You know, I probably sound like a shill, but here goes:
I own no Atlas passenger cars and thought the price of the CZ set was steep. And then on top of this, I don't have the layout for 12 scale cars, so was looking closely at the dealer CZ offerings, as you can do 4 or 8 if you prefer. Unrelated and in parallel, I was deliberating hard over whether to preorder the Lionel UP Excursion train. I then took a really close look at both offerings and started comparing.
It seems the Atlas cars have a much higher level of overall detail and accuracy. And, Lionel no longer installs passengers so this "plus column" check mark is now gone. And, street price for the UP 4 car set is almost the same as vendor pricing on the 4-car CZ set. Also, if I were to buy all UP excursion cars, which is a total of 7, street price would be around $950 - or more with shipping. The GSC price for CZ cars is around $1,600 - but for 12 CZ cars and this includes shipping. Finally, buying through dealers is, on a per CZ car basis, more pricey than via GSC, and who says I must run all 12 cars at once? The one item in favor of the UP cars is the RS car, which should be really cool. So, to me, who isn't beholden to a particular road, it's a no-brainer.
Peter
