animating a garratt locomotive

Maybe my last post was too broad. I want to know if this can be done solely in UE5, does it need to be fully boned, or can I use this sockets feature? Is it beneficial or even necessary to use some intermediate software, such as Blender, to make the transition?

I like how clean datasmith can import Solidworks data directly into UE5, whereas my only avenue from SW into Blender seems to be saving as an STL which results in a more cumbersome model.

Are there other ways to achieve what I want that I should consider? This whole train model is secondary to the plot of the short I want to make, but the few seconds of screen time I can get from this would really help sell it.

At some point I need to move the plot, and its project, forward, with or without this detail, but I really need some expert opinions before just abandoning it. I’m going to keep to a straight portion of track so I can ignore articulation of all the trucks, for now at least.

Thanks,
Skeeter

I suppose one thing I could consider it taking it from SW to UE5 via datasmith, then the clean model from UE5 to Blender for prep and back to UE5 to animate, just adds another step.