Some of my fellow old-timers may remember that, back in 2009, Lionel released their version of the Milwaukee Road's Bi-Polar. I had missed out on this, although I remember discussions around paint chips around middle-section due to inadequate foam protection and subsequent shipping damage. I had purchased one in 2014 (new) and sure enough it had the paint removed from where the metal cab sections rubbed together. The engine was DOA and had to return to seller, but that's another story.
The other item worthy of note is catenary sparking effects. This feature was introduced on the Vision Line GG1. As the new Lionel Bi-Polar is around the same price and it is a neat feature, it would be fantastic if the new Bi-Polar had this effect. With sparking with sound effects, it is the 'cat's meow' electric engine feature. I understand its not a Vision Line engine, however Vision Line features like whistle steam are now almost standard on Lionel scale steamers. Surely, the "mightiest" electric engine deserves this feature 
FWIW: I don't have a catenary system set-up, and likely will not as a scale RTR system is not readily available, however the sparking/sound "effect" is pretty darn cool without it as the videos of the GG1 running w/o catenary tell.
