I Bought a Cursed AWVR "Unstoppable" Ho Scale Locomotive from eBay

A few months ago I was browsing eBay and I stumbled across this highly unusual AWVR locomotive, meant to mimic the railroad featured in the 2010 movie unstoppable.
This engine appears to have been created out of an EMD F7 along with another locomotive which I'm guessing is a jeep. Although the drive was in great shape, it clearly hasn't been serviced in many years as there was no oil to be found anywhere.
I also decided to upgrade the locomotive to metal couplers to replace the cheap plastic ones. By the end of the day it was hauling cars on the layout with many other AWVR locomotives from my collection.

[@HeavyTanker-vx4oq]

The EMD truck on the back, and the ALCO truck on the front just sells the whole Hodgepodge nature of this thing, and its glorious.

[@NYC563]

Yes, agreed

[@jcure]

Curses, foiled again

[@SMTMainline]

Haha, I didn't notice that when I filmed this.

[@K.S.V_railway]

Looks like a fa had a wreck and was combined with a wrecked emd locomotive

[@busterthejedi8446]

My best guess is that it's a locomotive exclusively for MOW operations, based on how the truck has the same livery, and railroads often have trucks as MOW vehicles.

[@a2020vision_official]

I think it's a cool kind of "what if" kitbash - like what if there was an accident and they recombined a GP7 and an F7, or if they wanted to do a rebuild on some old B-units like CNW's Crandall cabs. They even thought to add some tanks on the top.

[@SMTMainline]

That’s a great point. I believe there have been some cases in the real world of stuff like that happening. A split in half gg1 is a good example

[@asteroidrules]

​​@@SMTMainlineThe Great Lakes Central railroad uses some hybrid Alco-EMD units. They have a handful of GP35s that were built on used Alco FA-2 bogies to reduce costs. Santa Fe also did some weird body rebuilds, they had at least one F-unit that got converted into a GP style body, and a couple of either GP or SD units that had body panels fitted to the long hoods to give the appearance of a full-width carbody.

[@brandongaines1731]

The "Torpedo Tube" air tanks do give it a kind of neo-prototypical je ne sais quoi :-)

[@triplicator]

@@SMTMainline It reminds me of the NJT... what do they call them, the many passenger GP40 variants have confusing designations... GPs with F45 carbodies. The "weird wreck rebuild" is a common modeller idea that rarely happened in real life. I guess it generally isn't easy to use spare parts that weren't designed to fit. The only oddities I know of on this level were those done by National of Mexico, including an RSD-12 and AS-616 with *maybe* F-unit bodies (too many details changed) but not cabs and an RS-11 with the cab replaced by a piece of an F-unit body and a homemade streamlined nose.

[@donttreadonmetal5073]

@@asteroidrules the CF-7

[@Nate-sq9vd]

So just thought of some lore and here's the breakdown Awvr 5580 started life as an emd f7 with that being there 80th locomotive in a fleet of 100. Some time around the 60's 5580 was involved in a rear end crash with a boxcar wrecking the cab beyond repair they would have scrapped 5580 but a recently acquired parts gp9 had a donor cab and in one week 5580 was back out on the main with the cab of that gp9. Around the 2000's after serving almost 80 years as a mixed freight engine it was redelagated to mow trains then finally withdrawed in May of 2014 now on display in Stanton pa

[@brandongaines1731]

Yours is far simpler than mine - not bad! It is a GP10 cab, of course, but otherwise, I think we've got a winner! @SMTMainline will make the final call, of course :-)

[@Nate-sq9vd]

Hopefully btw thanks!

[@SMTMainline]

Thanks for the lore, I enjoyed reading that.

