EMD SD40 series official thread (covers all variations)

[ExEMDLOCOTester]

Not to nit-pick here, but no EMD locomotive ever had angled rads. The radiator intakes on the SD45 were angled, but not the rads themselves.

Actually, just about every EMD locomotive I can think of DOES have angled radiators. The radiators are often arranged in a lengthwise "V", like this...

http://sp5472.ncry.org/photos/P044170006.jpg (SD9)
http://locopage.railpage.org.au/photos/BHP_SD70ACe.jpg

The flared radiator intakes on some EMD's allows for a wider "V" and hence more cooling capacity within a compartment of the same length and height.

Thanks Trainiac....

[alcodude]

[Allen Hazen]

Trainiac--
The photo of an SD-9's radiators with the roof off that you linked to is a great one: one of the clearest illustrations I have seen of a usually hidden feature of a diesel locomotive! Thanks for posting it.
(Do you, by any chance, have a photo of a 1968 GE locomotive, being scrapped or under repair, that would help answer a question I've wondered about as to the "fillet" at the front of the radiator "wingspan" on early U33 models and 1968 U30 and U23B: was the added sheetmetal purely decorative, or was there some radiator piping that went through it?)

[ExEMDLOCOTester]

Any standard SD40-2 will have those long porches--except for the snoot versions, where the longer nose takes up a lot of the front platform. The SD40 has large porches as well, but not as large as the SD40-2. An SD45-2 rebuilt to SD40-2 specs would have porches the size of a Geep--in other words, just enough space to walk around.

Did the SD45-2's have the angled radiators? If so were they chopped for the SD40-2 conversion?

Thanks to Alcodude (no disrespect intended), I realize the inaccuracy of my question. Did the SD45-2's have the angled radiator intakes? If so were they chopped for the SD40-2 conversion?

[trainiac]

Thanks to Alcodude (no disrespect intended), I realize the inaccuracy of my question. Did the SD45-2's have the angled radiator intakes? If so were they chopped for the SD40-2 conversion?

The radiator intakes on the SD45-2 are flush with the hood but substantially longer than those of the SD45 (or SD40-2 for that matter). This stems from the fact that the frame was lengthened 3 feet over the SD40/SD45 to allow for the longer HTC trucks. The SD45-2-to-SD40-2 conversions I've seen retained the exterior appearance of the SD45-2.

http://www.sdrm.org/roster/diesel/emd/h ... sf6472.jpg

[ExEMDLOCOTester]

Thanks trainiac

[tominboise]

Did the SD45-2's have the angled radiators? If so were they chopped for the SD40-2 conversion?

Not to nit-pick here, but no EMD locomotive ever had angled rads. The radiator intakes on the SD45 were angled, but not the rads themselves.

I'm pretty sure alot of EMD locomotive have angled radiator cores - all the F40's do. The SD45's have angle inlets and angle cores, too. At least the one's I've crawled around on......

[steamguy]

I sometimes end up in interesting phone conversations with my youngest, who's an engineer on a Class 1. This morning as I was guzzling my second cup of coffee, my cell phone rang, and the first words I heard were:

"[Expletive Deleted] Blankey-Blank [expletive deleted] miserable, low-life SD-40-2s!

I replied: "Good morning David, how was your run?" This netted me another five minutes of EMD-related invective.

As he wound down I asked, "So what happened?" Blankety blank thing died on the blankey-blank hill north of blankety-blank. Wouldn't load, stalled completely, ended up backing the [expletive deleted] train down the blankety=blank hill, and finally after resetting everything the dumb thing took a load and we crawled over the hill. Three hours blankety blank late.

I said, "So what's the solution?"

More AC-4400s! More Evo's. Please.

