My goodness, you were dealing with a bit o' the pest, weren't you?
I too, love assembling things from pieces, and so it was when I found a 726 Berk frame with drivers in a box of parts I had just bought, I simply had to finish the job. The 736 shell appeared at an opportune moment, and Berk shells seem to be hard to come by in decent shape, so I said, "What the heck" and bought it. I never have tallied what I spent on auctions and on parts sellers to build this beauty, mostly cuz I didn't care. Kind of like paying high prices to go see a movie and enjoy some popcorn - if the prices bother you, you shouldn't go!
I did have to get selective as I obtained parts, e.g. I had two armatures, the "better" of the two having a much better condition worm, but a very slightly bent worm shaft - the worm was straight, so after about 15 minutes of trying to straighten the shaft with a leather hammer, I must have calibrated that last blow just right, cuz it now turns straight and true!!! Motor mounting did require the unobtainable shim Lionel used to provide, but you know, washers can work just as well - took about 15 minutes of digging through the "screw box" to find just what was needed.
The best boiler front I was able to find in my parts bin had two broken "ears", so with a marker light repair kit from Jeff and a lot of grinding patience, and a dab or two of black paint, followed by new jewels, it was looking spiffy! I'm still looking for the extra "saddle" weight that became an option, but really, this thing weighs a ton and has no problem pulling stuff around the oval.
Frame and worm gear all checked out OK
Choose your armature carefully! New brush plate from pile o'parts I just bought
That first worm...not OK. The 2nd one did the trick after straightening the shaft
A proud Berkshire!
It's a PW beast!
Almost forgot, here's a link to watch how it runs! I love my Mutt!!!!
George
