Bum:
You are welcome and putting your 2257 back into its original configuration is a good idea which would GREATLY increase its value!
As you requested, here’s some photos of my 6457’s. The first photo shows two 6457’s. The one on the top has staple-end trucks (1949-51 version) and the one on the bottom has bar-end trucks (1952 version). The 2nd and 3rd photos are close-ups of the trucks with the bar-end first. Not shown is my third 6457 which is the same as the top one except it has a black stack.
And I learned something from you also which was that some post-war trucks have those holes between the axles and some don’t. I guess I never noticed it before. I spot-checked about 20 of my post-war cars that were within reaching distance and every one with bar-end trucks has those holes and every one with staple-end trucks does not have those holes.
I couldn’t find any mention in the service manual why they changed from staple-end trucks to bar-end trucks or why they have holes in the bar-end trucks. It seems like it would cost more to drill the holes. The early pages in the manual show the staple-end truck without holes and the later pages show the bar-end truck with the holes clearly evident. Plus the bar-end basic truck has the same part number as the staple-end truck (PT-1).
Anybody know why they changed and what the holes are for?
Bill
