There are lots of wording used by our manufacturers giving us the impressions of buy yours before they are all gone. But what kind of numbers are we really talking about? I know the original Acela was limited production of 2000 sets. Was that a lot compared to other offerings or was that a small run of product. I don't know of anyone that couldn't find an Acela if they really wanted one of the original offering. Was an edition of 2000 units any fewer than the new allocated Lionel Mallets? Was the demand more than what they normally made.
The demand for the MTH 'Merrmac' VA Anthracite locomotive wasn't enough to justify the 50 that were made. I can still find one or two at York each show.
The "rare" red or blue special edition Vanderbilts that Lionel produced were limited to 250 of each color-yet I can always find one at a train show or on EBay every week. What is the actual demand for the products we want to buy?
Scott Smith
