LittleTommy posted:Those ERIE colors look really sharp! I wish ANYONE would do ANYTHING (PA, FA, GP9, F3, F9) in S in Erie Paint, and (agreeing with JonnySpeed again) I would be over the moon if the engine had scale details.
LittleTommy
I've been collecting Erie decals lately. I may have something to show you in the near future ;-)
My problem is that even the AM GP7, while better, is a long ways off from being good enough for me. I would need to graft on all kinds of brass aftermarket parts to get it as good as what the Athearn model above comes straight out of the box. I don't want to have to do that for every single model I purchase.
Lionel could absolutely produce a scale, detailed GP7 with fine handrails along the lines of the SD70 and ES44. They could even take a page from SHS and make a generic electronic interface that could allow them to sell different version to different people.... AC/DC/Legacy/DCC/LionChief/Bluetooth. I guarantee Jon Z. could make that work today if they asked him to. Instead they decided this model was a better idea.
All I can say is Don Thompson of SHS was a genius and was WAY ahead of his time. The fact that the manufacturers today don't realize that and copy what he did is a crying shame IMHO.