Ho 2-8-0 shell swap

[cccpsc]

Is it possible to swap engine and tender shells from the Bachmann 2-8-0 sound value and the 2-8-0 non sound  locomotives.
I have a Indiana Harbor Belt 2-8-0 sound value and would like to swap Durango & Silverton shells on to the locomotive and tender.
Thanks

[trainman203]

Q:  Is it possible to swap engine and tender shells from the Bachmann 2-8-0 sound value and the 2-8-0 non sound  locomotives.

A:  Yes, But it's not a direct drop-in easy thing. 

I'll tell you my experience.  I acquired with a bunch of junk an early non sound 2-8-0 With a nice Illinois Central decal job.  Unfortunately the engine was non-operable.  I already had a sound value Durango and Silverton engine that I never ran.  (See comments at the end.) Like you, I wanted to exchange the shells to get an engine I would actually run.

The locomotive boiler shell was a direct easy exchange.

The tender was not.  If you look under each tender, You'll see that the centered screw to hold the shell on the non-sound Tender floor conflicts with the speaker location when Bachmann decided to offer a sound version.  Even though these tenders look alike, these mounting screws are entirely different places, The centered interior mounting lugs are entirely different locations, and  to put the old shell on the new floor you'll have to probably do a little surgery.  I also found that at the front of the tender shell facing the cab there were  some conflicting areas on the old shell that had to be cut away . None of this is very hard to do,  but you have to get brave and do it, this kind of modification stuff is one of the essential skills of model railroading.

Start by gently inserting the two little tabs on the rear of the old tender shell into the slots of the new tender floor.  They will match but may need encouragement, mine did, but they will go in.  Gently and slowly rotate the shell down and see where the old shell needs slight amounts of plastic removed to slide smoothly down.  Be patient and take your time and do a neat job.  You'll get it done, but it may take an hour or more of whittling here and there.  Eventually it will sit properly.

At this point it sits well but nothing is securing the front of the shell in place.  Here you make a choice of whether you want to spend some effort getting a screw attachment done or go for a "Southern Engineering" solution. 😂😂

The problem with the screw attachment is that there's no really good place to insert a screw through the shell into the floor.  The best location is through the front of the shell where you won't really see it when the tenders attached to the locomotive. You'll see that the little lip inside the floor is not tall enough to take a screw into it.  Styrene bar stock must be added to affect the solution.  I'm not going to talk about it in detail because I didn't do it. I just know that needs to be done.  If you have gotten this far, you ought to be able to figure it out.

The "Southern Engineering" solution is much easier and much less work.  Since I'm retired, I avoid work of any kind.  So I created a friction fit at the front of the tender, by putting a couple of layers of freezer tape on the lip on the floor at the front to make the tender fit snugly.  You have to be careful with it, but normal handling doesn't make my shell come off and I'm satisfied with it.

Now, an editorial.  I'm not normally critical of what Bachmann does because in general the Bach Man's stuff is top grade and well engineered.  What I really don't care for is a standard gauge Durango and Silverton locomotive much heavier than the prototype which in reality is a much lighter narrow gauge locomotive, and indeed, the whole railroad is a narrow gauge operation. 

But, I spent years in the business world, and I do understand sales being generated by a familiar name, and I'm sure many people are very happy with their Durango and Silverton train, and not caring about the nitpicking of hyper-critical tunnel-vision long-term model railroaders like me. 😂😂

There!  I'm done!  😂😀. Proceed with your Shell swapping, Let us know how it went, and enjoy it when it's done!