This may be one of the stupidest questions ever asked, but i cant find a definitive answer…did athearn (or someone?) release a high nose SD-40 here recently?
Thanks, Tim
Athearn and Broadway Limited…
http://www.broadway-limited.com/catalog/BLI_EMD_SD40_2_HH_HO-1807-1.html
Don Z.
Are you looking for a SD40-2? Or specifically a SD40?
SD40-2s have different trucks than SD40s. SD40s had Flex Coil Trucks, and different radiators than the later model SD40-2s.
If you are looking for a SD40-2, yes, Athearn makes one. If you are looking for a SD40, well I don’t know if any company makes a plain High Hood SD40.
You can always swap out the truck side frames too if you really want a SD40.
Oh, the shame of it. If you do that all you’ll have is a Conrail SD40-2, since they got all theirs with conventional Flexicoil trucks. What can be done is to put a Cannon high short hood kit on an Athearn RTR SD40.
Im afraid there is more to it than just swapping out truck side frames.
David B
David’s right. The SD40-2 frame is longer than the SD40 frame, which is what gives the SD40-2 its distinctive “porches.”
True very true. I seem to have looked over that. My mistake.
There is even more than that. -2s have: class light knockouts on the long hood end (and short high hoods if equipped), the cab has an overhang on the back (the sides are supposed to be different too), right behind the cab there is an angled seam delineating the electrical cabinet, an engine room vent on the roof in front of the radiator section (many non -2s got fitted with one when rebuilt or improved) and don’t forget the water level sight window on the engineer’s side below the radiator grills. Early SD40-2s also had the same kind of radiator grills as SD40s. And I’m not mentioning all the additions because I better not take that job away from the nitpickers and rivet counters.
I had a feeling it was more than just the frame that was different (Every Model Different, of course). The frame was the only part I was 100% certain about in terms of external differences.
EMD were standard compared to Baldwin Diesels. If a railroad ordered two of the same model, the two units could be different from each other. Baldwin built their diesels just like they built steam locomotives and their would be changes made to the same model on the erecting floor, which is why it is so hard to produce a Baldwin model diesel, no two were alike.
Rick