I'm much rather work on the VLBB then say, the 0-6-0 docksider. I hate trying to get the docksider back together. My VLBB went right back together no issues when I had it open to repair it.
But if I had been asked to 'fix' that BB, and I found the issues Alex did, I would have offered to just buy it off of him cheap, and then converted it to DCC.