the seventies it looked like 3-rail O gauge
was a steadily dwindling market. Today there are eight companies making 3-rail
trains. We've heard that O gauge trains are this holiday seasons' choice for
model railroading, giving the HO market some serious competition.
Speaking of the holidays, we were recently contacted by a volunteer club at
Southampton College known as Helping Hands. They are having a toy drive for
Christmas. All new toys will be donated to homeless children, ranging from one
year to nineteen years of age. Any possible contribution will play a significant
role in a child's Christmas and will be greatly appreciated. Toys have to be
donated by the 14th of December or until further notification. Thank you for
considering our cause. Although it is late in the year, it is doubtful that any
toy any time of year would not be greatly appreciated by this cause. For more
information, e-mail Helping Hands.
MTH has recently released their CD-Rom
for their club members. It includes track layout planning software, a searchable
database of the entire history of MTH products, and a searchable database of MTH
dealers.
Williams announced GP-38s with
optional True-Sounds. These are offered in different roadnames than we've seen
offered by other companies. Williams also offers matching dummy units, but a
couple are already sold out. Their U33C models are being offered in nine new
roadnames.
12/23 We have heard that not all of the new Lionel rotary snowplows are missing the white stripe on the blades. Does anyone out there have the brand new snowplow with the white stripe?
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