My first electric train was Lionel. Christmas 1948. I came back into the hobby in the early 1970's. (HO) As I recall, Lionel made a pretty substantial effort to enter the HO market in the mid 1970's. One of their offerings, was a GE U 18 B. What was rather unique about this model was the fact that it was powered by a modified GE electric razor motor. Well, I bought one, and it might be my imagination, but that little unit almost sounded like the prototype U 18 as it rolled over my layout. Still have the unit, and it still runs. I'm going to go and check the new Lionel website in a few minutes.