palallin posted:I don't buy the argument that production costs here would be 2 or 3 or 4 times the costs in China: when the production moved FROM here TO China, prices rose; they didn't fall.
I don't know. I remember getting our dealer catalog and price sheets in the mid to late 90's and gasping at locomotives based on the post war 736 in the $800 range. It may have had Railsounds but no TMCC. F3 sets in the same ballpark or more. Trainmasters and GG-1's in the $600 range. There have been sets with these engines, often with brand new tooling offered with cars for hundreds less than those prices since. What has happened is Lionel has started tooling up tons of new and detailed product and those cos what they cost.
