Is Lionel pricing themselves out of the hobbie?

One hot topic button that I've seen come out of the release of Lionel's 2025 catalog is the idea that Lionel is becoming way too expensive for what's being offered. This is a topic I've seen creep up recently with more and more Youtube video's coming out about how people are passing on Lionel's model trains because of how expensive they've become. 

While I'm not big into collecting Lionel's trains at the moment (though I would like to give their HO scale trains a shot), I do want to chime in with my two cents on the matter. 

Right off the bat, The youtubers and other model railroaders out there aren't bluffing. Some of the trains in Lionel's catalog cost a pretty Penny, with one of the most expensive train sets in the catalog costing a penny shy of $2400. What is that set you may ask? 

Well, it's Lionel's Vision Line Hudson pre-war set. 

This is where I have to hit the pause button for a moment. For those who are asking "What is Vision Line", Lionel's Vision Line is made for those who want model trains, with a strong empaths on model. The line features trains that don't just look realistic, but also come with a ton of features to make them just as real as the trains you see today. 

The Hudson set for example, has a feature were the actual bell on the train swings when the bell button is pressed on the transformer controlling the train. There's also been Lionel steam trains that feature the coal in the tender going down as the train chugs along, making it look like the train is going through the coal on it's journey. 

While I can understand the shell shock of looking at an O-scale train that cost that much money (especially for those who have been collecting since the days Lionel actually made trains in the U.S), I could never really get behind Lionel's vision line being an example of them raising the prices too high. 

Lionel isn't selling folks a bill of goods, with Vision Line they're "A" game, giving folks the most prototypical model trains possible. 

Lionel's traditional train sets and trains also get a pass from me. As someone who's looked at Lionel's catalog's for quite some time now, I'm used to seeing their O gauge train sets cost around $300-$400. 

As an example, here's the prices of Lionel's train sets from their "Ready-To-Run" catalog from 2014: 

And now here's the prices of some of the trains from the 2025 catalog: 

That being said, There are some areas that I feel Lionel needs to improve pricing wise. One of those area's being their HO scale train sets. 

Lionel and HO scale have had a rocky relationship. Staring off with a partnership with Riverrossi (who still exist today under Hornby), Lionel has been back and forth with weather they want to do HO scale or not, and most of the attempts felt half hearted. 

Lionel got back into HO scale in 2016, starting with the "Polar Express" train set, and while it was a smart move on Lionel's part as HO scale is still pretty popular to this day, it also was a rough start. 

For starters, Lionel was using molds and tooling from the company "Model Power", who were using molds and tooling from "Mantua", who were what became of Tyco's old toy train line. 

Alongside the fact that Lionel would wind up getting sued for unpaid royalties, the line started off rough. The chugging sound on the steam trains sounded more like a machine gun, the cars were light as a feather and had little to no detail, and the magnet track that came with the set could easily disconnect. 

While Lionel has addressed and fixed these issues in later release of their HO scale line, I'm still iffy about the $400 plus price tag. 

Anther area that has me scratching my head is the Lionel battery operated G gauge and gauge O . 

On one hand, I have a soft spot for the battery powered trains that are remote controlled, have chugging train noises that try and sync with the trains movements, and smoke via water vapor (which is great for parents who are worried little Timmy will accidentally drink the smoke fluid). 

On the other hand...$100 plus for a battery operated train set? 

"Let it go! Let it go! Let all of the money in your wallet go!" 

The prices on O gauge aren't much better either, and again, I like the features, the track, the fact that the trains can run on real o scale track and so on...but again, $100 plus. 

Look Lionel, I know that the model train hobby can be expensive, but at the same time I really think it would be in your best interest to price match or lower prices of certain sets to make it a tad bit easier for folks to get into the hobby, at least on the starter sets and Battery operated train set side. 

At the very least, I'd like to see the g scale battery operated trains be marked down to $70 or $80's, while the battery operated O gauge trains firmly stay around $50-$60. 

Final thoughts: 

Like I mentioned above, while I know getting into model trains can be a bit expensive, I think that Lionel the ladder a bit. Model trains aren't the "must haves" of the holiday season like they once were. Tech is all the rage these days and I think it's in the best interest of Lionel or any other train company who want to target new comers train sets at reasonable prices to get them interested in the hobby before making those more expensive purchases. 

I can understand the price tag on Vision Line and even some of the starter sets Lionel, it's the $100 plus battery operated sets that while can be enjoyed by adults, I mostly see being aimed at younger kids that leaves me scratching my head. Though I suppose it is the lesser evil to a $500 PS5 or $600 gaming PC...