Ah, Greg - it’s just the tthought of screwing up a $650 loco, I guess - times five.
Concentrates the mind wonderfully, bein’ poor. 
Best
tac
Ottawa Valley GRS
Understand tac, that drivetrain is pretty rugged though, the file method is surprisingly easy, lay the loco on it’s back and apply power or put on rollers.
Pulling the wheels to turn them down would give you an additional problem, you need a tapered mandrel for a lathe to mount the wheel, or an old axle with the flange turned down, but the axles are not really strong.
Greg
Thanks, Greg - I might just give it a try. It would be nice to be able to run at least one of my big dismals on a pal’s ALL-Gauge 1 layout with his finer track. He’s already had to modificate a bridge so my Hudson can clear it…G1 British locos really are teeny little things.
Best
tac, ig, ken the GFT & The Filing System boys
This is funny. I have a BNSF Dash 9 I traded some fellow many months ago. He acquired it from God knows who. Anyway, the engine had everything wrong that one can imagine or dream up. LOL So, I did the trade and decided to fix the old gal up. Well, besides having a nest of spiders inside the body shell and mud all over the place, the wheels were so badly rusted and pitted, I thought, I would simply try and clean them up manually. The engine came with a weight set and this made tractive efforts exceptional. Except, the wheels were so bad, she wasn’t getting no electricity. I cleaned the wheels for a couple of hours. After some coaxing, she started moving, but was bucking real bad and sparks were flying. So, I cleaned the wheels some more and eventually, she made a loop around my small track. Needless to say, the spiders all escaped and are at large in my basement. LOL
In reference to those wheels being removed, I found out the hard way. I broke two screws before I said, enough is enough. Truth is, I am purchasing new motor blocks anyway. That will eliminate any need for wheel removal. I suspect that the screws are held in place by a form of lock tight. However, this should not preclude one from removing the wheels if the motor block is clean and not real old. My BNSF sits watching the Canadian Nat make its rounds for now. As for the mud and grime and dirt as well as oil on the engine, it made the whole affair look impressively realistic.