I am considering switching my plan of building up a Baltimore and Ohio train to a C&O train, mainly due to the more readily available passenger cars. I was going to repaint a 2343 Santa Fe into the B&O color scheme, but that would have required custom paint jobs on other passenger cars in order for them to actually match. So, I am thinking about this locomotive (the Lionel 6-38144 set). But, I will need two powerful locos for my cars. Does anybody know if the shells for the C&O are directly compatible with the older F-3 shells and can "easily" be swapped? I put easily in quotes, because I suspect it may take some modification to the frame to make it work. But my question is, is it possible? I prefer the overall pulling power of the 2343 and the magnatraction, especially with two lashed together. I am looking for someone who has these two locos to let me know if the basic shell can more or less be placed on a 2343 frame. I know I give up other stuff when I do that, but I run almost exclusively conventional and don't really need the bells and whistles (pun intended) of the newer stuff. Thanks!
Scott