[@Nate-sq9vd]

Thanks! you have got to recreate this as a short story it would be the cherry in top

[@TheFourthStooge-4]

Yours is much more complicated than mine lol

[@NotDaender]

Those cab and short hood are from a Cox GP9M or a Walthers GP9M. The giveaway is the big front windshield. Walthers bought the train molds off of Model Power (who bought it off of AHM...who bought it off of Cox) so some of the Walthers Trainline products are updated Cox tooling but it allows for fun swaps like attaching old Cox semi truck and trailer mounts to modern Walthers flat cars!

[@TheActualKingOfRailfanning]

“That’s a cool paint scheme. How is it cur- is that an f unit body?”

[@SMTMainline]

Exactly lol

[@shipbuilding1000]

I recall seeing this on eBay awhile back. Seems like a perfect addition to the SMT collection 😊

[@wolfen216]

ive gotten into the habit the old bluebox units of using a 2-56 drill and tap set for their couplers and using a kadee box.

[@David-yo5re]

That's an unusual locomotive, but it actually looks good. The paint scheme is really nice.

[@triplicator]

From the thumbnail, I momentarily thought I was looking at a White Pass locomotive, then "What?"

[@SMTMainline]

I can kinda see it.

[@andrewferguson5653]

Wow.....what a kitbash!! and I agree, replacing that power strip with a soldered wire will help it run much better.

[@WWIIREBEL]

That combo GP20 cab /F7 looks kind of neat!.

[@kylederry5031]

Seems to me she'd be used more as recovery equipment pulling cranes and such. It's definitely not a yard pig because of the lack of railings, and engineers hated switching or shunting with f units because of the lack of clear vision.

[@ginaklein8964]

Enjoyed watching your video after a tiring day at work. Especially all the trains coming and going on the layout! Thanks!!

[@SMTMainline]

Thanks, I had fun making that part.

[@trainbuffboy4727]

That looks REALLY cool! I'm actually going to be painting one of my locomotives a certain paint scene from "Unstoppable". I'm letting the viewers choose in a poll.

[@SMTMainline]

That would be cool!

[@trainbuffboy4727]

@SMTMainline Yup! 1206 won!

[@FanaticaExtremis]

You're building up quite the AWVR collection, and it's awesome.

[@antonbruce1241]

On those couple pockets....taks a small drill (1/16") and drill a hole into the coupler pocket mount, then tap it for either a 2/56 or 0/80 bolt. Using a bolt lo longer than 3/8", attach the Kadee coupler block to the frame using the bolt screwed into the mount. If the bolt is too long, then grab the old Dremel tool and trim off the excess. I do this when I find one of those older Athearn locos. Other than that - really cool custom made loco!

[@SMTMainline]

That's a good idea

[@az80311]

Harrison, that is so cool to see several of your engines pulling freight cars and the sort, all at the same time. around the lay out. I wish you would do these short videos like this more often, as I enjoy watching all these videos. You are a cool person. Thank you

[@SMTMainline]

There probably will be more similar videos in the near future.

[@JerseyBill-x9r]

I see you like kit-bashed locomotives as much as I do because they are one of one. Great video, repair, and find, Jersey Bill

[@SMTMainline]

They are sweet!

[@KearSki]

Huh, I'd been thinking about making a kitbash a bit like this, using a life-like F40PH body and a GP38 cab. But this thing looks super neat!

[@JohnNack]

New Jersey transit and I think Marc as well have something pretty similar to that. Basically a standard geep cab and an F40 body, can’t remember the exact designation

[@KearSki]

@JohnNack ah! The GP40FH-2! Thank ya for the tip, seems now I have a prototype to work with.

[@robertlucido3686]

Now, all you need is an AWVR caboose

[@brennan-p6j]

So here’s the lore: AWVR had an EMD F7B and the cab off of a GP9M. They attached the cab and made the 5580 and it also has an alco truck on the front and an EMD Blomberg on the rear! Quite a kitbash!

[@SMTMainline]

I like it

[@johncloar1692]

Thanks Harrison for the video. I know I have watch many of your video over the years. But you have done an outstanding job on you layout, some time that get overlook. Nice job on the loco service.

