Thanks for the helpful tips guys!
That was what wanted to do at first and what I ended up going with, but without the sideways curve and in 6 wide. I decided that it might be better like that than trying to mess with all sorts of things and ending up with huge gaps or very low structural integrity. However this locomotive could be an interesting challenge for anybody more experienced in train building.
It was a 1.5 plate offset on the windscreen, though it looks weird because of the photo and trans slopes.
I'll post a picture of what it looks like now later, might take me a few days since I'm very busy at the moment. It sorta strays from the source material because the curves are a tad beyond my skill, but I think when it's all finished it'll be recognizeable.