I'm guessing here but I would bet Lionel ( ERR ) is charging Scott some type of royalty fee to produce these for us, That Scott isn't telling us. The amount is his business not ours but most companies if they sell off or what have you charge some type of royalty, Whether it be a % or a Hugh payout at the purchase. I know I had a boss buy a bakery. He had to buy the original name to keep the name which carried the clients coming there. Other wise it could of been His name and a lot of people are not that sure of new ownership.
So that can be part of the cost increase too.
Bottom line Scott is trying to us a favor by doing this. Don't like his price? Don't buy, as he stated there are a lot buying.