BNSF/UP ES44AC--correct headlight?

In watching the video of the manufactures presentation there was a side by side of the s and o gauge CSX ES44ac.  Both had the lights up top and not in the nose. I do not know if this is prototypical for CSX or not.

 

Ben 

CSX would have lower headlights, so it appears they are not correcting this.

 

Edit; found a picture.

 

 

I was watching Lionel's TCA Netvision presentation.  When they were waving both the O gauge and S gauge CSX ES44's around, both scales had high mounted headlights.

 

Rusty

I guess the question now would be, for thoughs that need prototypical appearances, how ared is it to move the lights yourself? 

Ben

Second thought...I think the O gauge version also had the lights up top in watching the TCA video. What are the O Gauge guys doing/saying about this issue? 

Here is a thread that discusses the ES44AC headlight issue. 

 

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/t...location-on-the-nose

 

I prefer the "glossy" look of the Lionel engines but the discussions on the headlights, wrong trucks and the door being on the wrong side made me decide to hold off on ordering.

 

I decided to pre-order the Dash 8s from the other manufactures.

 

I may give the Lionel CSX ES44AC another chance if I see them in person and the glossy paint says "Buy Me".

MTH and Lionel have made blatant mistakes in prototypically correct positions for headlights, trucks, etc. and yet sometimes it is a pleasant surprise to see unexpected details correct. I spoke to MTH about obvious mistakes and their reply was if it was pictured incorrectly in the catalog they were compelled to make it that way because people would be disappointed if it didn't look like the picture in the catalog. I didn't understand the logic then and I don't understand it now. Just look at the real thing and make it that way. 

The headlight above the windows is correct for many early SD70ACe locomotives and for Norfolk Southern ES44AC locomotives. The latest SD70s and most ES44s, however, have the headlight in the nose. So Lionel is not incorrect in terms of the placement of the lights for certain UP and BNSF engines--although their road numbers can be incorrect. The 2014 catalogue shows new BNSF, CSX, Canadian Pacific, UP, and other ES44 models using Norfolk Southern bodies with the upper lights, not nose lights as are actually on the real engines. Lionel could easily introduce "new" models with a mere change of the SD70 and ES44 cab plastic and change of painted road numbers. It would be inexpensive, accurate, and a temptation for those who have already purchased the original SD70 versions with the upper lights and want to add "new" SD70s and/or ES44s. It is a simple matter to alter the lights oneself, but reshaping and repainting the upper body can be challenging. The locomotives have a retail price of over $500. That is a lot of money to pay for an inaccurate version that Lionel could easily fix with a $2 piece of plastic.

 

I'm holding on to my pre-orders until I can find out for sure what Lionel will actually deliver. If they decide not to spend the little extra effort to make a more typical and more accurate model, I'll have to pin my hopes on the 2015 catalogue and wait another year.

I think Lionel gave the answer at York: there is no need to get the headlight correct. Somebody will buy ES44 locomotives with headlights in the wrong place. I am not one of them. I have cancelled my preorders and will wait another year.

 

They get so many little details right on their offerings--red Mars light on the Northern Pacific U33C and the extra light on the Southern Pacific version; warning decals; MU hoses with painted couplings--then miss on a major detail that, with little cost, could have allowed them to offer "new" locomotives with so little effort. SD70s and ES44s with nose lights would have been so simple.