VISION LINE - Suggestion

That is really great looking engine, I wonder what the story is behind the paint scheme

It looks like it is a Broadway Limited product, wonder if it will get made without a lawsuit involved

I too am curious if a real engine was painted this way.  Chris, I don't know the history about Broadway Limited.  Why would there be a lawsuit? 

That is a real color scheme, used by SP on the AC-4 and possibly some other Cab Forward engines. I think it was the late 1920's-early 30's. 3rd Rail did a run of AC-4, 5, and 6 engines about 15 years ago. A few of the 3rd Rail AC-4's were painted in that scheme. I have one; unfortunately it's packed away too deep to dig it out and post a photo. That particular engine is the most fragile 3rd Rail product I've ever seen - look at it the wrong way and something falls off. It also has crummy early QSI electronics that overheat if you try to pull too many cars. Sure is pretty, though. When the PS-3 kits become available, I'm going to dig it out and have it fixed up and upgraded so I can run it.

B-L would have no say in the matter as anything SP would be covered under the UP settlement agreement with the model railroad industry.

Rusty

Broadway Limited and the guy running it has a habit of attracting and being involved with lawsuits. Not sure if the last one between them and MTH was ever settled

The were also once going after the NMRA and various DCC manufactures for "patent infringement" on the open DCC standards.  Haven't heard anything on that one lately either.

One of my LHS' refuses to stock BLI because of those guys.  He will special order it, but won't stock it.

Rusty

http://www.broadway-limited.co...t-october232009.aspx

http://mrr.trains.com/en/News%...mited%20tooling.aspx

http://thedailyrecord.com/2009...es-longtime-rival-2/

Is Bob "King of Lawsuits" Grubba still the president of BLI?

Regarding this specific model, it's already been released by BLI (in October of last year, with road numbers 4116 and 4121) as part of their Paragon 2 series.  I was tempted but didn't opt for it despite the range of sound features (see here for details: http://www.broadway-limited.co...2sounddcdccho-1.aspx); HO smoke features are pretty lame and I don't have a permanent HO layout anyway.

I agree that a cab forward Vision model in this or indeed more conventional livery would be great but there's no sign of Lionel doing so. Their 2005 Railsounds 5 AC-12 is one of my favorite steamers.

P.S. There are some nice close-up photos of this model on this ebay listing: http://www.ebay.com/itm/HO-BRO...;hash=item1e6821f364

In 2008 Lionel cataloged an AC-4 Cab Forward, which is the same model that had the fancy paint job, but it was cancelled. That suggests that at least the preliminary design work has been done (it would in any case have a lot in common with their AC-12). So, maybe we will see a Lionel AC-4 in the future. If so, I hope they do a version with the gray, black, and red color scheme. In the meantime, anyone who really, really wants that paint job in 0 gauge can either look for the very scarce 3rd Rail version or repaint an MTH AC-6, which is very similar. 

I never understood why they cancelled that model although I think when they did so it was not long before the Vision line was announced. I had pre-ordered one and later shifted my deposit to a Lionel Vision GE Hybrid, which over time has more than made up for the disappointment!