As far as I can tell, the F/C Berks were never cataloged with separately applied handrails.
While there was a lot of back-and-forth speculation here about the handrails when first announced, none of the catalogs from 2015 (where the separate sale Berks debuted) and later indicate separate handrails on the F/C version.
The no refund policy is the dealer's doing, not Lionel's. None of the dealers I've dealt with ever required a deposit from me. Only the brass builders like PBL and River Raisin require deposits due to the extremely low production runs and custom nature of their businesses.
Rusty