Well, since I purchased 3 of these-2 B&LE SD9's and 1 DMIR SD9- all 3 rail models, I may as well chime in with my observations on my particular models. (your engine/engines may or may not have correct details to your particular roadname). Overall, mine are great looking models and I'm glad that I purchased them. I'm not going to post pictures as Dave has already posted videos of both of his B&LE and DMIR engines in operation. I have not operated mine as of yet. As far as the details-the biggest thing that I noticed immediately at the front of all my engines is the bracket for the bell mounted on the high, short hood is completely wrong. Every photo of every B&LE/DMIR high hood SD9 that I have looked at from the 1960's through the 2000's(including my own books) shows the bracket being welded/fabricated solid plates on both sides, top, and rear, not the 2 arms sticking up with the bell hanging between them that came on my engines. So I'm disappointed with that. The other item, which has already been mentioned in this thread, is the number/positioning of the steps on the four corners of the engines. On my particular model roadnames, from many prototype photos, there appears to be a step missing. There should be 5 total steps on mine(counting the deck as the top step). So, on the models, where there appears to be a large gap between the first and second step as has been mentioned earlier in this thread, on my models, another step should be added between the first 2 existing steps, closing the gap and adding the missing step at the same time. Again, these are observations on the B&LE/DMIR models. Anyone else who has these-what do you think?
Nick
