MTH Premier F59PHI, Cab Removal

I find a number of diesel shells have to move either forward or backward a bit to clear obstructions.  Also, sometimes you have to gently spread the sides of the shell to release it as well.  I have one of those, but it's buried somewhere in my box pile or I'd look closer.

Yup.  Those tactics have always worked in the past and I've tried them on this locomotive but without success.  The carbody is free of the frame, save for the forwardmost end.  Something in the "nose" of the locomotive is hung-up.  I can lift the hind end half an inch without bending the frame before something in the nose prevents further movement.  Harrumph!

Knowing that the headlight and marker bulbs/LEDs are often mounted on a stamped framework attached to the frame, I'm leery of forcing the issue.  Perhaps scale track jacks, spike mauls and claw bars are in order?  When all else fails, call in Maintenance of Way!

I just realized what the issue might be!  I had one of those come in for repair years ago and had the same issue.  The problem ended up being that the bulbs had obviously run hotter than expected and melted the cab to the point it was deformed and holding the shell on.  At the time I managed to get new cab parts to rebuild it, don't know if that's still possible today.

So, I'm not as stupid as I look!  Thanks be to God!

MoW is en route to the jobsite with tools and know-how.  As Archimedes once said, famously, "Give me a lever, a fulcrum, a place to stand and I can move the earth."

Many thanks!

MoW saved the day.  Brute force won out without collateral damage.  The cab interior and the very large headlight, marker light and ditch light array mounting structure is an extremely tight fit and I may have to do some file work to get it back in.  There is no sign of melted lamp housings or other such defects.

My only disappointments were the MTH instruction manual, which misidentified the body mounting screws (I didn't believe them) and the amount of grease that had escaped from the gear boxes, covered everything in the general vicinity and took hours to remove.

Thank you for your advice.  You gave this poor trackman the courage to go on to victory!

Sometime BFFI is what is needed.