Brewbster, you make a great point about the technology that goes into Lionel trains nowadays, I hadn't thought of all the computer chips and assorted doodads that they install. I think a lot of people did prefer some of the cheaper sets back in the day, like Marx, compared to Lionel.
Why not make a very basic set without all those bells & whistles though? I'm sure there are plenty of kids out there that would be plenty happy just to have a running trainset as they did with the cheaper sets back in the 50's & 60's.
