I see the point of plastic stanchions that is without question and I don't doubt the need for replacements. I removed the hand rails from the grand kids Polar Express locos to get the plastic stanchions. The kids don't miss them and likely it makes the loco safer for kids. However on several of my TMCC conversions which have metal stanchions I used the hand rails for antennas. All I did was to drop down a couple thousands on the handrail wire diameter. I then gave the wire two coats of polyurethane either clear or black and allowed a couple of days for it to fully cure then very carefully slip it into the stanchions. I then confirm the handrail is insulated from the boiler with a VOM. This does rule out using the claw from the sky method of lifting locomotives as you don't want to press the handrails hard against the holes in the stanchions. When possible I spin a dull slightly oversize drill bit to chamfer the edges of the hole in the stanchions and insure they don't scrape the paint off. If you don't have a dull bit spin a sharp one backwards. A small conical diamond grinder point will also work. j
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