How quickly folks forget. I recall the lowest preorder price on the VL hudsons to be at $1367 from JT, everyone else was higher , that was what, 6 years ago?. IMO, the 100 year old tooling left much to be desired, swinging bell or not.
It certainly isn't cheap, but if Lionel pulls out all the stops on the tooling and sound package it should be a better buy than the VL hudson.
FWIW Lionel is sponsoring the Fire up 2100 campaign : Lionel Teams With American Steam Railroad
It probably doesnt justify the cost, but its certainly a positive thing that Lionel is helping to promote the restortation of the prototype.
