The E8"s are only 17" long and I'm not a stickler when it comes to how engines look when rounding a curve (I have plenty of smaller diesels and steam engines like 2-6-0's, but I also have an LC+ 2.0 Big Boy that has a significant overhang), especially because the layout is not very twisty and I have some long straights (up to 20') on which the engines look great.
My issue is that it makes no sense to me for Lionel to manufacture an engine that will negotiate O-36 curves for the benefit of smaller layout runners and then have a matching passenger car set to go with that exact same engine in which none of the passenger cars will negotiate the same curves as the engine. 
