Yes Lon, I too have (emphasis on past tense) enjoyed running it. When I qualified as a brakeman in '99 it was a bit of a head trip to actually be at the controls of something that could move a rr car. We had the 118 operational at that time as well and brakeman were taught to run it as well mostly under supervision, but conductors had to know how to operate it to put their train together. It was more fun, because it was a bit more like a "real" engine. The 110 does usually start easy even in cold weather even though it is not equipped with glow plugs. The 118's Cat motor was very cold blooded and took a lot of time preheating even in warm weather. When the engine is overhauled hopefully the compression will be up to snuff and easier to start. One of the drawbacks of a small critter like the 110 is that in switching cars, it is narrower than the cars so it is hard to see around say a box car you are shoving. It is also a bit light for pulling 19 out of the shed. I remember once when John Britschgi and I hostled around 2:00AM and we had to hand sand the rails to get the 19 pulled out of the shed, due to the dew on the rails and even then one has to bunch the slack in the draw bar pins shoving the coupler sideways on the 19, rev up the engine and release the brake giving an unholy jerk to get moving. I have also ran out of traction trying to put the usual 5 car consist away doing the shove to the car shop from the main. We probably spent a full hour working the consist back and forth stretching the slack and then giving a shove due to wet rail. It has been a very useful piece of machinery, but is a little too small for what we do to be efficient. For moving one car in and out of the car shop, no problem, but for general switching around the yard, the 118 will be great to have in operation again. It has automatic couplers and will be equiped with air not just on the engine as in the past, but will be able to charge a train line (14EL). It also has good visibilty from the engineers seat. 118's cab is also equipped with windows. I remember at least 2 times when I have, and I bet many other crewman have ran the 110 on fire patrol when a thunder storm came up and
it rained. Running backwards the open back of the cab is like a water scoop. This of course begs the question as to why we were patroling for fires in the rain.....