I am not sure - as you assume - that Lionel actually scan paint samples to provide to the manufacturer. I have seen a couple of Lionel paint scheme specs provided by a dealer doing custom runs. From memory these included standard Pantone color designations. But the actual execution of these is variable - and paint matching is a little like being a brewmaster, a dash of this and a pinch of that to get to a particular result.
I also think, although I don’t know for a fact, that to produce ‘fantasy” scheme products Lionel/their suppliers must rely on computer assisted design, which will not necessarily be consistent with past products depending on what info the design system is fed to process.
And yes, I also think the colors have varied over the years and currently are lighter/have less depth than in the past. My main concern at the moment is whether the forthcoming run of GS VL steamers in Daylight livery will be close to the the Daylight schemes Lionel has most recently produced. Daylight color accuracy is a sore point for many people; I am just hoping for a match with my AC-12 cab forward. I’ve seen the latest Daylight AWT and it looks pretty close.
