Reply to "Lionel O gauge Trains were expensive in the middle 1950s"

My father kept a list of everything he purchased when he started my layout when I was two.  While the list along with the trains are long gone there's two prices that stick out from 1968 that I remember well.  A 773 Hudson was purchased for 70 dollars and a 736 berkshire for 40 bucks. For perspective when I got back into the hobby 1997 or 98 the Hudson with vandy tender I purchased was 1000 bucks I think.