Hello all, today I’ve a question dealing with the awesome DVD box “The Ultimate Tehachapi” from Pentrex, including 2 DVDs that display 8 hours (yes, eight!) of railfanning action in the Tehachapi Mountains.
At the beginning of the first DVD, maybe 3 minutes from the start, one can see a strange lashup at Kern Junction (and one can see this lashup again further in the DVD, somewhere between Bealville and the Loop if I remember).
This lashup is strange because of one of the units: basically a SD45 (chassis length, truck and fuel tank shape, flared radiators on the end of the long hood - but this loco is not a flared radiator SD70 because of what I wrote just before), but with a safety cab which is not exactly the same as the sample on a SD70/SD80/SD90: the nose’s roof seems to be more sloped than what is provided on that types of locos, more looking like what is found on a DDA40X for example.
Furthermore, as far as I remember there’s no input on this loco in the DVD, and I didn’t see any marking on her, even not a leasing company logo (and the picture is too blurred to allow to read the road number). But this loco is unpossible to miss as she wears a deep blue paintscheme…
So today, my question, especially for those who watched this DVD, is: what are this loco history and features?
Thanks for all input!
Dominique, stinkin’ cheese eater from France, modelling the Tehachapi Pass in Z scale (and wondering if I have to do some kitbashing on one of my SD45s [8D])
Hmmm, it could be MPEX 5000. Its an SD50M-3, and its a one-of-a-kind locomotive. It was built of an old Santa Fe SD45, possibly a B unit, by Morrison-Knudson. The cab comes from M-K’s MK5000 locomotives.
Thank you Grabble Siding! Indeed that’s exactly the locomotive I saw on the DVD (I just have to look again at the video as I’m not sure she wears the same paintscheme in the DVD - I don’t remember of any yellow stripe), but that’s her.
And it’s funny, I had a thought for MK5000 when I saw her cab…
So, basically, is it still the same mechanical than a cabless SD45 , with the adding of the cab?
dde, I suspect if it has a 20cylinder prime mover like the SD45-series had, that its been de-rated from 3600 to 3500 hence the 50 series designation. That is pure speculation on my part.
Everything, excluding the cab on that particular unit is EMD.
It started life as an EMD SD45. It was wrecked, and made into an SD45B. It was later sold off, I believe to NREX, who inturn sold it to M-K where it was rebuilt, and the cab was added. It was then sold off to DME, and then sold again to MPEX. It has the same prime mover as the SD50-series.
As I said in my previous post, everything, and I mean everything, on this unit is EMD, except for the cab. M-K added other things to make MK5000s, but this unit is not one of them. It does not have the MK5000 traction program or traction. It is simply an SD45, with a MK safety cab, and an SD50 PM.
