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Reply to "AF Berkshires"

I don't think we'll ever know how many preorders there were.  That's one of those nifty little secrets companies like to keep.

Are tariffs playing into this?  Maybe, but we haven't heard (at least not yet) of cancellations in the 3-rail O Scale line where prices were already much higher.

I'm going to speculate that the Berkshires were simply under-priced and they probably were going sell at a loss.

Looking at the CAD drawings previously posted by Ryan, it was pretty clear that the boiler was no mere modification of the FlyerChief Berk.  As I see it, the boiler and quite possibly the tender were going to need all new tooling, along with possibly some significant changes to the FlyerChief frame, assuming its reuse.  Add in tooling and labor for the added details, also.

FLB 04

FLB 01

This was going to be a Legacy model with detailing level coming close to or exceeding the Y3 and yet it was priced the same as the last run of FlyerChief Northerns, which display far less in detail and complexity.  We all were shocked and overjoyed by the $499.99 MSRP for the Berkshire, along with a couple of "I told you so's" thrown in. 

If Lionel were to announce the price would have to rise by 30%-40% to compensate for whatever, there would likely have been a flood of cancellations, to say nothing of nasty accusations of price gouging.  Realistically, the MSRP for the Berkshire should have been around 800-900 dollars.

As far as comparison's the the cancellation of the 57' mechanical reefers, the reefer cancellation announcement happened the day they were supposed to be delivered.  The Legacy Berks weren't due until December, so the decision to cancel doesn't appear last minute.

So, am I disappointed the Legacy Berk has been canceled?  Yes.  Am I going to worry further about it?  No.

Rusty

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Last edited by Rusty Traque

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