Description
The Rivet Counter series SD40-2 is the definitive N 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 nearly half a century ago, many continue to operate in revenue service today.
Road Number Specific ScaleTrains
- All-new model
- Era: As delivered, series 8077-8099, built 1979 Phase IId2
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Road numbers 8077, 8080, 8094 and 8099
- UP “Fast Forties” Geared to run with DDA40Xs
- Fully-assembled
- Multiple road numbers
- Class lights (non operating)
- Saturn 6552 Strobe Light (non operating)
- Printed and LED-illumintaed number boards*
- Front tall pilot plow with high trainline hose cut out, multiple unit (MU) hose doors and grab irons
- 3-hose multiple unit (MU) hose clusters with silver gladhands
- Body mounted knuckle couplers; Micro-Trains® compatible
- Coupler box accepts Micro-Trains 1015/1016 couplers without modification
- Straight uncoupling levers with loop handles front and rear and two inner and two outer mounting brackets
- Notched pilot faces without lifting holes or slots
- Deck mounted multiple unit (MU) receptacle
- "Tall" stepwells
- Front and rear late small deck extension
- Handrail set with inward facing end rail mounting brackets and chain; break-away stanchions on both ends
- Late “fixed” drop steps
- Scale sectioned treadplate detail on walkways
- Rectangle walkway lights mounted between sandbox clean out doors (non-operating)
- 88" low short hood with wheel handbrake
- Bolted battery box doors with wide louvers
- Late cab sub-base doors with lift-off hinges
- Front standard EMD LED-illuminated headlight in number board housing
- Dash two cab with welded side window panels
- Detailed cab interior with floor, rear wall, seats, and standard AAR control stand
- Rear cab side vent on left side
- Tall clear wind wings mounted fore and aft of cab side window on right and left side of cab
- Standard EMD sunshades and short sunshade tracks
- Lost wax brass cast Leslie RS-3-LR horn mounted on number board housing
- Motorola ASP-16 “Firecracker” antenna mounted on number board housing
- Early electrical cabinet "zig-zag" seam, further from rear of cab
- Late welded ECAFB
- Intermediate inertial air intake grills with top drip rail
- Standard turbo exhaust stack
- Accurately profiled Extended-range dynamic brakes without batten strip
- Corrugated 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, late center axle snubbers, sanding lines and brackets
- Speed recorder mounted to first axle left front
- Rearward facing handbrake chain mount for HTC trucks
- Short jacking pads (late)
- Spare knuckle holders on fuel tank near fuel filler
- Forward engineer’s side sidesill notch
- Sill-mount EFCO
- Frame-mounted steel bell
- Salem air filter (accordion style)
- 4,000-gallon fuel tank with fuel fillers, vertical gauge and round gauge on stand
- Factory-applied wire grab irons, windshield wipers, trainline hoses with silver gladhands, 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 55 and 80 rail
- Packaging safely stores model
- Minimum radius: 9 3/4”
- Recommended radius: 11”
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DCC & sound equipped locomotives also feature
- ESU LokSound 5 DCC & Sound decoder with “Full Throttle”
- One (1) cube-type speaker
- EMD 16 Cylinder 645E3 prime mover
- Operates on both DC and DCC layouts
- DC/DCC & sound ready locomotives also feature
- Operates on DC layouts
- DCC ready with E24 connector
* Lighting features operate when using an ESU decoder with appropriate programming while operating using DCC
In January 1972, 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. The flagship of the “Dash-2” series of 1972, 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, greatly simplifying electrical troubleshooting and 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 EMD’s most popular locomotives of all time. Many remain in service today, both with original owners as well as secondhand operators. Within the last five years, Norfolk Southern and CSX have rebuilt hundreds of SD40-2s to extend their operating life. This will ensure this venerable locomotive’s presence on U.S. rails for decades to come.