Questions about plastic rail from a newbie

I have neither Murdock or diesel, so I cant really comment, I've never been a fan of tender driven engines, they don't work with the auto changing points and I cannonly imagine they derail more, as these trains dont really like to push stock.

I've never defaced a diesel before but salty was simple, disassemble, cut off the melted tabs that locate the face, pull the face off, paint the aperture a dark color, then glue in the grill



I used ventilation mesh kindly donated by my patio door, ( it opened to a conservatory) I also thought tea strainer mesh would do, or sieve mesh,