[@SMTMainline]

Thank you so kindly!

[@shelleycogswell2162]

Athearn locomotives are my favorite diesels. Especially when I convert them to DCC. Thanks for the video.

[@mercuryoak2]

What I think is amazing if somebody went all out on this loco. I myself love the idea of kit bashing as long as it looks good. Very cool

[@Lv-sl3rm]

So just as a quick bit of lore I came up with on the spot. This unit is a one-off after two locomotives got into a massive crash. This locomotive was built from some of those components as a testbed for a possible rebuild program for the Fs, but it had reliability problems and had the maintenance issues the Fs had, so it's slated as a local locomotive and is a lone example. Retirement came in the mid 1990s and was scrapped once the SD40-2s were being displaced by larger motive power such as the SD70s and AC440CWs. Edit: Something that might be cool for a future video is see what you'd probably do as a what-if AWVR locomotive. On my N scale layout I'm gonna have 1206 in a sort of factory default config assuming it got rebuilt sometime before 2010 by the railroad, with a Dash 8-40C and a former EMD demonstrator GP20. Maybe I'll add a U25B or something sometime in the future or 777 proper....

[@SMTMainline]

Thanks for the story, I like it. I might try making some as suggested.

[@Raul_MP]

That GP-F unit hybrid is so bizarre, specially with the single center window on the cab, the hi-rail "made up" AWVR livery (As far as I remember, no AWVR locomotives used that paint scheme) is just the cherry on top, as much as this isn't my cup of tea due to how strange it is, it does have quite a bit of workmanship. As always, a nice bit of basic maintenance helps those engines last a lifetime, I mostly own Rivarossi, Bachmann, Proto 2000 and Athearn Blue Box for my American models, and the latter 2 brands have been the most reliable (Though apart from self-inflicted issues, the only issue I've had with Rivarossi is their weak motors)

[@w.rustylane5650]

Serenity, we have a runner! Cheers from eastern TN

[@crashryanphoto]

I love Unstoppable!!!! Every November it goes right into the DVD player

[@gordonlong3095]

Sweet, that’s a beautiful paint scheme! I hope you can find more AWVR equipment!

[@SMTMainline]

I'm always on the lookout for it.

[@wceyuki]

kind of reminds me of NJ Transit's GP40FH-2 locomotives, this could've been an earlier version of that off of a former commuter passenger operator that AWVR bought the locomotive from and ran as a freight loco.

[@alanwbelcher]

Looks cool, interesting idea of grafting a GP chop nose onto an F7.

[@Frecciarossa-wk1rk]

Hi, Harrison. Very nice video! Despite being a ''frankenstein locomotive'' I really like the result and the paint scheme is terrific! Almost every true railfan MUST have seen the Unstoppable movie in my opinion. Greetings from Italy. Carlo.

[@SMTMainline]

I like the movie a lot. saw it in theatres back in 2010.

[@lotsatrains]

That is a beauty and such a fantastic runner 👍

[@Fxe4014]

As always an interesting purchase from you SMT! 6:32 Personally I like to cut that part of the coupler off to avoid those kinds of problems.

[@SMTMainline]

Good tip!

[@fuzzyworld3]

I'm not a fan of "neutered" Kadees et al, as I occasionally use the Rix uncoupling tool in operations. I also make good use of a Kadee 206 coupler height gauge!

[@normancoreyBuildingTrains]

Nice job. Nice ending video as well with all of them running around

[@SMTMainline]

Thanks!

[@TheKingRacer007]

This is a very weird design for a locomotive. But for some reason I kinda like it. A regular GP40 would look great with that orange,blue and white AWVR paint scheme.

[@SMTMainline]

Fair enough!

[@gordonlong3095]

Gorgeous loco paint schemes! very eye-catching, thanks for sharing it with us!

[@SMTMainline]

I appreciate you thinking so, thanks for watching!

