Chuck,
Check around you should be able to get a decent deal on one right now! Amazon has one right now for 22% Off ($310.00) with free shipping to your door. At $310 for the RTR Santa Express, with free shipping right to your door, that's a pretty decent deal, for a Lionel stater RTR set, a remote control stand alone Christmas train no less. Down stream a ways I am betting there will be a Legacy interface made for these stand alone RTR sets.
PCRR/Dave