Lionel, enough already. Offer the VisionLine Tankers again!

RANT MODE ENABLED:

David, you have a point and I agree with you - I just don't understand why these very fine models have not been produced again as I am sure the sound technology and the other tooling must be in Lionel's control - or could easily be duplicated. 

The only other Lionel model that I can think of that produced a similar distortion in the aftermarket was the TMCC E6 Santa Fe A-A set, which reached just extraordinary prices on eBay. (Of course, when they produced E6's again in a Legacy version it was defective in software respects and fortunately I passed on it on costs/risk grounds.)

Are you waiting on a VL Triplex? There's a real leap of faith. I'm hoarding my set of 3 VL tankers forever.

RANT MODE OFF (temporarily).

Yeah, I understand seller's remorse and have avoided it with all but one model (the only one I have ever sold). Still, you passed it on to someone who no doubt appreciates it.

They probably stuck the tank cars into the same closet as the Vision Line Hudson. I believe they designate certain models to be forever collectors items never to be made again.

I've always thought that was mainly a disorder of people who collect 2rail brass train models (or at least the O scale versions) and the models themselves are never run and almost never come out of the box. But I see your point that it might have infected 3rail people and indeed is a disease found in lots of hobbies. It's a pity if Lionel has adopted a business model designed to cater to that and not least because it means that product reliability, durability and quality in general is secondary.

You may be on to something in your last sentence.  The followup question is whether or not it is an intentional business decision or the result of skewed return/repair requests which are lower because the engines are never run let alone get out of a sealed shipper.

I think there is a lot of truth in this thread.

People are free to do what they want with their money, and Lionel is free to make what they think will sell.

But I think there is an open secret in the industry that Lionel just makes trains to be collected, hoarded even, and not actually run.

The people that do run these high-end items end up discovering the products don't live up to their advertising and waiting on repairs. Those that don't run them are never the wiser because they sit "mint new in box" in the closet. Even if they were wise to the QC issues, they aren't going to tarnish the name of the brand they've invested so much money in collecting.

Then I think there is another group that chases the "rarity factor" that the title of the original post relates to. That group is the saddest of all because they are looking to get rich off of picking the items that will be "rare". Problem is, there is no rhyme or reason to what Lionel decides to make rare by only producing it in small quantities, or never reproducing it.

I think Lionel's business decisions, QC problems, and otherwise are the evidence that this is the case.

They (Lionel) have NEVER made an E8/9 B unit (go figure). I did what a few others have and put an MTH E8 shell on a Lionel E7 Superbass B unit chassis. It's not an exact match with the prototype as you can see but good enough for my purposes.