Facts:
MTH got the Lionel trademark for 10 years as part of settlement of a lawsuit - for free. He made a pile of trains with the Lionel name over that time.
Market is pretty saturated now, and almost every color has been used up. The stuff is not moving, same old trains
Lionel likely wanted a good sum for Mike to continue the name. No justification for raising prices another $100 per engine
So I suspect that Mike may test the market with some new variations in the future, but the demand is a small fraction of what it was, and he now competes with a mountain of previously sold trains that are coming back on the market as some of our brothers are passing or giving it up.
Jim