Credit goes to Lionel's tooling department for very creative use of molds to introduce new diesels, while staying on what must have been a limited budget. For 1981, the Collector Series receives a pair of interesting hybird examples of this creativity in the Canadian Pacific SD-24 powering the Maple Leaf and the Burlington SD-28 at the point of the Great Lakes Limited. The SD-28 "Flat Top" arrives courtesy of the 1981 introduction of the EMD "Spartan Cab" angular roof. The SD-24 and SD-28 share similar features with the difference being the SD-28 has the GP-20's low nose and the SD-24 got the GP-7/GP-9 high nose. The rolling stock in the Great Lakes set included an Operating Great Northern Hopper, Alaska Gondola with Canisters, Burlington Box Car, Northern Pacific Cattle Car, Pure Oil Tank Car and Burlington Illuminated Bay Window Caboose. The set, minus track and power pack, was sold boxed in the typical handsome Lionel Collector Series packaging.