Welcome aboard! First off, I want to mention your avatar does not meet forum rules and will probably be deleted soon. Recommend you read the rules before you do many more posts.
Lionel's "Pilot" locomotives are the exact same engines they produce for their catalog, except they are not painted and only a clear cote is applied. Not sure the thought process on this, but without paint all the details of what makes up a high-end Lionel engine are shown. The engines are basically die-cast with brass and plastic details added.
Because of the clear cote on the engines, they are not good examples for repaint.
