I agree with @kanawha. Ring Engineering (RailPro) is also a small company, and they are selling a remote with control knob and a video display for $299. RailPro is also a "proprietary" system geared toward larger-scale trains; I doubt their market space is bigger than Lionel's. So it's not impossible, or even infeasible to make and sell a physical remote in the current economy. Honestly I think Lionel underestimated the adverse response to their decision.
They might reach out to some of these companies, and explore how much it would cost to interface their existing controllers to a Legacy base. This could be a win-win proposition, as it would create economies of scale for the other company. My $.02.
