Lionel BTO Items question

BTO is the amount of orders Lionel gets from the dealers. Dealers usually determine the order amount based on their preorders from customers. Most large dealers will order extras for store/mail sales.

While some dealers do order extras, if an item gets hot after release, it can get difficult to find really fast.  Pre-ordering with a reputable dealer will ensure that you will get it (provided there were enough orders to make the item).

Andy

As others have said, Lionel will build only what is ordered on all the 'Build To Order' items. If you want something, a pre-order is the only way to be certain you will get one.

I suspect that BTO is also subject to some minimum amount of orders Lionel would need to be a profitable production run. (Anybody's guess what that quantity might be?) If they don't have enough orders, I would expect the item would be cancelled. Possibly to be re-cataloged at a later date, or maybe not, who knows?