Any insight as to why many Class 1s still roster rebuilt SD40s and SD35s, but flared 45s are pretty much extinct? For that matter, why are there lots of rebuilt GP38s and even GP9us but hardly any GP30s? Were these models less reliable or are there other decisions in play?
All Class I railroads roster some SD40-2 locomotives, but earlier SD40 locomotives are rare. The only SD35s that I am aware of are a quartet on Montana Rail Link who also operate some surviving true SD45s. There are other surviving SD45s that have been modified to be SD40-2s or -3s internally, but look like SD45s externally.
The only Class I railroad still operating GP9 rebuilds is Canadian National, Canadian Pacific was another late user of GP9s but recently replaced theirs with brand-new GP20C-ECO locomotives. All GP38 locomotives are newer than the GP30 locomotives or GP35 locomotives. Since most of these locomotives are used as switchers the turbocharger was an expensive maintenance item. Recently the tougher emission requirements for locomotives have caused railroads to favor turbocharged locomotives for switching services and so you will see a reversion to turbocharged lower horsepower locomotives over time.
SD45’s were sold off or rebuilt because their original V-20 engines were fuel hogs. Many railroads apparently felt that the extra 600 HP wasn’t worth the additional fuel cost and some extra parts expense.
I only count two unrebuilt SD40’s on Class 1 rosters today (Hopefully soon to be 3 if NS follows through with their earlier plans to resurrect the first N&W SD40). But much like the SD40, many rebuilt SD45’s remain active that have been converted to SD40-2 or -3 specifications.
Straight SD45’s are rare for several reasons.
While more fuel efficient on a horsepower basis, many railroads decided that the extra 600 HP wasn’t worth the expense once their mainline days started to fade and they became more of a switcher than a road locomotive. Likewise, that added complexity made them more expensive to maintain than a straight SD40.
Secondly was timing. Most were retired in the early 1980’s when there just wasn’t a market. There was stored power and lots of 2nd generation units coming off lease during a weak economy after the 1980 recession. And rebuilding programs to convert them to Dash 2 specifications or convert them to 16 cylinders weren’t present and were considered cost prohibitive at the time. And many went to scrap just before the spin-off era began.
Plenty survived into the 1990’s though. Many of Southern Pacific’s SD45R’s lasted until the UP acquisition when they were well worn and again in need of a heavy rebuilding. And Rio Grande’s fleet was reactivated after the merger with Southern Pacific and stayed busy until the same time period. And pioneer spinoffs Wisconsin Central and Montana Rail Link utilized SD45’s as cornerstones of their fleets into the 2000’s before merger and SD70ACe’s decimated them. And Santa Fe rebuilt many of their SD45’s in the 1980’s and ran them well into the 1990’s.
Easy to think that, but BNSF still
Didn’t those 20 cylinder engines on the SD-45’s have a bad habit of breaking their crankshafts?
That was true early on, but EMD fixed the cranshaft problem and they no longer had that problem.
Thanks for the insight everyone. It does make sense that the big 6-axle road units get replaced sooner because that’s where the innovation and, from the RR’s perspective, ROI is. I guess we’re seeing that now with the dash-8’s going for a pittance at auction.
It still seems weird that there aren’t more rebuilt units on short lines. Heck, it seems like there are more Alcos out there. But the fuel consumption is probably the issue. (Interestingly, I read somewhere that the alco engine is actually quite efficient.)
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The larger SD45 radiators also had a tendency to leak, particularly when faced with cold temperatures.
I’m also not convinced that there are all that many SD40 rebuilds out there on class ones, especially with SD40-2s having left the fleet and being scrapped on occasion.
BNSF has several “SD38P’s” from SD35 cores. Not aware of any particulars on them though, such as if they retain their 567’s with 645 power assemblies substituted like their GP39’s and GP28’s (Which I’m sure they do).
Class 1 rosters of non-original SD40-2’s from a variety of sources are indeed depleted these days compared to back in 2000 or so, thanks to retirements and standardization of their retained fleets. Besides the less than five original SD40’s still out there in Class 1 fleets, I see the following…
There are at least 12 on Norfolk Southern from Conrail’s fleet. And like the rest of their large SD40-2 fleet, every last one of them is out running with not a single stored example. One of these is mixed in with their Conrail factory built SD40-2’s just as it was when Conrail did it as a replacement for a wrecked SD40-2.
CSX is still running all of them that they inherited from Conrail along with a dozen additions from NS that they received in trade for their SD80MAC’s (Although a handful of the former have been turned into SD38-2’s). And there are dozens more of their own rebuilds. They’ve been cycling all these through for their 2nd rebuilding to SD40-3 specifications and will be around for a while yet.
On Canadian National, I still count 18 of their 1990’s rebuilds from their once large SD40 fleet. And I count 17 rebuilds from the Grand Trunk Western rebuilding program from 15-20 years ago or so. And there are still 4 original SD38’s, a normally aspirated version of the SD40, in the Canadian National family.
KCS seems to have several SD40-2 and SD40-3 rebuilds from SD40 cores, although I’m uncertain on the accuracy of the data that I’m looking
Not quite. The 30 SD80MAC’s delivered new to Conrail were all equipped with V-20 engines. With its V-20 engine and flared radiators, the SD80MAC could almost be considered “son of SD45”.
Look at how many SD40-3 CSX has, which are SD40-2.
BNSF has many GP39-3 which are GP30 or GP35 rebuilds. BNSF also has #1352 which is an SD32ECO built from an SD45-2.
Keep in mind we’re talking about locomotives of 50 years old, most have needed to be rewired by now and recieved new rebuild designations.
There are also various foreign installations of the 20-645 like the fleet of DDM45’s for Brazil and the later examples of the Danish Class MZ line (Any others?).
The DDM’s were even built right there in La Grange and are EMD products through and through.
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While not the main topic of discussion, your hunch about its uses outside of railroading is indeed accurate.
For a notable example, the 20-645E was the standard power plant for the 1970’s modernization program for GATX’s American Steamship Company that saw it add 10 new freighters to its Great Lakes fleet powered with this model engine.
Was a popular choice outside of railroading.
Interesting, did they get the engines direct from EMD or from scrapped locos?
I know of a cutter head dredge that had 4 20 cylinder engines, one of which was traced to a Conrail locomotive that was wrecked. Back in the 70’s EMD’s biggest competitor in the marine field was refurbished locomotive take outs.
EMD.s marine units have a deeper oil pan, different accessory drive cover, different piping on the front and so forth. Then there are the right hand rotating units with the flywheel marked the other way and water pump scrolls wind the other way. An ABS inspected vessel has to have all the certification such as the ABS stamp on the crankshaft. That was about $200 extra for the correct part.
The 25 EMD 20-645’s that went into ASC’s new ships came direct from La Grange from 1972-1981 (Paired engines for the 7 smaller ships that were 730’ or less, a single triple engined installation in a 770’ freighter, and 4 engine installations in their pair of thousand footers).
This shipbuilding program occurred largely during a time when SD45’s were still mainline power, although at the tail end of it you’d of seen many stored on lines like the Union Pacific. So there weren’t second hand options available for marine users to go with during the 1970’s and early 1980’s.
Like the example above though, I bet a fair number of former SD45 engines have since found their way into tugs, river towboats, etc.
It wouldn’t surprise me too much. I remember hearing the distinct EMD sound from the M/V Incan Superior in 1976 as it passed under the Duluth Aerial Bridge and have heard a few towboats with the same sound. OP and 251 engines also seem to be fairly common in marine service.
That’s because Dash-8’s were a rolling junkpile the day they were made.