Here's another comparison I haven't seen posted before. There is definitely a bit more of a disparity with this one due to each manufacturer's different approach to simulating the stainless steel finish of the actual train. Where Lionel simply painted their train silver, GGD actually plated their train in nickel. Compared to the Lionel train the GGD train almost has a gold tint to it, and the cars actually sit a little higher than they should as evidenced by the corrugations on the GGD cars sitting higher than the corrugations on the Lionel tender. Another owner of this set has informed me that removing the plastic bolsters underneath the truck plates will lower the cars to perfect height.
Other than this the cars are beautiful and again probably the best option on the 3-Rail market. For a pure train the matching 3rd Rail ESE Hudson is the only option. However they will also look fantastic (and still prototypical) with a Lionel Niagara since there's no streamlining to match there. My Lionel model will stay with K-Line's ESE cars, which are a much closer match.
