Ya know, with everything else going on with this model, including what I've told my family are booster rockets under the tender, I never even noticed that my gray #6001 version does not have the blackened side rods that Lionel seems to put on everything else now! This photo is a little over-exposed but shows that the once-standard brushed steel/nickel rods look right (OK, I know it's a fantasy version):
So Alex I won't be sending mine your way for conversion. In any case your info about the main stack unit configuration is very valuable - I had not picked up the slightly problematic smoke fluid fill method from your original thread on tearing down the one Lionel sent you pre-production. Thanks a lot, as always.
