My grandson Nathaniel Petty, then age 13, poses on the pilot of Boone & Scenic Valley's General Electric 80-ton center-cab unit 2254 in September 1998. Built for the U.S. Air Force in 1942 with number 7858, it was declared surplus in 1983 and acquired by the B&SV which numbered it 2254 after the number of people who purchased charter memberships in the B&SV at that time. Since repainted to the livery of interurban Fort Dodge, Des Moines & Southern (which operated similar units and owned the trackage over which the B&SV operates), the 500-horsepower locomotive remains active, being used principally in work train duty.