Dr Gerbil-Fritters Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 The Espee had a bunch of SD40s - some (in rebuilt form) are still hanging around handling locals and so on. For my HO Coast Line project (trackplan here) I'm slowly building up a fleet of essential EMD second gen power. Latest acquisitions are a pair of Athearn SD40s. And very nice they are too, although I prefer the look of the Tunnel Motors. Brit modellers might care to note the fully round brake cylinders and brake shoes in line with the wheel treads. I've seen one recent DE release criticised on the forum for not having this feature. And I don't want to hear any carping about plastic handrails not being aligned or having moulding pips and so on. I popped these out of the box, took a couple of snaps and then put them back in the box. Handrails get sorted when the layout gets built! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted January 25, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 25, 2012 watch that the cab sunshade on7317 thats sticking horizontally doesnt break! Very nice models but wont fit on my layout as its N scale... my HO one is Florida otherwise I would have quite a few of these along with Tunnel motors!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted January 25, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 25, 2012 These do look nice, although I am always wary of Espee hood units, having regard to single-piece windshields, cab air-conditioners, firecracker radio antennae etc - they had more clutter on them than most. The longer frame that came with the -2 line certainly makes for more locomotive, and even Athearn's original Tunnel Motor captured the feel pretty well. In those days - nearly 30 years ago - even having a scale-width hood was a novelty! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Gerbil-Fritters Posted January 25, 2012 Author Share Posted January 25, 2012 These do look nice, although I am always wary of Espee hood units, having regard to single-piece windshields, cab air-conditioners, firecracker radio antennae etc - they had more clutter on them than most. They did indeed, although the 73xx number series is a give away - these are SD40Rs (1981 rebuilds which dispensed with the lighting clutter), and these machines came without a/c boxes or roof clutter from new. They're untypically plain for espee machines, hence not at the top of my must-have list. I may acquire a third, but probably prefer to spend on SD45Rs. I really need to bite the bullet and buy some GP40s... Here's a good example of the plain Jane SD40R Darn, looks like I'll have to blank out the roof headlights and fit nose mounted ones why is nothing ever simple? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pugsley Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 Lovely Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWB Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 The SP SD40 and SD45 rebuilds had standard SP front light packages at the start, though they did have the new, separate-style front windows: However, the rebuilds also had an additional full rear light package that the as-delivered units didn't have: This was due to a lawsuit where damages were awarded to a motorist hit by a unit that was backing that didn't have a full light package in the rear. You can imagine the legal reasoning, but SP then decided it had to add rear light packages. It wasn't until the late 1980s that SP began blanking out the upper rotating lights and the lower red warning lights. This was a Santa Fe influence that happened with the SFSP non-merger. The Athearn units, while a big improvement, are just sorta-kinda as far as following the prototype here. I'm a little puzzled, though -- SP had a limit of something like 8 or 9 units per train during this period, and it definitely pushed those limits. I don't see this on a UK style ISL. . . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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