Description
The Rivet Counter™ series SD40-2 is the definitive HO Scale model of EMD’s best-selling diesel locomotive. Our model combines smooth operating performance with unparalleled railroad, road number, and era specific details™. Even though the first SD40-2s were first built 50 years ago, many continue in revenue freight service today.
Road Number Specific ScaleTrains
- All-new model
- Era: Early 1980s to Late 1980s, built 11/84
- BN Series 7500-7502; ex 6340-6363 (1st); ex-BN 6812, ex-BN 6352(1st), built 3/1973
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- Burlington Northern wreck-rebuild
- “B-Unit” high short hood with relocated dynamic brake housing
- Fully-assembled
- No truck ground lights (prototype not equipped)
- LED-Illuminated rectangular walkway lights mounted between front and rear sanding valve doors and round walkway light, aft of raised walkway duct*
- LED-illuminated front tricolor stand-off class lights; flush-mounted rear class lights with raised gaskets***
- 3-hose multiple unit (MU) hose clusters with silver gladhands
- Semi-scale coupler buffer equipped with durable metal semi-scale Type E knuckle couplers
- Front and rear straight uncoupling levers with loop handles; four inner and two outer mounting brackets
- Notched pilot faces with high angled lifting slots
- Deck-mounted multiple unit (MU) receptacles
- "Tall" stepwells with see-through steps
- Front and rear early small deck extension
- End handrails with inward-facing stanchion mounting brackets, and gangway chain
- Front and rear standard drop steps
- Scale sectioned treadplate detail on walkways
- High front headlight
- Accurate hood door and long hood detail
- Early electrical cabinet "zig-zag" seam, further from rear of cab
- Early “stand-off” ECAFB
- Intermediate inertial air intake grills with top drip rail
- Standard turbo exhaust stack
- Accurately-profiled standard-range dynamic brakes without batten strip, relocated to front
- See-through dynamic brake intakes with resistor grid detail
- “Chicken-wire” radiator intake grilles
- See-through standard 48” radiator fan housings with fan blades visible inside
- Curved radiator fan grab iron
- Underbody frame rail with separate plumbing and traction motor cables
- Detailed HT-C trucks with Hyatt bearing caps, early center axle snubbers, sanding lines and brackets, and D-77 traction motor and air duct details
- Dimensionally accurate truck centers
- Rearward facing handbrake chain mount for HT-C trucks
- Tall jacking pads with holes (early)
- Spare knuckle holders on rear pilot face
- Forward engineer’s side sidesill notch
- Graham-White (Salem) brand 824-170 and 818-170 primary and secondary centrifugal air filters (“accordion” style)
- 4,000-gallon fuel tank with dual fuel fillers, vertical gauge, round gauge in tank (right side only), and vertical breather pipe
- Factory-applied wire grab irons, wire lift rings, windshield wipers, trainline hoses with silver gladhands, sand hatch covers, and more
- Motor with 5-pole skew wound armature
- Dual flywheels
- All-wheel drive
- All-wheel electrical pick-up
- Directional LED headlights
- Printing and lettering legible even under magnification
- Operates on Code 70, 83 and 100 rail
- Packaging safely stores model
- Minimum radius: 18”
- Recommended radius: 22”
- DCC & sound equipped locomotives also feature:
- ESU LokSound 5 DCC & Sound decoder with “Full Throttle” functions
- Two (2) cube-type speakers
- Turbocharged EMD 16 Cylinder 645E3 prime mover
- ESU designed “PowerPack” with two super capacitors***
- Operates on both DC and DCC layouts
- DC/DCC & sound ready locomotives also feature:
- Operates on DC layouts
- DCC ready with 21-pin connector
* Lighting features operate when using an ESU decoder with appropriate programming while operating using DCC
** In DC operation, both front ditch lights illuminate; rear ditch lights (if equipped) do not illuminate
*** Class lights illuminate in white color only in DC operation. Access and changing colors an ESU decoder with appropriate programming while operating using DCC
**** “PowerPack” feature only compatible with appropriately programmed ESU decoders operating on a DCC layout
In January 1972, the Electro-Motive Division (EMD) of General Motors would build the first production models of a locomotive design that would prove to be legendary: the SD40-2. As the flagship of the “Dash-2” series, the SD40-2 would build upon the lessons learned from its predecessor, the SD40. While the sixteen-cylinder 645E3 turbocharged prime mover remained the same from its SD40 cousin, the SD40-2 boasted a modular, solid-state electrical system, which featured removable “cards” in place of troublesome relays in its high-voltage cabinet. These cards greatly simplified troubleshooting electrical problems and streamlined repairs.
Externally, the biggest change was the use of the new HT-C three-axle truck in place of the Flexi-coil C of the SD40. The new truck promised greater adhesion, and was longer than the Flexi-coil C, necessitating an increase of the length of the SD40-2s frame to an overall length of 68’, 10” over the couplers. This also had the effect of giving the SD40-2 its characteristic long walkway “porches” at each end. Other small external improvements, such as longer battery box compartments, rear overhang on the cab roof, and drip rail over the front cab door, added to the list of external differences between it and the SD40.
Domestic production of the SD40-2 continued until July 1984, making it one of EMDs most-popular locomotives of all time. Many remain in service today, both with original owners, as well as secondhand operators like regional railroads and shortlines. Within the past decade, CSX, Norfolk Southern, and Union Pacific have rebuilt hundreds of SD40-2s to extend their operating lives. This will ensure this venerable locomotive’s presence on U.S. rails for decades to come.
Rebuilt during Burlington Northern’s “B Unit” craze of the 1980s, the railroad rostered only three SD40-2Bs: road numbers 7500, 7501, and 7502. The three units started out as nos. 7221, 6337, and 6352, respectively. During this timeframe, Burlington Northern (BN) rebuilt a number of wrecked units as a cost-saving measure. Overall, these SD40-2s suffered from moderate damage including mangled cabs. The first SD40-2 to receive the B Unit treatment, no. 7221, was wrecked in Pasco, Washington in early 1981 (built in June 1980, and not even a year old when wrecked), and rebuilt by BN’s West Burlington Shops in July 1981 as BN 900B, a number it wore very briefly before being renumbered again to 7500.
Another wreck victim, no. 6914 (formerly no. 6337), a 1972-built SD40-2, was the next to be rebuilt minus its cab, becoming no. 7501 in October of 1983. BN 7502 was to be the last of the SD40-2Bs, starting out life as no. 6352 in March 1973, before being renumbered to 6812, and becoming SD40-2B 7502 in October 1984 following a wreck. While all have subtle detail differences, on account of their different build dates, and level of work needed from wreck damage, no. 7502 is the most distinctive SD40-2B, having its dynamic brake housing relocated to the front of the unit and away from the hot engine compartment, giving the unit a distinctive look, and “hammerhead” nickname by some railfans.
The SD40-2Bs would soldier on the BN roster, freely mixed in amongst their huge fleet of SD40-2s in a variety of assignments, lasting through the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Merger of 1995. In more recent years, with many newer, higher-horsepower units in the fleet taking on mainline duties, the BN, now BNSF SD40-2Bs would be consolidated to Galesburg, IL, where they currently work as RCL-equipped hump units.