Thanks for posting the video, Skip, it's always neat to see No. 90 in action. I am lucky to have seen it in person numerous visits to Strasburg. It's quite an experience for me standing next to a fire-breathing machine.
Many of Lionel's scale diecast steamers designed in early 2000's and re-issued again and again have the leaf springs and suspension cast in as part of a U-shaped boiler - it's hideously un-prototypical to say the least. I think it was Korean Brass or another Korean contractor who chose that design, and Lionel just stuck with it over the years. Newer scale engines like the Reading T1 and Milw. Rd. S-3 have rounded boilers with an open slot on the underside to accommodate drive mechanisms and wiring; and am hoping the new 2-10-0 will as well. MTH has utilized the round boiler with open slot for many, but not all, of its scale steam engines for a long time.
I am not a rivet-counter per se, but getting the boiler as accurate as possible is a no-brainer, or at least it should be given the cost of these models.
