Never was interested in the later C-420 schemes but hey, something for everyone. 
I was long gone from the NY area by then.
The only issue I have with Lionel' s C-420s's is the 1/4" gap between the frame and the truck. They should lower those high waters 
The uninformed never cease to amaze me on here.
Alco's Century series diesels rode high above the trucks - you can see the gap in the larger photos posted above. Take a close at the pix at this link: https://www.american-rails.com/alco-c420.html
The gap is apparent if you study the shots of the Monon C-420s - they're angled enough so you can see just how high the frame rides above the trucks. There's a small tank between the frame and the fuel tank - the top of the trucks appear to be level with the top of the fuel tank. The new or freshly shopped shot of Monon 505 with bright silver trucks contrasts with the tanks nicely - there's a lot of air between the top of the trucks and the chassis.
Over at Youtube is a video clip from Pentrex of a long string of spotless Apache Railway 420's that were shot at an angle where you can easily see daylight between the frame and trucks as the train rolls by: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZkEaj8Qus8
There's also some video of LI 420s on both AAR Type B and the Hi-Ad Alco trucks (nowhere nearly as sharp as the Pentrex video of the Apache and Arkansas Midland action). Some close-ups of one of the Hi-Ad truck engines make it appear there's some sort of metal channel on the LI 420's that lies below the frame and above the trucks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R79kDKN1-to
The LI video has plenty of shots for detail hounds so they can super detail their models/weather accurately. Body mounting the pilot would help out the appearance.
In #'s 200 and 211
in #'s 224 and 228
