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[Round 2 announces intent to acquire Lionel - Trains](https://Round 2 announces intent to acquire Lionel)
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One of my spies (Who’s in a position to know!) tells me Round 2 sees value in the Lionel name and it’s going to be business as usual when the deal’s consummated and they own the company. Round 2’s not a wrecking crew, they’ve got a large stable of hobby and toy companies and want to add Lionel to the family.
No need to panic.
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Darn! I wanted to do that!
Yes, I’m joking. But not very much…
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What an interesting development!
I look forward to this change with hope. the current Lionel appears to lack focus and direction–other than producing ever-more expensive repeats of what has come before while abandoning the entry level (please don’t raise the battery powered line as the new entry level–it’s a dead end unless Lionel goes all in on dead rail).
Round 2 has revived several product lines through re-popping classics while innovating in great ways (such as excellent new stuff int he SF realm).
I don’t know the future, but it looks fairly bright to me for Lionel.
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Lionel currently seemed to be where it was under Kenner-Parker with “built to order” replacing the KP “mail order only” system. GM MPC got a really bad time from the postwar crowd but in reality there would be no Lionel or American Flyer today if MPC hadn’t kept the brand alive. We’d likely be talking about K-Line, S Helper Service and Bachmann Plasticville as being the only names in the toy train universe. In that scenario my money would be on Jerry Williams working with Maury Klein to purchase the Lionel tooling.
Say what you like but MPC saved Lionel in 1969 from oblivion and may just be about to do it again.
PS Polar Lights in part of this group. Could we see some classic movie monster figures on Lionel products? P. L. makes great figure kits, they’d be easy to miniaturize. 
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Lionel killed American Flyer two years ago without any outside help. Perhaps we should say indefinitely suspended production. SHS would not be one of the remnants in the the no MPC scenario, Don Thompson sold the SHS Showcase Line decades ago to MTH. It is creeping up on a decade since MTH in turn sold it to Scale Trains.
I see the acquisition as a likely positive development for Lionel, regardless of what happens with future S gauge products.
Isn’t Polar Lights the outfit that got the old Aurora product line? If so the only beef I’ve got with them is they changed the sculpt on the Dracula model so they wouldn’t have to pay royalties to the Bela Lugosi estate. I mean, come on people! Bela WAS Dracula like Boris Karloff was Frankenstein!
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Wanted to share this article we did, which includes quotes from two forum members! What does Round 2's acquisition of Lionel mean for the toy train hobby? - Trains
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Khorb Khun Ka!
Khob, Becky.
Ka is for women, krop is for men. Thai has gender specific language. As in Sawasdeeka or sawasdeekrop.
I stand corrected.
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This latest ownership development looks like a positive direction for Lionel and the hobby. Round 2 seems like a toy and hobby company and not some holding company that will strip all of the assets and sell off what’s left.
They revived Johnny Lightning and MPC and hopefully they will rejuvenate Lionel. Tom Lowe has a passion for the hobby very much like Richard Kughn.
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Wow, I did not know about Lionel Racing! I’m sure Round 2 is looking forward to using the exclusive NASCAR license. I see this as a good thing. I think the lower cost starter end is important to long term business, even if not as profitable. The stuff has gotten so expensive that I don’t think I have bought new for over a decade. Fortunately, there is so much great condition older stuff on ebay for cheap that I can still afford this hobby! I love the MPC era stuff.
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