A lot of these very common older engines are being retired according to another site.I noticed they are even more common than SD50s.Has anyone heard they are retiring a lot of SD40-2s?
I know that on a number of the Class one railroads the SD40-2 fleets are having a longer life than any of the 50 series engines. This is due to the “Forty Dash Twos” being more reliable and having lower maintenance costs than the 645 F powered locos.
It is true that the big carriers have been steadily trading them in on new power, though…
UP just retired a bunch of SD40-2s in the last month or so. Maybe a few willl make it over to the WSOR, and other smaller roads… I read BNSF has also retired a slug of them.
CSX seems to be holding on to theirs, and maintaining them with the goal of zero failures. The shops are filled with blowed GEs. CSX is also working on the SD50s, derating to 3000 hp, basically a SD40-2 with better wheelslip control. They are classed as SD50-2s.
Today I was surprised to see a pair of UNION PACIFIC SD40-2s pulling a train west on the CN.
Are they among the last operating on a Class 1?
Andrew
CN has a ton of SD40-2s and SD40Rs. I see atleast one every day on the Valley Sub.
CN has retired a couple of SD40 types, mainly the DM&IR SD40-3s and the ex-GCFX Gray Ghosts, as well as a couple of the wide nose versions they have and two of the WC SD40-2s. They still have a lot left from the IC, GTW and WC as well as their own versions such as the wide cab SD40-2Ws. UP and BNSF have been slowly retiring their SD40-2 fleets but no massive retirements have occured yet. Both of them have quite large fleets of SD40-2s, and UP also has the SD40T-2s. All of the class ones still have sizable rosters of SD40-2s and a lot of the ones that have been retired have found new homes such as the IC&E/DM&E and WSOR, other smaller lines and leasing companies. In general, some have been traded in for new engines, but not a really large amount of them.
My guess is that SD40’s, SD40-2’s, etc. will be retired in small blocks over the next several years, not unlike GP9’s in the past. No massive retirements in one fell swoop but they will gradually disappear from the Class 1 roads and find their way to leasing companies, regionals, shortlines and a few terminal roads (see BRC and TRRA).
BNSF runs a ton of SD40-2s,some still in Santa Fe or BN paint.Occasionally,SD40-2s can be seen on doublestack trains.[8D]
UP still runs them on all trains except coal, and when I’m at school, I will usually see 1-8 of them per day.
I see them daily in Austin, too. Most are UP (it’s their track) but UP leases a few of them too. The SD40-2s have no problem pulling auto racks up from Mexico and two of them can pull long trains.
Of course one can see almost any type of locomotive here in any one day.
Interestingly, I see a genset almost every day too, going North from San Antonio. I kinda thought they were switchers.
BN doesnt really retire them. We sell them to Furbie (FURX) and then lease them back.You notice we hold onto power here at the BNSF. We have an SD-9-3 for crying out loud!!!We even had to renumber them to make room for new locomotives,and we have a few GP-9’s with the angular cab raoming about.However all the B23-7’s are being sent to the lease fleet post haste.
Don’t forget CP, they still have aprox 200 SD40-2s in service. Still repainting them too.
if i recall corectly i belive that either cn or cp are retiering the sd40-2’s i belive they are bieng donated or at one or two to museums.actually i love the sd40-2 it is one of my favorite diesel engines.
Our yard power consists of an SD-40-2 and a gp 38. The other night that set was taken already and the other gp junkers were lost somewhere. So what do I get to switch with? You got it a one year old SD-70 ACe. Not fun in the least.Granted I could have puled the yard around but pinning the cars ws a pain in the rear.
NS still uses high hood units in Toledo as switch units. I think they are numbered 3100 or so and up. Some are former Southern units i think.
theres so many SD-40’s out there i doubt my children (who range from 20 to 3) will be missing them…heres a unit in Owosso MI around 1993…the TSBY was contracted to rebuild this one and others…the day i took this shot there was 3 more under load tests parked outside behind 4 TSBY units either to dampen the sound or keep prying eyes away…point is they’re still being rebuilt and will be around long after im gone
If it’s true, it will take serveral years for the Class 1s to trade them all in because there are still a lot left.
they will slowly faid them off the rosters as the EPA clean air restrictions get tighter and tighter as time rolls on…
the major railroads getting tax breaks to buy new engins that are lower emistions engins and ones that get better fuel milage becouse of the “green” movement they will either be rebuilt with emistions equipment to meet the newer emistions standerds (which could cost more in the long run then to just buy new “clean” power from EMD GE and the new comers to the market that make gensets and other low emistions power)… its all about the bottom line when it comes to anything with the carriers…and when the expeces of upgradeing…fuel costs… and they have made purches of what they think is a is the magic number of new units on the proporty to fill the power needs…you will see more and more of them being retired…
csx engineer
Today’s SD40-2’s are yesterday’s F-units. Someday, we’ll all be chasing around the last of 'em.
Someday for me is everyday. Today I caught a good amount of them that I didn’t have on my roster yet. Im not going to wait till’ the last minute to really appreciate them.
Alec