I am just curious as to who has pre-ordered the latest iteration of Burlington E5's from Lionel? My curiosity stems from the fact that Sunset 3rd Rail has already had two offerings of this locomotive (in plastic) and they are quite accurate. There certainly is a price differential between the two manufacturers. If anyone has input to this subject, I have some additional comments to add. I think Lionel missed an opportunity here.
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The only comment I have is that the Lionel offering is an E6 in Burlington paint.
@GG1 4877 posted:The only comment I have is that the Lionel offering is an E6 in Burlington paint.
So,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,no fluted stainless steel sides?
@Hot Water posted:So,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,no fluted stainless steel sides?
They are painted on as shadow lines in the catalog, but the windows are clearly E6 as they extend the full height of the middle band.
https://catalogs.lionel.com/2024/BB/
On pages 52-53 of the catalog.
@Hot Water posted:So,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,no fluted stainless steel sides?
I’ll be shocked if the Lionel shadow stripes come out looking anything like fluted stainless. Another perfect opportunity for Lionel to butcher the paint anyway.
Glad to see some of my favorite people offering comments.
Here is the missed opportunity I mentioned above. Follow this link to a photo from the BRHS website to view an interesting situation:
https://www.burlingtonroute.or...er/index.php?DOY=341
This shows an E7A with an "E5 pilot and shadowlining. Since the BURLINGTON nameplate is placed lower on the carbody, it does not affect the size of the side windows unlike that of the E5's which we all know had smaller windows due to the placement of a name band. Lionel could have taken a stock E7A and simply changed the paint scheme to have an accurate model. If they truly went for accuracy then the pilot would be changed to a sloping degree to match E1-E5's. I notice the signature vent adjacent to the cab door is plated over, as well.
For a CB&Q modeler who may already have everything there is to have, they just might have gone ahead and purchased a rare bird like 9921-B.
???
Rob,
Now that is truly an interesting bit of CB&Q history I was not aware of. Thanks for sharing! I love the faux shadow line paint jobs that were done on prototypical trains of this era. Maybe Lionel will offer this at some point or perhaps a special run by a club for this specific unit. Maybe even that "other brand" may offer it on 6th run E7s as 5th run ones are already in production. 
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