I picked up a 259E with a tender and a couple of other things. I wanted a real test of some methods of repair as well a test of what was realistic vs. my best efforts.
The locomotive was badly bent, the frame was very very out of square, the tin was very rusted and bent. My best guess is it got stepped on. There was damage from a BB gun, several bb sized dents as well as a few holes. The motor was completely seized, the unit was corroded.
i do have a few before pictures, unfortunately all of my during photos were deleted.
I completely disassembled the locomotive, I ran the Tin parts through the dishwasher while my wife was out shopping. I then soaked the in evaporust for a couple of days.
while they were soaking I took the motor down to just the frame and tested all of the windings. They read fine. Prior to removing the wheels I had used pb blaster over several days to prevent breaking or damaging them.
i did have to remove one side of the motor frame. After I had cleaned the motor and rebuilt the e unit I reassembled and tested. It ran great.
I refinishing the motor housing with several applications of cold blue
I made jigs and forms out of MDF to straighten the bends. I did not have any true point of reference so much of my work was by eyeball or from what I could see of complete units on the internet.
i test fitted parts several times and to make sure I had the best fit possible. I filled dents and holes with solder and had to solder some of the tin pieces together when the tabs were missing.
Because this entire project was about testing different ways and methods I decided to use a powder coat finish. I did this because the powder coat helps hide flaws and is extremely durable.
I replated all of the nickel parts, hand rails, drive rods etc. I used my home made plating kit and it worked very well.
below are some pictures of the project at its current state. All parts are orginal. I do plane on getting a new smoke stack and playing around with the finish some more.
please give me your honest opinions and any tips or criticism. 
