Ah shucks... might as well share another pic.
Here is a picture of an old friend that's still in service:
Now, let me explain what I meant by that...
Back in the late 80s (I think?) Front Range came out with their HO scale GP7/9 series that had SCALE width hoods. (First ones in plastic.) I immediately begin to buy them by the case (not really by the case, but I bought a lot of them) to rework into Frisco engines for my Frisco theme tri-level layout I had at the time.
It ended up that the only things usable in a Front Range engine was the shell and body parts, and the motor/flywheels/frame. The trucks were JUNK. It didn't take long and I had a system: Retain the motor/flywheels/frame, and mount new Athearn trucks (sporting NWSL 40" nickle silver wheelsets). I also had to do a lot of filing/fitting to make the pop-in non-dynamic roof insert fit properly, as well as sand/fit the cabs to make them sit lower to more properly reflect the prototype, along with other fixes and betterment's. Turned out those Front Range Geeps were a lot of work! However, undeterred, I ended up with about a dozen Frisco GP7's in varies Frisco liveries.
Then The Great Frisco Sell-Off and the move to the Kansas City & Gulf proto-lanced theme began. My Frisco engines were sold at meets and traveled far and wide.
Imagine my surprise a few years ago to have a chap on the Frisco forum I frequent ask if I was the guy that had a tri-level Frisco layout that sold off a bunch of Frisco stuff. I answered that yup, I was the guy.
He then told me he ended up with one of my GP7's a long time ago, and it has served him well, still running ultra quiet and super smooth to this day! He proceeded to share a pic of it on his layout. So, what you're seeing is an engine I built a long time ago, and sold nearly 20 years ago... still in service on a layout that that belonged to a guy that I have since become forum friends with!
Model Railroading is a small and interesting world full of friends you haven't met yet!!
