Handrail stanchions

[MopacMan]

I wanted to share some information regarding the black plastic O scale handrail stanchions that apparently are no longer available on the Bachmann website.  I have an older Williams SD45 that has wire handrails and black plastic handrail stanchions.  Due to age, several of the stanchions tabs that fit into the stanchion holes on the engine shell have broken off.  I have looked at length for replacements, without success, online on Ebay and on Google.  No luck.  Today, I came up with a replacement.  Although not an exact replacement, I took several of my daughter's black wire hairpins, cutting them in half with a channel lock.  Once the hair pin was separated into two pieces, I measured the handrail length and took a vice grip and cut it to length.  I than formed a loop on one end to fit onto the wire handrail, and bent the other end so the hairpin took on the shape of the letter "L".  The shorter length of the "L" is short enough, and the correct diameter to fit perfectly into the factory pre-drilled stanchion hole in the engine shell.

I hope that this information is useful to others who enjoy collecting and operating older Williams engines as much as I do.