I just received today my latest purchase, a Williams AA set of E7 in B&O livery.
They are truly beautiful, much better than I expected with much better detail. But why do most manufacturers have such lousy pics of their products? I buy off the internet so I am stuck with images. Most of the time the train I buy is much better than the artist's impression.(Except for the Lionel Thomas "Diesel", which was just the opposite, and was a shameful piece of misrepresentation).
I think most of the makers do themselves a great disservice. How hard would it be to provide good pics and artwork?

Could be worse, Dave! They could have great catalog images and disappointing final products.

Actually, many of the catalog photos are often computer renderings based on preliminary designs, or they may be photos of actual products made (sometimes) in other scales because the actual models advertised are not yet made or available when the catalogs are produced.

Either way, I would rather have the "Wow! factor" come into play when I see the actual product, as you did, rather than end up saying that the catalog picture looked a whole lot better than the actual thing.

You're up early Allan!
I think if they were realistic impressions, they would sell more. I'm always a bit hesitant, because I just really don't know what I'm buying.

Hi Dave, Allan is right. It is better to get more then you expect then to be hit with another Thomas when you open the box.
I have come to have a preconceived notion about what each particular manufacturer will bring to market and basicly at what price range. It's true that some models are better then others and everyone hits their home-runs and strikeouts, but with WbyB we buy in confidence that we will get a great looking engine at the two to three hundred dollar range, that runs OK but dependably.
Lionel will have great sound coupled with good looks and nice operation. MTH will usally provide us with good looks,smooth operators that will pull your tracks up, along with the best control system available.

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but two demensions will never be as good as three.

quote:

You're up early Allan!
I think if they were realistic impressions, they would sell more. I'm always a bit hesitant, because I just really don't know what I'm buying.

Hi, Dave!
I'm not sure what time it is "down under," but I'm usually up and about at about 4:30 a.m. or so. I've always been an early riser, and have never used an alarm clock (my pooch makes sure I don't oversleep in any event). I watch the national and local news, enjoy a cup of coffee or two, take the dog out for her first walk, get ready for a day at the office, and then take the dog out for a much longer walk just prior to heading out. Pretty much a regular routine.

Anyhow, I know where you're coming from in terms of catalog depictions because I, too, have often been surprised (and delighted) at how much better the actual thing looks, particularly in terms of small details.

But the "Diesel" (Thomas series) example is a good one of how things sometimes turn out the other way around. I had originally planned to buy one of those models, but changed my mind after seeing the real deal.

quote:

Originally posted by Allan Miller:
Could be worse, Dave! They could have great catalog images and disappointing final products.


.

I found that "pricey" 1/43 Brooklin cars look better in photos than in person. Thanks to a York dealer with a large Brooklin selection, cars that appealed to me in photos did not lead to a purchase. On the other hand, I wanted a "Hogwarts" only after I saw one at my train store.

Hi Dave. I agree I would rather have a real photo to see what the model really looks like. Depending on the model try going to E-bay and see if you can find the same model your considering. Most sellers will take real photo's and in most cases you can enlarge the image.

now with high speed internet and better websites, they need to update and use highquality images and videos.

quote:

Originally posted by Joe Hohmann:

quote:

Originally posted by Allan Miller:
Could be worse, Dave! They could have great catalog images and disappointing final products.


.

I found that "pricey" 1/43 Brooklin cars look better in photos than in person. Thanks to a York dealer with a large Brooklin selection, cars that appealed to me in photos did not lead to a purchase. On the other hand, I wanted a "Hogwarts" only after I saw one at my train store.

Joe, this is a good example. I have a couple of them and love them. I repainted one loco black and applied British Rail decals and it's better than anything out of England costing $1000.
Even better still, is the Shakespeare express. This not just very beautiful, it is a real train. You look at the pathetic little pics Lionel use, and you have NO idea how good it really is.

quote:

Originally posted by trainman311:
Hi Dave. I agree I would rather have a real photo to see what the model really looks like. Depending on the model try going to E-bay and see if you can find the same model your considering. Most sellers will take real photo's and in most cases you can enlarge the image.

And Chris, the problem here is, when a vendor includes his own pic in an attempt to better show what he is selling, it is usually such a poor amateur shot, that he is doing the product no favours either.

MTH catalog photos are terrible compared to the real model. Many times I've seen something here in the weekend photo post that I fell in love with after skipping over it numerous times in the catalog. As these are pre-production artist renditions, I'm not sure what the answer it. I do think that once the item is made, however, MTH/Lionel/etc. should go back and update the online picture with a new photo.

As someone suggested, part of the problem is timing. For new products, the manufacturers are trying to illustrate models they have not made, are seeking orders for from dealers, and have no prototype to photograph. It is a dilemma seeking a good solution. The way the small companies like Sunset Third Rail handle this is to publish some kind of preliminary illustration either from the 1:1 prototype or from an HO or earlier scale brass version. Then after the pre-production QA model(s) are built, they update the catalog on their web site with photos of the close to production ready version. There is no reason why Lionel or MTH could not do the same, except time and effort it takes to do that for product lines as broad as theirs are today.

quote:

Originally posted by bazonkers:
MTH catalog photos are terrible compared to the real model. Many times I've seen something here in the weekend photo post that I fell in love with after skipping over it numerous times in the catalog. As these are pre-production artist renditions, I'm not sure what the answer it. I do think that once the item is made, however, MTH/Lionel/etc. should go back and update the online picture with a new photo.

