Converting a favorite road's conventional loco to tmcc adds many additional features but it does have drawbacks in terms of cost, necessity of technical expertise, time spent on the mod, and possibly finessing those extra boards into limited engine space or adding a tether to mount the tmcc boards and speakers somewhere else.
It seems the easiest, fastest path to remote control is buy the rtr LionChief version of my favorite road name's conventional locomotive, remove it's body shell, and replace it with the body shell of my favorite road name's conventional loco. I already have that favorite road name's conventional loco shell so simply swapping out the two body shells would involve significantly less money, time, and aggravation spent than doing a tmcc mod.
But, I don't know if the LionChief body shell has been modified or "hogged out" to fit the LC electronics? Anybody know if the two bodies are identical and perfectly interchangeable allowing them to be swapped without modifications to either the conventional 0-6-0 Dockside Switcher body shell or the 0-6-0 LionChief Dockside Switcher engine frame? Has anyone tried a similar, "simpler" approach like this?
Would anyone who's worked on both the Lionel conventional and LionChief versions of the 0-6-0 Dockside Switcher or owns both models please check and compare the shells to see if they’re identical and advise me whether they'll interchange perfectly? Thanks in advance.
