Since the deckplate is purely cosmetic, today I very carefully removed it from the locomotive using needle nose plyers to eliminate the possibility that the deckplate might cause a problem with the tether, tether plug or operation of the locomotive.
I can always re-attach the deckplate to the back of the locomotive if I want to do so in the future.
I don't recommend this locomotive for those, like me, who have Lionel 022 switches. On some of my 022 switches, the wheels on one side of the tender trucks lift up a little bit as it runs through the curved portion of the 022 switches. So far, there has been no derailment as a result of this lifting up, but IMO it's still worrisome and a steam switcher like this shouldn't have that problem. Arnold
