Here is my Lionel Legacy fantasy Rio Grande 2-8-8-4 EM-1. In reality, the D&RGW did in fact lease a number of DM&IR's 2-8-8-4s one or two seasons in the 1940s, one of which (#224) wrecked famously on February 7, 1943 on the Fireclay Loop due to airbrake failure and is the prototype of this model.
However, B & O's EM-1's were much lighter weight and smaller than the western 2-8-8-4s to account for the reduced dimensions necessitated by the B&O's tight tunnel and bridge clearances, so this isn't an accurate engine to begin with. Lionel did put a centipede tender on this model to make it look more like a DM&IR Yellowstone.
The green -- I haven't found any definitive proof one way or the other that the leased prototypes in fact had green boilers. Even if they did, it almost certainly wasn't this shade. You either love it or hate it. It's definitely attention-getting. I was going to sell or trade it but have decided to keep it and run it as a fantasy excursion train -- it looks pretty sharp with a string of D&RGW GGD heavyweight coaches.
