EMD SD40 series official thread (covers all variations)

[Pilbara Rail]

Some of the SD40 units got modified when they arrived.
All of them will fit through the car dumpers. A unit did have the wrong fan installed and copped a bit of damage when it was 'forced' through the dumper cells.

Even with the SD70ACe/LC units we have, they did not fit through Car Dumper 1 or 2. The new dumper for the West Yard located on Finucane Island is okay, and so is Dumper 3 at Nelson Point. But to keep things simple, all SD70ACe/LC units were banned from the Nelson Point dumpers and had an ATP mod to prevent them getting too close.

Car Dumper 1 has just been fully rebuilt, (remember this was the dumper from the Oroville Dam job) and they'll fit through it now. Car Dumper 2 is currently being rebuilt, when it is the entire BHP fleet will again work through the dumpers at Nelson Point.

[dash7]

Thanks toad, i forgot about the ex-oreville dam dumpers,its interesting that the sd70ace-l/c have restrictions placed on them. is robe the only railway without any height constraints?,as i remember the alco's fitted with the air to air cooling and they were pretty high!,also i noticed that the air horns are on the roofs.thanks , dash7

[GOLDEN-ARM]

It looks like they simply removed the fan silencers, which is basically a 4" high metal band, the same diameter of the shroud, that forces the exhausted air straight up, along with the noise of the fans, to aid in EPA noise requirements. Unbolting the silencers, and lifting them off, results in the "highly modified" fans you see on those other units. Since the top of the Central Air Intake would be the real determining factor on the ultimate roof height of the loco, for clearance issues, I see nothing special about those fans..........

[Pilbara Rail]

While the silencers were removed, a number of the units have had the fans modified to further lower them on an individual unit basis.

[GOLDEN-ARM]

Still don't see it. Hows about some shots, from above, looking into a fan?

[dash7]

Golden arm, i think what pilbara rail means is that the fans are countersunk like the ones on the SD50s (ex hamersley iron)on the utah railway which sit below the carbody hence the lower placed radiator intakes compared to the standard emd sd units,i think their odd size was due to larger radiator cores to cope with the all round 110 deg. heat in their region of operation.i dont think they would need them in the cold utah winters!!,talk about cold!. dash7

[mp15ac]

Also, the radiator grills on the SD38 are about 2/3's the length of those on the SD40.

Stuart

[Kurt-Trirail]

Just saw this photo on the RR Picture Archives, dated 4/19/2008:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=1134099

Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't Doyle's ex-ATSF unit supposed to be the last in existence? From the data that I can dig up on #169 and #218, they are supposedly genuine ex-AMTK SDP40F's, and the front end details are enough that I wouldn't particularly doubt it either.

Can anyone correct me on this? Am I missing something?

-Kurt

[Jtgshu]

Wow, what a picture!!!

the original SD60MACs and what sure looks like SDP40Fs - they are even in the proper number series, and look different than F45s.

I would say that pic is pretty close to current as the straight SD60 one of the "Oakway" SD60s has had the "GM" from the nose removed and covered with the EMD logo

[Kurt-Trirail]

Just found these two photos taken in July. #168 serves as a fourth dynamic brake unit in the first photo:

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 968&nseq=1

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 749&nseq=2

-Kurt

[Kurt-Trirail]

the original SD60MACs and what sure looks like SDP40Fs - they are even in the proper number series, and look different than F45s.

No kidding - and the dynamic test in the first Railpictures shot is probably the most interesting of all - particularly with the triple 60MAC lashup and the SDP in the mix.

Incidentally, this '83 photo of #169 has those front-end hallmarks of the SDP40F - no grabrails, single front step, double headlights, etc. Obviously spared the AT&SF treatment:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... ?id=752307

-Kurt

[byte]

EMD kept two intact after Amtrak traded them in, for use as test beds. As I recell (but don't quote me), one has a 710 primer mover in it, and the other has AC traction.

[Kurt-Trirail]

News to me. Far as every site I've come across since, the Doyle unit was supposedly the only one in existence.

Have to love the internet. Misinformation galore.

-Kurt

[wigwagfan]

From yours truly:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... ?id=562727
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... ?id=562728

(Not the best pictures, the best ones I have, but not the best out there.)

[westr]

I was aware of these SDP40Fs from Jim Hebner's Amtrak Photo Archive at http://www.hebners.net/amtrak/ but I didn't know that they were still around. Its nice to see that they apparently are. EMD #268 was Amtrak #531 and EMD #169 was Amtrak #609. As Byte said, EMD found uses for them after Amtrak traded them in on F40PHs; Santa Fe never owned them.
Here are pictures from Jim Hebner's site:
http://www.hebners.net/amtrak/amtSDPc/emd169jpg
http://www.hebners.net/amtrak/amtSDP/emd268.jpg

As for 644, it still qualifies as the only PRESERVED SDP40F. Though it carries DLMX reporting marks and lives at Brooklyn Roundhouse, as far as I know it has never belonged to Doyle McCormack, though he's obvioulsy involved. It was saved by Chris Fussell, who also saved F40PH #231, and I think it either belongs to him or to the Northwest Rail Museum.
Here are my own pics of 644:
http://myweb.msoe.edu/~westr/Pictures/4 ... 0644-1.JPG
http://myweb.msoe.edu/~westr/Pictures/4 ... 0644-2.JPG