[@quadsquad2.0bigtimeriding22]

So excited when a new video came out

[@zyklose8565]

Hey man this is really cool, unstoppable was one of my favorite moves and it’s been a while since I’ve seen a new video and I noticed your at 143k and I’m happy for you I’ve been trying to keep track since 15k I’m going to try to send you a item or 2 in the mail eventually

[@SMTMainline]

Thanks for sticking around. It's been a wild ride!

[@newhavenrails1234]

This gave me something ✨*inspiration*✨ time to make an ho scale version of 2 of my oc's lololol

[@williamsquires3070]

I love the old Athearn blue-box locomotives; they’re so service-friendly. 😅

[@magnuswettermark8293]

They are the best👍

[@SMTMainline]

They sure are!

[@nickaquila7226]

Harrison that is One Really Cool Locomotive, I want one !!

[@davidmorris7696]

Good ol' Allegheny & West Virginia!! Representin' the #304.

[@Crestwoodfire]

I love watching your videos I just got my first set at a train fair and I learned how to set it up by your videos keep it up!

[@SMTMainline]

Thanks awesome, thanks for saying so :)

[@Crestwoodfire]

@@SMTMainline ofc also can you do a video just on CSX locomotives?

[@JessicaBarney-r8s]

I saw Unstoppable a few months ago and i really liked it. I really want an AWVR locomotive for my n scale collection. And that is a kitbashed engine if ever i saw one.

[@ianeichelmann3063]

I wouldn't recommend to buy stuff from eBay but like this one is a runner ill approve it :D

[@SMTMainline]

That's fair

[@rottenroads1982]

It's a Cowl Unit with a standard cab. Epic.

[@rickmiller4202]

Nice work. The helper service you got for a short bit was alright. :)

[@SMTMainline]

It worked quite well :)

[@ronaldrondeau7870]

great job Harrisson

[@progenlol]

Looks like the aftermath of some private rail company taking parts from a chopnose GP9 and an F7 and forcing them together.

[@SMTMainline]

I could see it 😂

[@elleryparsons2433]

I Got A Nice Chuckle When You Mentioned Rock N Roll All Night you go Harrison🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘👍👍👍👍👍👍👍.

[@SMTMainline]

Love that song'

[@jimmyseaver3647]

My take on the livery is that it is an "early" kind drummed up when the company was formed (most likely in the 1970s or 1980s from the fallout of Penn Central and Conrail's subsequent shedding of unprofitable lines) and that it still lingers on in places such as that Ford pickup, which appears to be from a similar era.

[@SMTMainline]

Thanks for your thoughts

[@Engine1988]

That rather reminds me of an O Scale locomotive I once saw for sale. It was sort of similar, but it was painted orange, lettered for CSX, and had a high hood. It also makes me think of a sort of inverted CF7.

[@SMTMainline]

O scale is good for that kinda thing.

[@Engine1988]

@@SMTMainline It is except for the TCA...

[@RJCormanRailfan]

Those Athearn chassis are just built like tanks!

[@SMTMainline]

They sure are!

[@sergioarroyoguerrero5434]

I love AWVR locomotive in HO scale. Unstoppable movie.

[@northamericanrailfilms3025]

Wow sharp!

[@RussellThePuppet8888]

Man that’s cool, you have 3 locomotives and all that’s left is the two gray locomotives

[@AceTheWolf614]

This is a what if take on this engine. I believe that the engine was a experiment that somewhat a failure, the idea goes that the engine had a experimental prime mover that needs to be always covered up, and they have to reuse a old scrapped F7B unit and the cab of a GP7 or GP20 and mash them together, to create the GPF7 with it's prime mover enclosed in the F unit's car body, But the prime mover was a sloppy mess, fiddly to get it started and teething troubles that would cause it to break down once or twice in a two month period. So later on the old prime mover would be replaced with a traditional EMD 567 prime mover, probably from a reused GP9 and placed it into locomotive. It would be instead standard GP9 with a mashed up car body of two locomotive. And later on in the 2000s it would be scrapped and the parts would be use for other locomotives.

