ON MY WORKBENCH

If we're going to do dead rail at scale, why not do dead rail in O Scale?  Here's a swap meet purchase where somebody converted a Rivarossi C-Liner into the B-A1A passenger version.

That's been on hand since at least 2005, and the frame and transmission offer ample space for a battery and the relevant control circuitry.

I stripped the paint from the shell, and added some 3D printed open grilles.  Those might help dissipate heat from the battery and radio control module.  There's a fair amount of work involved fettling the sides and fitting the grilles.

Perhaps the original owner gave up on finishing the model because adding couplers is a challenge.  If there's some spare 1/4" x 1/2" brass bar on hand (from scratchbuilding tenders) there's a way forward.

There's enough space on the upper side of the frame to clear 4-40 nuts holding the works in place, thus these pieces will be drilled No. 50 and tapped 2-56 at the spaces marked T, and drilled No. 31 to clear 4-40 at the spaces marked C.  These still must be shimmed down a bit to get the coupler heights right, but the short coupler casings will clear the gear boxes on the powered axles.