The evolution of Lionel

Good questions.

-->What happened to Lionel?  The company is still making trains and had its best year in a decade in 2018 according to staff.  If any company survives a downturn in toy train interest, it will be Lionel.

-->Nope.  Not all Lionel trains are per-order. The BTO program ("Built to Order") was instituted within the past several years as (I guess) a way to curtail costs as well as to curtail excess inventory on the higher-end items.  MTH started this way back when - and long before Lionel adopted the business model.

--> Nope.  Not everything is made overseas/  Lionel has brought back some manufacturing to the States (North Carolina).  Some freight cars are made in NC - based on Weaver molds.  Nonetheless ... some product is made in the USA!  Lionel moved almost all of its production to China in around 2001 - following the example of and in order to compete with MTH.

-->  A strong recommendation for you:  Familiarize yourself with the Legacy system in addition to the LionChief+.  You'll be glad you did.

Have fun.  That's what it's all about.  

Jim...the mods deleted your previous tariff question just like the one you posted here.  Questions like that bring about political comments that eventually seem to always get out of hand....so keep those questions off the forum per our terms of service....  You got your answers above....