[@SMTMainline]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

[@doctordeath.5716]

Great job at doing a upgrade to the Is basket case locomotive

[@NoahDutkewycz]

I think it might be a MOW (mantence of way) sceme for the awvr.

[@davydigger708]

The front is a GP20 - a Tyco GP20, to be specific. This reminds me of RP Model Railroads’ “Frankenalco” which he had custom kitbashed for his fictional Ephrata Valley Railroad.

[@EasternMaineRailfan]

If you look one of the trucks is a GE truck and the other is a Blomberg truck

[@modelrailroader5619]

Pretty cool, and a good runner to boot!

[@casstelles]

I know that the N de M pulled a reverse Uno of a locomotive using an F unit cab on an Alco RS11. So, as far as inspiration goes, this could be a partial build of a CF7 like the Santa Fe did on their former F7As. Also, it could be someone's idea based on the EMD GP40FH-2 which the New Jersey Transit and the Metro North owned. According to Wiki, the GP40FH-2 used a GP40 frame with F45 body parts (long hood) from Morrison Knudsen to make the locomotive with a standard cab and a cowl long hood.

[@SMTMainline]

Thanks for the info!

[@RichardBough-yk2ei]

Great to see you useing the extral part of your layout .would enjoy a video talking about your layout ie where you got your idears from etc also hoe you put a light back in that loco thanks for sharong from St Marys NSW Australia😊😊😊😊

[@SMTMainline]

That's a great idea. Everything has a story behind it.

[@Trainsaregreat365]

What a cool find Harrison

[@heirandspare]

Nice engine. Looks like you have another keeper there. Keep up the good work. 🙂👍

[@SMTMainline]

Thanks 👍

[@heirandspare]

@@SMTMainline You're welcome. 😉

[@penguingamerkid2776]

Yo u posted!🎉

[@mer2705]

Nice layout

[@kharis7602]

that loco looks perfect for MoW and commuter operations

[@dbtech7914]

The blue train caught up! Now your having fun running multiple trains at once.

[@SMTMainline]

I like making that part a lot.

[@TheFourthStooge-4]

I have created lore for this loco: In 1978, AWVR wanted a new locomotive, so they went to EMD and created the F37. AWVR got it painted up and it failed constantly. It was scrapped in 1980.

[@SMTMainline]

Thanks for sharing.

[@hankz7510]

Thats a cool paint scheme

[@williamsantangelo]

Thank You Harrison, another runner

[@asteroidrules]

Very much cursed in the right way, it looks like the type of weird rebuild a cash-strapped railroad would actually do to keep a piece of motive power in service after a catastrophic failure. Just slap together whatever they had to make a technically functional locomotive.

[@ThePolarExpress1225Productions]

THAT engine looks Glorious🤣🤣👌

[@MattKonsol]

That is so cool and very unusual locomotive!

[@SMTMainline]

Thank you very much!

[@NSMR-DMRC]

Cool loco1. I have built a few kits and back types on a SW1200 classy and made it with a geep cab and high hood. I have been working on a new prototype

[@therailfanman2078]

I like it. Its unique

[@misterflibble6601]

Another successful frankenloco

[@jamesstrickland631]

This is a pretty good kitbash engine. Looks to be a Athearn BB F7A frame and either the A unit nose somehow got broken, or it was a B unit and the previous owner cut the front off a Walther's GP9M. I'm thinking since the front and rear power trucks don't match, the original engine met the floor and this was the rebuild. I like it, and how smooth it runs.

[@user-MotoTrains1974]

So very cool SMT

[@MasonEvan-k5u]

I love your videos

[@MysticRivers2]

I think we all know what needs to happen. *Harry Gregson-Williams and explosions intensifies*

[@RichardHume-l4r]

Good work doc.

