Quote from: Maletrain on November 21, 2019, 09:55:08 AM----------------------
You seem to be new to model railroading, so you probably have not yet heard the word "foobie". It means a model that may be reasonably representative of some prototype somewhere, but has been painted in schemes for other railroads that might not have ever had that same equipment. Manufacturers do that to increase sales of the basic locomotives, so that they spread the development and tooling costs over a wider customer base and keep prices down for customers.
Many customers don't care that much about prototype accuracy, so the strategy of marketing "foobies" works. But, for a customer who does care about prototype accuracy, it pays to do your research homework before you buy, because there are plenty of foobies on the market.
As for asking Bachmann to change the number on a locomotive that you purchased, I would not expect them to do that. But, you can do that yourself. Removing numbers and replacing them with decals (or rub-ons) is a skill that most model railroaders who care about prototypical accuracy develop early in their hobby. I am not going to get into that in this post, but you can probably find several techniques posted on model railroader forums and illustrated in YouTube videos.
Thanks for defining "foobie." I'm not worried about the paint on the model loco. It says "Santa Fe 3808."
What troubles me is when I research the railroad and find that the Santa Fe 3808 RR did not use an EMD GP40 but an EMD GP40X instead. It complicated my research.
I just thought that model "trainologists" were concerned about accuracy to the prototype. They seem like a fastidious bunch. :-)
Thanks for the explanation.