Before Mike Reagan left Lionel, he found me a shell for my Wabash, Lionel has a "scrap shells" section. The one I got looked like new, don't know what qualified it as "scrap". I moved all the lights and stuff over (easy), and it's like a new locomotive.
I bought my Wabash TM off the Internet, and the railings were trashed! (I know at the time). Other than the shell being beat, it was fine. A new shell, and it's back in service. I made handrails for the old one, but all the little supports were broken, so I had to glue them to the shell. With the other damage, I figured if I could get a new shell it would be best, never did get around to painting them. I also couldn't really do decent lift bars for the front and back, those were all busted as well.