[@obvious2886]

It’s unnerving how much it looks more like a galloping goose than a locomotive

[@SMTMainline]

Kinda so

[@benmoore2253]

Had my eyes on this months ago, it was pretty tempting

[@crystalkauffman2463]

Bro that train is cool 😮

[@waterjet_bros3455]

hi great videos

[@SMTMainline]

Hey, thanks

[@mr.meloetta1939]

Kinda' makes me think that this is supposed to be from some precursor railroad that experimented with converting a B-Unit (probably during the downturn of passenger ridership in the '60's), really neat lil' fella

[@bluestarproductions2033]

Since it's in the same color as the truck, maybe it could be part of some track MOW set or something?

[@SMTMainline]

That would make sense.

[@bennyztrainz]

What an interesting engine very mischievous indeed💙💙💙

[@gpalmt]

Thank you, great video

[@SMTMainline]

Glad you liked it!

[@mattomon1045]

Cool loco

[@johnlongssilverrailz5873]

Athearn blue box - my favorite

[@adamello280]

It's so cool that you showed the train riding on the whole layout. Is there also layout behind the factory/parking lot?

[@SMTMainline]

A two track siding for the plant.

[@brandongaines1731]

I had to look to be sure, but recognized the front end of a WalthersTrainline GP10. Another commenter mentioned that the front truck is from an Alco while the back truck is from an EMD, so it has that going for it, too. I haven't seen the film all of the way through, so I could be wrong, but the fact that the pickup in the image shown at 1:31 is from around the same year as the film's production leads me to believe that its scheme would've been, not necessarily an older scheme, but rather a different scheme used by the company for a different purpose, similar to how Santa Fe - at one time - used two main variants of its Warbonnet scheme, i.e. a red-and-silver scheme for passenger service and a yellow-and-blue scheme for freight service; I could be wrong, but the lack of locomotives painted in this scheme (in the parts of the film that I've seen) but the presence of pickup trucks in this scheme in the film could indicate that this scheme is used for Maintenance-of-Way (MOW) equipment owned by the railroad. The presence of one Alco truck on the locomotive also potentially hints at its origin, perhaps maybe even what might be lurking under the hood. The notion that the model is "slightly cursed" might also lend itself to a "slightly cursed" in-universe locomotive. My entry into possible lore, therefore, is as follows (fair warning, this long comment is about to get even longer): It all starts in the late 1940s when AWVR takes delivery of its very first brand-new locomotives, a septuple of Alco RS-1 road switchers to compliment its fleet of older locomotives inherited from its seven predecessor roads (as we shall see, 7 ends up being a somewhat unlucky number for the AWVR). These locomotives, numbered 5501 thru 5507, start off well enough, but soon, the Alco 244 prime movers start to give the guys some major headaches. 5507, in particular, is especially hard-hit by the 244's numerous issues, at least at first. The issues come to a head, however, when the AWVR decides to purchase some shiny new F7 and GP7 locomotives from EMD, Alco's primary competitor - all of a sudden, the 244s on 5501 thru 5506 start throwing issues at the guys left, right, and center, and the shop crews can barely keep up. Eventually, 5501 thru 5506 are taken out of service entirely and sold to a scrapper, while 5507, which has not displayed quite as many issues as the other six RS-1s, is temporarily placed on the railway's "Mechanical Fault Reserve" list out of an abundance of caution. It ends up remaining there for a couple of years, when AWVR twists Alco's arm into letting them buy just a spare 251A engine - rated for 1,800 HP - as soon as it becomes available in 1953. The transplant is a success, and 5507 is immediately returned to active service. A couple of more years pass by, when the railway decides to rebuild their GP7 locomotives - one of which, ironically enough, is numbered 7777 - to GP10 standards, seeing them renumbered by simply changing the initial 7 to an 8 upon completion of the work. GP7 number 7777 is assigned to pull one final freight before entering the shops for its rebuild, trailing behind 5507 in a double-header. As the train goes over a grade crossing, a semi truck - whether intentionally or by accident isn't clear - fails to stop and slams directly into the midpoint between the two locomotives, which are yeeted off of the tracks in a Hollywood-worthy fashion (this is the film universe, after all). 5507 is damaged, mostly cosmetically, but its rear truck is non-repairable; the front end of 7777 is entirely smashed, and the fact that the crew survives (I imagine that this is before MU technology) is no small miracle. 5507 receives some much-needed care on its rear end, and it receives a replacement rear truck from the only place where the railway has one - the back end of 7777, now all-but otherwise reduced to scrappable steel. It seems, now, that 5507 has worked out its kinks, and continues to serve the AWVR well well into the next few decades. In the early 1980s, when the AWVR finally agrees to let its passenger operations go to Amtrak, it decides to sell off all but one of its F7s, the remaing one being renumbered to pull their executive train (if there's one thing that holds worse luck for the AWVR than 7, then it's renumbering locomotives). Around this time, 5507 has been paired with 8765, one of the railway's GP10s, on a routine manifest run between their central yard and and their easternmost connection with other Class 1 carriers. Do you see where this is going? The F7, pulling a hotshot freight with two newer road locomotives on its last day before being overhauled, repainted, and renumbered, gets plowed into by 5507 and 8765, the daily manifest's crew having missed a red signal, at such a combined velocity that the body shell is ripped off of 5507, the cab separates and goes flying into a ditch (saving the crew), while the cab of the F7 and everything aft of the cab of 8765 are utterly destroyed (the crew of the F7 see the approaching danger and jump clear before the wreck, saving their lives; again, this is Hollywoodland). The frame, trucks, and prime mover of 5507 naturally survive, and the railway decides to simply take what survives of the three locomotives - minus the F7's engine, the Alco 251A having been ordered from the factory rated for 300 more buff horses than the F7's - and assemble them into an entirely one-off monstrosity, numbering the thing 5580 (partly to avoid the number 7, of which the executives were starting to become suspicious), giving it an entirely new paint scheme, and putting it on the point of the AWVR's executive train, anyway, where it serves to this day, occasionally popping a gasket or blowing a cylinder or some such thing to remind the crews that its kinks haven't quite been worked out, yet! Sorry, Harrison, but if you choose my lore, then it seems that you'll have to custom paint a few passenger cars, next. Such is the life of a "pantser" - one who writes by the seat of one's pants :-)

