You sound like someone after my own heart who is not bothered about keeping models box perfect and will modify locos to some degree, as per the prototype.
I met a modeller in Germany many years ago,who had a very realistic looking fleet of dampfloks (paint jobs)when I picked one up,the hand I had on the boiler was black and grimey
I would strongly recommend both of you to take a brief look in one of my colleagues site.To me its the Nirvana of model railroading in this respect. Besides you can have a brief history of the Turkish state railways during the journey.
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