SK and LS1Heli.... you guys both make very good points that have to some small measure been mentioned before by a few.
We seasoned train guys here on this forum are knowledgable of the top 10 Lionel dealers, who are all mail order businesses, take the bulk of Lionel's product, and are able to sell it at substantial discounts. This is something the local smaller Lionel dealer is unable to do. Go to a local shop and chances are that the Lionel PRR Flyer set is being sold a near or at full retail, which he HAS TO DO inorder to make a profit.
We train guys too often take for granted that the prices at Train Express, TrainLand, TrainWorld, JusTrains, Grzyboski's, Island Trains, Charles Roe, Grand Central and the others ARE actual Lionel prices WHEN THEY ARE NOT. They get big discounts based on big volume. And even these places advertise sale prices are for mail order only, not in store prices.
Target is not a Lionel dealer, but obviously has a price point that they wish to sell the set at. They are promoting the set in nationwide advertising outside of the model train media - something that doesn't hardly ever happen. That fact alone should more than justify the price, nevermind that the set is actually pretty decent. Plus as others have mentioned, you could/or can get the set and save $50.
Consider these retail prices (the prices the local Lionel dealer charges... not the mail order joints) and you'll see the Target Lionel set is right on the mark with these others:
Lionel PRR Flyer Set $199.99
Lionel NYC Flyer Set with Trainsounds $274.99
Lionel Thomas the Tank Train Set $169.99
Lionel Cascade Range Logging Train Set $269.99
It's amazing how discussed the Jerry Calabrese interview has been and yet some still do not understand what he said. One guy on the OGR forum was moaning that Lionel would stop making the scale products he wanted inorder to focus on useless toy trains. Calabrese never said that. He said in so many words that Lionel would not be so foolish in the future to make high end products that would end up as blowouts and would more carefully consider what the market can bear. He defended the Acela Project and the Legacy Big Boy, and those are very high end premium products, which obviously Lionel feels/felt they could sell at normal prices, not blowouts.
Mark my words, although I've never talked with Mr. Calabrese personally, Lionel is going to do as much as they can to stop making newly tooled scale products that have to windup as blowouts in order to sell. They will continue to make nice scale products, but buyers will now pay fairly for these newly tooled products, as they should have all along.
This Target Lionel set is right in line with what Calabrese said. It is aimed NOT at folks like US, but folks who don't read the mailorder sale ads in Classic Toy Trains and OGR.... folks that may not even know Lionel trains are still made. In order to grow the market, you have to get OUTSIDE of where the market currently is. That's exactly what this Target set does.
Regardless of what any of us seasoned train guys think, this Target set (provided as mentioned above, that the quality/workmanship is good) is one of the best things Lionel has done in some years. More important than Legacy? YES, absolutely, at least for where the future of the hobby (and Lionel) lies - and that's with new young customers.
