you cant call those SD45s. just like i dont consider SD60Fs to be SD60s. the SD60 was a cool-looking machine and the SD60F is some fat, 4-eyed, nose-lit, hideous abomination. you cant just call it an SD60. there is no abbreviating these names.
But it is an SD60. It holds all the mechanical and electrical of an SD60, just a different car body design. Take the Car body off and you could place a regular SD60 body on that loco. There the same length.
As I stated before, you look at the locomotive and decide that it’s not something when it is. Max is correct and I know you don’t want him to be correct, but he is.
The locomotives he named off are all SD45s or the updated version of an SD45. But I state it again, They are still SD45’s. As I have said before, If the SD45T-2 came before the original SD45 you would all consider it to be the SD45 and not that flared SD45.
You need to look at in different ways. Over the next 10 to 20 years or so, probably all of the SD45s will be history, and I’m talking all. SD45T-2s, and SD45-2’s too.
Happy railroading[(-D]
James
SD60s look neat and those horrid things dont. and they have desktops. they cant be grouped. no matter HOW similar they are
I know what you mean. I agree with you, they look absolutely horrible and with the desktop, who would want to buy them? My dad calls them 4WBs ( 4 windowed Bit##) They are awful but it doesn’t change what it is. Doesn’t matter how ugly the car body is, it’s still an SD60. I know what your thinking, but it won’t change. They are under the classification of the SD60 and they are cousins to the original design.
Happy railroading[(-D]
James
LOOKS DONT MATTER ITS WHATS ON THE INSIDE THAT COUNTS!!!
Max- I’ve been trying to PM or E-mail you some info, but can’t seem to make it work right. Can you send me an e-mail, or PM, and I’ll see if I can reply to it? Thanks
Myself or Atmo?
allan? is that you? 
the insides matter only if you’re intending to use the locomotive on a railroad. but for displays, looks mean everything. and i dont want to see a 4WB in a museum or an SD45T-2 really as much. the thing wasnt that unique.
Im almost sure more SD45’s were made then SD45T-2s. Making them more unique.
uh… quantity doesnt even determine uniqueness. THAT’S where looks come into play
I’ve ran some SD-45’s before and I must say for the old technology in them they pull like crazy !
The 45’s big draw back was the fuel consumption.My Dad said the C&O got rid of theirs because of this fact.
I know when I hired in on the NS in 1991 the NS no longer had the 45’s.But the memories and stories about them still generate smiles on the old heads faces.Seems they all mention having a large grain train (120-150 loads) and three N&W 1700’s and running the guts out of them.All of the people also mentioned they could run track speed,which was faster than todays posted speeds.
The 45’s when powered by the 20 cylinder are very loud inside the cab.And I’ve had some that were fitted with a 16 cyl.engine and they was much more quiet to ride in.
The 20 cylinder defintely had a unique sound.
Well how many locomotives do you see with big grills by the walkway?
Ya, that 645 diesel engine puts out a sound like no other. I am glad I have movies of the locomotives. I have a couple WC movies by Pentrex, and I still enjoy watching them. One from 1988. Watching the SDL39s and SD45s working is still a treat to watch. Unfortunatly probably won’t beable to see them anymore, but I have movies, and that works for me.[tup]
Happy railroading[(-D]
James
I have that same video, I love it, I watch it regularely, but…it just doesn’t do the same as watching one of those beasts roar by in notch 8 going 8MPH up Byron hill, shaking the earth for miles around…
…Which I’m never going to see. [:(]
GP15-1s and SD40T-2s, including the ones with SD45T-2 bodies
how many mass produced diesels have the same flared radiators as the SD45? (mass produced meaning those GP40Xs etc dont count, as the SD45 WAS mass produced. as were all 3 tunnel motor units)
I have seen SD40-3s climb Byron hill, and quite amazing. Those locomotives are giving it all there worth and there still only going 10 or so mph. I also saw some SD70s climb the hill back in November and that’s still pretty cool. Sorry you never got to see it, so you’ll just have to go off the movie.[sigh]
Happy railroading[(-D]
James
Tunnel motors werent mass produced…are you crazy? They were made for SP and DRGW. As far as the flared radiator, well hate to ruin the parade, but SD70M’s, SD70M-2, GP40X, SD80MAC, SD90MAC SD70ACe etc.
i said ones with the EXACT SAME FLARE as the SD45. none of the ones you mentioned had both flared radiators and dynamic brake housing. the radiators were also completely different as far as appearance. not to mention the SD90 series and tier 3 SD70s had more of big blocky oversized radiators than flared ones
and tunnel motors WERE mass produced for SP, DRGW, and SSW. if they were custom made, those 3 roads wouldnt have owned so many
Some numbers to look at about the contention that the two models (not 3) of tunnel motors were “mass produced”- SP/SSW owned 239 SD40T-2s, DRGW owned 73 for a total of 312. SP/SSW owned 248 SD45T-2s- this puts the grand total for SD40T/SD45T-2s at 560 total units built with the tunnel motor customization- 560 engines is not anywhere near what I would call “mass production”.
SD45s on the other hand were what I would call a “mass production” locomotive- with 1,260 total engines built- not including SD45T-2s and SD45-2s. But what about other engines with the “tunnel motor” type grilles you ask? (MP15AC, GP15T, GP15-1)- even when you add the total production numbers of those 3 engines to the list of the grilled units the total still comes up short of the total number of SD45s (1260-1153). Then if you add the total number of SD45 type units built (SD45T-2, SD45-2) to that number the gap increases even more.
I think the main issue here is just a matter of semantics- one person’s opinion of what constitues “mass production” and what a “flare” is and so forth. In plain terms- the tunnel motors were common on SP/SSW and DRGW and were a unique customization of the SD40/45 line for those roads- but looking at the numbers I would not consider them to be mass produced.
Also, if you want to get technical (note, now im just arguing for the sake of it) the GP15-1’s DID NOT have the same length grills as tunnel motors.