Can someone please tell me what loco this is and the length of it? Sorry for the small picture.
I’m not 100% sure but from that angle…it looks like an SD40T-2…if it is, the Kalmbach Contemporary Diesel Spotter’s Guide says the length is 68’ 10"
Looks to be a SD-40T-2 or otherwise known as a tunnel motor. Used in the western US ,for mountain service. The locomotives I think are still running the rails. As for the length…dunno.
Patrick
The tunnel motors are definitely still running. I see them now and again on trains running through Tucson on the UP (formerly SP) line. The other day I saw two on the same consist. The ones I’ve seen could really use a cleanup and some paint, though!
Thanks guys, awesome as always 
I’d just like to add that this particular one is painted for Southern Pacific’s “Bloody Nose” paint scheme, so if this photo was taken on the Rio Grande’s Royal Gorge line it was probably after Rio Grande Industries purchased the SP.
Even though Union Pacific now owns both the SP and D&RG I still see SP and D&RG locomotives on the UP Sunset Route through Arizona. They’ll run these engines until they won’t run any longer and then scrap them.
The diesel spotters guide is incorrect. It is 70’ 8" long. hehehe … that is how I was measuring things in the Royal Gorge also. I’ve got a friend that took a series of shots for you. I’m working on getting them into a format that won’t take 32 hours to transmit them to you.
One of the messages is in error. They are no different from ordinary SD-40s internally and are not used for mountain sertvice per se. The are called tunnel motors because SP was having problems with units in tunnels taking in air at the top of the engine to cool the radiators. It was getting so hot it was causing engines to shut down. EMD redesigned them to inlet the air to the radiator cooling fans right above the walkway on the side of the carbody. That solved the problem and is why they are tunnel motors. To the best of my knowledge only D&RGW and SP owned them originally.
We’ve been over this before. Actually the SD 40 series had a cooling problem, period. The tunnel versions attempted to correct the lack of cooling capacity. This was corrected for the SD 50 series and later models ( larger radiators). The tunnel concept was actually most effective between tunnels, helping to cool the engine more quickly by increasing the thermal drop over the radiator coils.
These engines were/are used throughout the West which includes trips over the Cajon and Tehachpi passes, so saying they were used for mountain service isn’t exactly wrong. And believe me, on a hot summer day in the San Joaquin Valley, the tunnel motors needed all the cooling they could get.
It is definately a Southern Pacific unit. Could it possibly be a SD-45T-2.
Great! I have a 500 MB ftp where you can upload everything in original size. Contact me offline and I will give you the login/pass. Thanks.
I don’t know what it is, but whatever it is, it’s standing on it’s head.