The Sakai HO Gauge 2-6-2 "Hudson and Pacific", Sort Of In An Overview (and Pieces)

I had been after a Sakai HO Hudson & Pacific "Prairie" for some time, so imagine my excitement when one turned up a few weeks back for a song.

Sadly, it was damaged. 

(My cat Gwynn bumped my arm, sorry)

In the above, slightly out of focus picture, I had dismantled the locomotive to evaluate where the problems were. The seller, to their credit, was honest, and said that the locomotive was for parts only. 

I just took it the rest of the way.

Anyway, the major problem is right here - 

From the motor mount back, the frame is missing. Gone. Vanished. Simply not there. You get the point. 

Yet, the motor still defiantly runs. 

Sakai has often been compared to America's Marx trains, and I suppose that's logical. Their O gauge stuff is very similar, definitely inspired by the American company. Their HO stuff is similar, though they do have a tinplate 2-6-0 I would love to get my paws on (I'd need to sell an organ, I suspect, if I ever did find one). By the time Sakai moved on to plastic bodied trains, their output improved. I'd go more into the history of Sakai, but instead the folks at the TCA Western Division did a better job - 

Seki/Sakai/et al

This locomotive is lovely, but why 2-6-2? 

In my desire to get this locomotive was regardless of the odd wheel arrangement. After all, Lionel and numerous HO gauge manufacturers used it as well. Yet, 2-6-2s were really not that common in North America... or were they?

As it turns out, there is a prototype for this locomotive, the Milwaukee Road's K-1 class Prairies, right down to the cab shape and the domes. 

Courtesy Big Bend Railroad History

Meantime, I need to scheme a way to rebuild this locomotive. If I can find a parts donor, probably best. If not, well, that would be a major undertaking, one that only a fool might try. 

And I'm that fool.