[@SMTMainline]

Thanks for all the info!

[@aaronwright5870]

The funny thing is i seen this exact locomotive post on ebay i was gonna buy it and ship it out to you afterwards but it seems like you got it before me😂

[@SMTMainline]

Thanks for the thought but I'm glad it worked out this way, a fortune was saved on shipping 😂

[@Eliot935k3]

I love this thing i need to make one of these!! I have bad news though. My cat has died of cancer, at the age of 17 years and 2 months(17 2/12). She died last night at 7:07 P.M PDT I am still crying from it. I hope you SMT do not have this happen to Nerf cat in a long time, if ever. Can you give him a treat on my behalf in the next video, or short, or the next live stream? And keep the awsome videos coming! Thank you!!

[@SMTMainline]

I'm really sorry to hear that, I'll give nerf kitty a treat

[@Eliot935k3]

@@SMTMainline Thank you

[@PRROcto1361]

here is lore to this engine it started life as a f7 on the Florida east coast and the FEC decides to cell older units to other roads witch AWVR got 10 of these FEC f7 and repaint them in the AWVR H2 paint number them from 5580 to 5590 and 5580 got into a wreck in the yard and they rebuild it with a gp-9 low noes cab and the front truck can't not function after the wreck so they give it a alco truck from a retired unit and it continue its life on AWVR until it returned to the FEC for FEC special trains and tourist trains on USSC back to its original look and paint but the new cab they used from a GP-9 is know used as a training cab for new workers until AWVR was now part by CSX and the cab moved to gorgia then it was scrap