Best EMD Locomotive

by all means...the EMD SD40-2

My favorite was the Boston & Maine GP38-2's. With no dynamic brakes, they were just about as simple and reliable as you could make a Dash-2.

B&M had problems with derailments when crews used dynamic braking on the early GP units that were not equipped with coupler stops. I recall one time when I was shoving/backing out from Rotterdam Jct onto the Hoffmans Branch to go to Selkirk with a B&M train with 3 GP18s. I looked back and saw the head car and trailing unit looking as though they would pop off to the side at any time. Yikes! Quick reduction in throttle avoided a mishap that time!

DB was subsequently disabled on GP units so equipped, I think. This carried over to the non-equipped order for new GPs. Of course, lower price was likely an issue as well for the cash-challenged B&M.

In my opinion, standard DB on GP38 and GP38-2 units was about useless anyway.

I agree these "bluebirds" (including the later GP40-2s) were a tremendous improvement over previous B&M power. Good, solid power -- and most of them still running today!

i forgot another one...the SD45-2

Definitely the GP-10 Paducah Geep.

.

Certainly not the SD70!

CN_Hogger wrote:Certainly not the SD70!

Is there something you dislike about the SD70, or were you being sarcastic?

Well, I should have been more specific. The IC 1000 class SD70's are horrable. They lurch when you put them in notch 1, they don't seem to load as smooth as an SD40-2 or even the SD75I's. Also, they have this real hoaky display screen for the air that's almost impossible to see in the daylight.

I've run a few of the UP SD70M's and they don't seem to be as bad.

MEC407 wrote:

CN_Hogger wrote:Certainly not the SD70!

Is there something you dislike about the SD70, or were you being sarcastic?

Thanks for the clarification, CN_Hogger.

The best EMD is the SW1. Plain, simple, and damn reliable. Also cute as the dickens!

Stuart

my is the f40c

My favorite is an odd ball EMD, the Model 40.

Trackmobile wrote:My favorite is an odd ball EMD, the Model 40.

I went to Google, looked up "EMD Model 40", and here's one:



At first glance it looks a lot like a GE 45 Ton.

What's neat about the Model 40 is how EMD used their standard switcher cab on it.

Model Die Casting (AKA MDC/Roundhouse) just came out with this locomotive in HO scale.

Stuart