Another update...in case there's any interest.
I saw a Youtube video where a guy was restoring a #8; in it he put the wheels onto the axles with a simple "twisting" motion. I tried this and it worked, so it's now track-ready.
Was able to pick up some #12 gauge brass wire from Michaels: it took (3) tries before I did one I thought was good enough. Here's a "before" and "after":
(...this is after I cleaned the body as well...)
Hennings tells me it'll be some time before they'll have die-cast headlights available again, so I guess this little project is done for the time being.
Thanks for indulging me...
Mark in Oregon