Engineer installation inside LGB electric locomotive

The LGB 20755 electric locomotive is an item I've bought some months ago. My full review of the product can be found here. The engine performed very well throughout the season and I'm very happy with it so far. One thing it was missing right from the start was a train driver figure. Instead the model had just an empty cab.

I visited San Francisco around the same time and experienced the last model store in the city going out of business. There was a huge sale and one of the items still on the shelves was a G-Scale engineer from Bachmann. At 80% off it was a real opportunity and I had to buy it. Its catalog number was 92331.

Around 6 months have passed since those purchases were made. I've decided it was time to finally install the figure inside the engine model.

LGB 20755, Bachmann 92331

Let's take a closer look at the train driver model first. It's a simple sitting figure without any painted details on its face. A nice feature are the movable arms but I'm surprised the body of the model somehow leans to the left. Still, looks like it should fit nicely...

I'm opening the locomotive for the first time. I don't want to do any damage, so I'm placing a piece of foam under it. It should ensure that no details are damaged in the process.

Opening the model is easy... once you know how to do it. There are 10 screws holding the bottom and the top parts together. These are well hidden and I had to use a flashlight to find them.

Once unscrewed it opens almost by itself. Now we can see the interior of the model.

The cab element is found inside the top part. It's held by some plastic latches but comes out without using much force.

I always felt the headlights on this locomotive were not really that bright. And here's why. There's only one LED acting as the source for all three lamps. A diffuser part is supposed do distribute the light. No wonder it seems weak, with the top headlight appearing as the weakest.

Let's go back to installing the train driver. Hmm... he seems a little too large.

There's no way its legs can fit in. The compartment is simply not spacious enough. The only achievable position is when the engineer does not look like he cares about the fate of the train at all.

Desperate times require desperate measures. Legs off!

Much better now. I've used my favorite hot glue gun to attach the pieces together. It should hold well enough. And in case it falls off - no big deal, as I already know how to open my locomotive and can quickly fix it.

Closing the model was easy and... I've managed to fit all the parts coming from the earlier disassembly. So the locomotive is most likely still in full working order and the new driver will ensure the train always arrives on time :)