It's reality that prices of most consumer goods have dramatically increased worldwide since the pandemic associated supply chain issues. Obviously borrowing costs went up several fold, and some companies may have seen an opportunity to increase their profits. Inflation is not limited to toy trains, and certainly not to Lionel alone. Some of this may be lower volumes and loss of some economies of scale/volume. Check out MTH prices these days compared with 4-5 years ago, as another example. And 3rd Rail's apparent decision to stop making new steam brass locos due to escalating costs and projection of insufficient volumes at multi-thousand dollar retail pricing.
It appears the possibility of producing bargain priced locomotives and any other consumer equipment in China is no longer realistic. Menard's prices remain relatively reasonable, but they too have gone up quite a bit over the last few years, on a percentage basis.
"When Lion chief came out, they were suppose to be affordable for anyone just getting into the hobby. "
LionChief is still pretty reasonably priced, compared with Legacy and PS3 locos. MTH no longer makes sets, and I suspect one reason is that the retail price would greatly exceed what they sold for just a few short years ago. That said, a LionChief Thomas set could be had for not much more than $150 a few years ago. That's no longer the case, although some LionChief sets can be had for $200-300. That's HO and N Scale territory, but with command control and sounds which you will not find in that price range for most scales. So still relatively affordable for what one gets compared with other scales, in my view. LionChief + 2.0 is more like TMCC with postwar style appearance, about $100-150 less than Legacy.