The simple thing is to have an on-line gallery of pics of a product once it's in production. That way buyers can see what they are getting, and vendors can copy the image to best show their product. How easy is that. Also, hobbyists have a permanent record of everything that is made. How often have you seen images of a set of passenger cars that has been reduced to an inch long and 1/16" high. Hopeless!

I want to refer to the old 1950's-60's Lionel Catalogs. Most, if not all catalogs produced in this period had artist renderings of their electric train line. Oh, gee....did this stop me from wanting the trains or pressing my parents into buying what was in the catalog? NO.

I realize photo and graphics technology is leaps and bounds beyond what they had back then, but I still don't have any problem placing pre-orders or purchasing trains based on what I see and like in their new catalogs.

I'm just happy to get my trains and have fun with them. Sometimes the trains I buy look better than what is pictured in the catalog....sometimes not. But they all get time on my layout and other people don't even know anyway...they just love to see them run. IMHO.

Tex

Tex,
if I'm going to spring $400-500 on a set of passenger cars or a loco, in this day and age I don't think it's asking too much to at least know what I'm getting.
While it's nice to remember the old catalogues of 50 years ago, and I appreciate that Lionel in particular, like to use these nostalgic images even now, and they still can as far as I'm conerned, they are nice, the manufacturer should still also provide actual pics.

Atlas O has the best train photos on-line and they update the photos when they are finally made.

Andrew

Exactly the way it should be.

I agree! They no longer have to pay for film or the developing. Digital camera and a tripod is about all you need.

I missed out on preorders because of crappy photos.

I think We the should start a photo database. If not on ogauge forums, maybe on Yahoo groups?

Dave,
I agree with you, I have passed on certain models because the catalog picture didn't appeal to me; then when I saw pictures, posted by some proud new owner, I went out and bought one for myself. I even told a dealer that, he should post pictures of his merchandise online. (as long as its a good picture).


Rick

I agree that an effort should be made with the soaring prices now to provide a picture of the final product. There was plenty of an upheaval with the new Lionel catalog and arguing about detail when all that was provided were conceptual drawings. I do realize that cataloged items may not be past the pre-production stages so pictures may be hard to come up with, however there should at least be actual pictures of new paint schemes simply applied to already existing models.

I see a lot of difference here, such as the army green body and handrails. I didn't even think about this engine until I saw it on MTH's videos. Also,nothing was said about this engine having wire mesh grillles, treaded walkways, and lighted number boards.

I think new tinplate trains suffer the worst from a catalog. In my experience the piece always looked better in person.

quote:

Originally posted by PRRfan:
I see a lot of difference here, such as the army green body and handrails. I didn't even think about this engine until I saw it on MTH's videos. Also,nothing was said about this engine having wire mesh grillles, treaded walkways, and lighted number boards.

Andy, that's a good example. With the Williams E7's I just bought, it also was not mentioned that they had mesh grilles. That lttle feature almost turned me off buying them, so I was pretty pleased when I found they did have them.

I like to look at this web site of a train shop in Germany. They have lots of photos of the actual models. It's in German but a few clicks and you'll figure it out.

http://www.american-train-shop.de/ats/index.html

This message has been edited. Last edited by: bazonkers,

Bazonkers, yes that's a great example of what should be done, and that's from a dealer, so surely a manufacturer can do even better.

Actually many of the Lionel computer images look very good when the native file is viewed. I guess due to filesize and download time, they decide to go with smaller/low res photos on their website. As a result of the low res images, image quality greatly suffers as a trade off to quick download time.

As an example:

Online Photo

vs

Full Size photo

note the full size photo is 1800 pixels wide

quote:

Originally posted by ed h:
Actually many of the Lionel computer images look very good when the native file is viewed. I guess due to filesize and download time, they decide to go with smaller/low res photos on their website. As a result of the low res images, image quality greatly suffers as a trade off to quick download time.

As an example:

Online Photo

vs

Full Size photo

note the full size photo is 1800 pixels wide

Ed, I agree that it's better than many pics I see, however, how accurate is it? This is clearly a photoshopped image with smoke and light beams added. I want to see real photos of real trains.

ANDY, PRRFAN IS THAT A RAILKING RS-11? Nice looking engine!

SAM

I agree with this completely and have always wondered why they dipist them like this is the catalogs. Example mth premier potomac eagle f7 looks so ugly in the catalog picture or off the website but when I bought this engine and seen it in person it is beautiful. There are alot of catalog engine pictures or rolling stock that turn me off until I see the real photo of them.

Sam,

yes it is a RK RS-11. It's a great looking engine, especially for $239.

No company is going to go through the time and cost to produce an actual item to show in a catalog, in hopes that there will be enough orders to produce it in quantity. There is a lot of cost in the initial product.

So, unless you want to pre-order, sight unseen, so the real product will be shown in the catalog, then don't hold your breath.

Usually when that happens, it's a re-run. Or, as Allan mentioned, someone elses product.