The more I think about it, the more I wish Lionel did NOT offer this as a set with a locomotive. As I've indicated earlier, few folks will have the layout real estate to do these puppies justice. And for those that do, the last thing they'll need is another locomotive.
But I guess the Lionel bean-counters figured they might as well throw a $500-$600 loco into the picture while folks are already spending that much on the cars themselves. 
Personally, the loco doesn't do anything for me, as I prefer a slightly different CSX paint scheme.
Instead, I wish Lionel would have offered the initial auto rack cars as a standalone 4- or even 6-pack. Then after the series was established, they could have thrown ONE into a set here and there for the true collector to hunt down over time. And naturally, I'm sure we'll see more of these as add-ons every so often.
But as a set right from the get-go? Definitely not my first choice, as I think Lionel is forcing a behavior that wouldn't have otherwise occurred. But it sounds like we're not going to disappoint the bean-counters after all. 
David
