This weekend I did something I've thought about doing for a long time. I broke down and decided to turn my Athearn BB GP35 into a dummy. I've had the loco for over 20 years, and I consider it to be the real piece of model railroading equipment that I received (once I had demonstrated to my parents an affliction for the hobby by thoroughly enjoying my starter train set). It ran noisy as hell, but was also the fasted and most powerful loco I've owned, as well as the least sensitive to any track power issues. It was bar far the loco that has put the most miles in, including the inaugural runs around the bench layout my dad build for me in the garage when I was a kid, the Christmas tree, and whatever space I've had for an oval of track since.
A few years back I bought a BB GP-40 that I hoped would run similarly enough to the GP35 for the two of them to be run together. But they are different enough (and my EZ track oval is spotty enough) such that that didn't work very well. Between the three GPs I had, the GP35 was the noisiest and worst at achieving scale-ish speeds, so bit the bullet and pulled the motor and gears out, rendering it to a life of being pulled around by other locos "just for looks".
The good news is that it wears it well. "Helping" my GP9 pull a crane around in circles:
Tagging along with the GP40, where it will spend most of its time (the GP40 looks nicer leading a consist, doesn't it?):
And here is a little shot of the RR Empire we set up in the garage yesterday while waiting for the weather to clear up: