Now I can see that the 1994 MTH Challenger is in the same league as the pre-war 700E and Mike Wolf deserves credit as the gent who carried on JLC's vision.
I had 3 rail layouts from my childhood to the present -- off and on -- but mostly on. The longest break was from about the mid 80's to the mid 90's. Bummed by Lionel MPC and all the other junk, but also being in an intensive part of my "career."
So, realizing that I was gonna retire soon -- in about 1997 -- I went to Pat Neil's (gone but not forgotten) Collectible Toys and Trains bricks and mortar train store (remember?) in Dallas to see what was happening in 3 rail O gauge. WOW!!! Didn't wait until I retired. Bought trains that day. IMO more had happened in that short timeframe than had happened in the decades between the post-war golden era and the early 90's.
So, Mike Wolf gets a lotta credit. But, to extend the discussion of the 700E and JLC's importance to us O folks and on down the modern gurus, --- how about Neil Young et al for TMCC? (Google Neil Young and the TMCC patent for an interesting read). That was the other WOW that day in Pat's awesome bricks and mortar train store in North Dallas. Shelves chock full of full O scale dimensioned "realistic" trains some of which ran on TMCC.
Still in all, the 700E is -- to me anyway -- is the single most iconic 3 rail engine of all time and as such introduced the concept of 3RS into a lot of brains. But whatever, it's all good.