So what does a limited run really mean?

Scott: if you look at some of the labels on Lionel products, it seems a "normal run" anymore could be as few as 200 to 300 units.....

Maybe how long it'll run before it breaks?

 

Rusty

The Acela is being re-released, and you just have to accept that. 

A limited run doesn't mean how many, it just means there will be a certain amount made at that time. So, I guess it does not mean it wont be made again. You could have a limited run every year.

An unlimited run would mean it's always in production, and always available.

 

This was not another attempt to Acela bash. It's just one of the few where Lionel listed the number produced. It was an example for discussion.

 

Scott Smith

"Limited run" means whatever the manufacturer wants it to mean, in the absence of more specific information made available to the consumer.  Truth is, as it relates to high end O gauge production these days, I imagine just about everything is "limited run"--probably in the range of a couple of hundred units or so, if not fewer.  Most manufacturers probably wish that a run of 2,000 could be the norm for a so-called limited run.

 

And Dave Allen is right...the term usually doesn't indicate how many units will be made or imply that they will never be made again (unless specified in the advertising).

 

In short, it's usually little more than a means to (hopefully) stimulate sales.

I'm with Scott it is confusing.
I was surfing e bay the other night and came across a Lionel EM-1 pilot . The ad said it was one of only 50 made and it had legacy. I thought that it would be something I wouldn't see again soon but the next night there was another one by another seller and they said one of one hundred?.

I guess they're like the Smithsonian Dreyfus. There aren't many out there but you don't have that much trouble finding them.

In the other scales the brass sellers used to number theirs I guess to make them more collectable? But there's so much brass out there in the other scales now I don't think it adds much anymore.

David

I am having a brain fart right now. But I did see an ad for a car coming out that only 100 cars would be made, with 4 numbers. That would mean there will only be 25 of each. That is a limited run.

 

Bruce

My Weaver Reading G1 is one of 140 units made.

 

My 3rd Rail B&O T-3 is one of 100 units made (75 - 3R and 25 - 2R).

 

Interesting enough, I seem to see a Weaver Reading G1 for sale on ebay every couple of months.

 

Jim

Limited as to how many they can sell!

 Ideally a limited run would be limited to one less than the total demand for the item.  If the limited run equals the total demand then it was just limited to the number of orders received and if it is greater than the total demand then it is just limited to the number of items that could be produced before someone decided to shut down the production line. 

To me a limited Run is any train I can't afford.

To me it means the bathroom is right next to the Mexican restaurant

David

For a "handbuilt" 1:43 car, a limited run can mean 75-150, with prices to reflect this.

All it means is an item will be limited to x-amount of pieces in the current production schedule.

 

There's nothing to indicate it will not be made (in limited quantities, of course) again in the future.

 

I don't think any company's going to let 10's of thousands of dollars worth of tooling to sit around as doorstops forever.

 

Rusty

As far as I know, the first two limited editions that Lionel made were the Gold Chessie Geep and the Coke set.

The price on the Gold Chessie shot up rapidly and then sank down.

I don't remember how the Coke set did.

Both items are actually rather common and easily obtained.

 

IMHO, there was a period in the modern era when Lionel was either very bad at estimating demand or intentionally underproducing select items. The street price on these items shot up immediately upon release (sometimes before), and fed pre-order mania. Some folks purchased "one to go and one to show" in the hopes that they could sell the mint piece at a profit to offset the cost of the one they kept.

The prices on many, if not most of these "instant collectables" have fallen well below the old market prices, and sometimes even below the original preorder prices.

 

 

Seems to me and my memories not so good C.W. didn't Lionel do the Coke set in the mid seventies??? Coke was doing so much back then. I wasn't into O scale trains then but the train did catch my eye. I think they even had some kind of special offer that was printed on some of the first 2 litre bottles.
I'm sure some of you know more about it than I do.

David

Sounds like Marketing to me , freely translated " while they last"