Lionel E6 Diesels - any differences?

 Apart from the price blip you mention I am only aware of one difference. These models came in several different roads and of course paint schemes and having researched them all I came to the conclusion that the Milwaukee Road colors were inaccurately rendered. I recently saw a Santa Fee set on display (not for sale) and it was a beauty.

I'd read that too about the MR where someone compared it with the Williams MR E7. Personally, I liked the vividness of the William's colors better but don't know about the prototypical aspects of them.

Was wondering if there are any mechanical or electrical differences between the first run and later runs? Are the sounds the same in all?

We had the Santa Fe's years ago but regrettably sold them at one time. Reading the excellent thread by Erik Lindgren about the 2 rail PA's and E series Warbonnetts has piqued my interest in them again. Would like to replace them sometime...

Sam there is a set of TMCC PA's on Ebay right now starting at a reasonable price. I see the E6's on there from time to time as well. Be patient, you'll find 'em for the right price.

well, one difference is that the southerns had an electrocoupler on the front of the lead A and the FECs did not.

There are some mechanical differences between the first and second batches mentioned in the original post. I can't remember the details, but I remember a thread on these engines where I posted something that was true on my Milwaukee Road version, but somebody else had something different from another version. Might have had something to do with the access hatches on top.

And by the way, I agree that Lionel's colors on the Milwaukee Road set aren't quite right. The gray looks kind of washed out, but the others aren't too bad. One of these days I'm going to paint the roof on mine black, as the railroad did later to match the E7's. That will improve the appearance a lot. 

You're right Forrest - I forgot about the beautiful F.E.C.   Have not seen a set of them is several years now.

The Santa Fe had a closed pilot too.