@PSM posted:I'm sorry, but on what planet is a VisionLine Big Boy, 3 years after the most recent run, the broadest appeal possible? It can't run on many layouts, it's going to cost a pretty penny, and a lot of people just bought one (Lionel ran them in 2019 V2), especially because MTH did a run around the same time.
Let's take a hypothetical where Lionel a) uses existing tooling, that b) can fit a bunch of the recent upgrades, and c) lots people recognize. What if Lionel had done a run of Berkshires and Kannawahs? They have the tooling, everyone knows 765 and 1225, and C&O 2716 has been making news as well. They can run Nickle Plate, Pere Marquette, C&O + Virginia (with the alternate smoke box front, low headlight), Polar Express and they can do a wide variety of paint schemes in each (I'd love to see 2716 in the scheme used to transport it to KSH's new site, with the CSX tender logo). I can even think up some interesting fantasy schemes in each that match that road's passenger car schemes.
While a Berk is not at the top of my wish list, there are certainly configurations I would heavily consider ordering, and I'm sure that's true of a lot of people. The risk exposure to Lionel is similar, if not better, and it has been far longer since they've done a run of them. I'm not saying it had to be Berks, I'm just using this as an example of something that makes a lot more sense than another run of Big Boys.
I really try to cut Lionel a lot of slack, and I usually criticize comments like mine, but this seems like a real let down after the hype for a new Vision Line loco.
Broadest appeal, market saturation notwithstanding. The Big Boy is a very popular excursion engine and modelers seem fond of it in general. I have personally been grateful for reruns since I'm quite new to the hobby and I get another chance at getting excellent models no longer (or very rarely on the secondary market) available. I'm sure there are a couple of pandemic hobbyists who wouldn't mind, and there are probably a few who would mind picking up a second in a different road number or configuration (eg, oil vs coal tender). I personally would like to see a VL Allegheny or Y6b.
The more I think about this though the more I'm not sure my argument makes sense from an economic standpoint. My first thought was choose the Big Boy, try and ride out the excursion hype a little longer, and take advantage of the engine's broad popularity to try and get as large a pool of buyers as possible in an economic landscape that is dictating a smaller consumer market due to inflation. But VL is always expensive, right? The pool of buyers will always be pretty small. So then exactly how much more is the VL buyer pool going to shrink due to inflation? I'll guess not a lot... but if the pool is not shrinking much then you wouldn't need the Big Boy for broad appeal, any model that would draw interest from the VL customer pool would work... so that brings us back to the original question, why the Big Boy?
