Jim, you and Charlie say "the market has spoken" and now Lionel thinks they can sell more 21" cars than they sold 18" cars. Have you guys tried searching for Lionel 18" aluminum streamliners at any of the big vendors? Grzyboskis, to name one has dozens maybe hundreds of 15" cars but only a handful, literally, of 18" cars. Same with Ro and Justrains. When they do come up for auction they usually sell for more than new.
I have 3 21" sets, all GGD and 3rd Rail (brass). The main reason I bought them is there were no 18" cars available as Lionel never made NYC 20th Century or Mercury cars and CC ESE cars rarely come up for sale and if they do they are priced higher than I paid for my 8 GGD cars. The problem is I can only run them on the clubs layout. Otherwise they sit on the shelf or in boxes. I could have replaced my Lionel Daylight and Super Chief 18" cars with GGD but would rather have cars I could run and not shelf queens.
I believe the niche being referred to is not people who want 21" cars but those who have the layout to run them.
Pete