Lo...how the mighty (EMD) have fallen

[GOLDEN-ARM]

Not to knock them, but the kids today, really truly believe, the GE toaster junkers, with the desk tops, are the greatest things in the world. (absolutely not their fault, it's what they are being trained on, and on at least one western carrier, they are almost agreement mandated, as a lead unit) No control stand, stuck inside a large box, too far from the window, to comfortably sit, with your arm out there, and waiting until the next pay period, for the darned things to load up. I've been sidelined, by those GE's, with very, very minor flaws, in the electrical system, and computer, that couldn't be fixed, without a visit, to a "factory authorized warranty center". (yes, they exist) Nothing like running, at speed, the window open, the wind lightly blowing on you, with the roar of the power filling your ear-plug equipped ears. Hanging out, and looking back, to watch the train snake around curves, bridges and over summits. That's lost, in a new world of "close the window, your letting out the A/C"........ Isolated from the very "feel" of running the engine, you sit at a desk, blankly staring at an array of icons, and digits, on computer screens, and wonder, "how did it come to this"? I would rather "triple-the-hill", with crippled EMD's, than to sit at a desk, and watch the hill slowly move by, the double paned side glass, while sitting in a lounge chair, on a rubber covered floor, in a so called "quiet cab". There are tricks, and ways, to make the SD cooperate. They are being lost to a generation, who think locos always had air, rubber floors, and desks in them. I guess that makes me a dinosaur. I believe the carriers are beginning to implement "deferred maintainance", and RTF with the older stuff. EMD's are great, but the new ones, like the GE's, are taking the fun out of running. Sometimes, it's more like a video game, with no input at all, from the loco, or seat. The newest are going back to a real control stand, but it's not the same. My run, the other night, in a Great Northern F-9, in full GN paint, must seem like a B&W movie, to the newer guys. WTF? No air, fridge or desk??? How the hell am I supposed to sleep on this POS??? Funny thing, for a while there, I thought I never had it so good....... (24 brakes, real roll up side windows, potato-chip can style control stand, horn CORD, blowing a real M-5, control breakers mounted over the window, in pull-down style switches, Mars light, etc....) I guess "WE" were the same way, when the older, first generation stuff, made way, for the Dash-2's, and the high horsepower stuff. At least we could still sit in the window, and enjoy the air..........

[Jtgshu]

Im very glad to be running GP40-2s and F40's in commuter service at NJT, and not the new PL42's, or at least not yet.

It says something when the 40 year old Geep comes to rescue the train powered by the 1 year old "rolling computer"........sure they will eventually get the bugs worked out of them, but they will never match a good ol fashoned EMD

There is something about HEARING the air blowing out of the brake valve, and not having to rely on the Eq Res guage all the time. (The PL42's use an EPIC 2 braking system - no noise at all comes out of the control portion - just clicks from the different positions)

Moving an actual throttle, with actual positions, not a smooth controller with no notches, if i put the throtttle in this position, the engine will do this. With the controller, it don't work that way.

I haven't had the pleasure (or dismay) to see the cab of a new EVO or the newest SD from EMD, and not 100 percent sure on the types of throttles or brake stands they have, but there is somethign about that AAR control stand that just works. No reaching across a desk or staining to see a monitor with glare all over it......just give me the 3 air guages and a load meter and im happy!!!

[steamguy]

The large majority of the 4400's and all the Evo's where my kid works have AAR control stands. He detests the desktops.

[GOLDEN-ARM]

My kinda guy, steam........................

[mxdata]

So lets see, SD40-2's are about 34 years old (introduced in 1972), and if the manufacturers recommendations have been followed the prime mover and major electrical equipment would have gone through at least three rebuilding cycles awarded to the lowest bidder, plus probably a complete rewire and recable, and more than three decades of field maintenance. I wonder how much of the locomotive is still genuine OEM parts?

[Nelson Bay]

.

As he wound down I asked, "So what happened?" Blankety blank thing died on the blankey-blank hill north of blankety-blank. Wouldn't load, stalled completely, ended up backing the [expletive deleted] train down the blankety=blank hill, and finally after resetting everything the dumb thing took a load and we crawled over the hill. Three hours blankety blank late

"After resetting everything" we went over the hill. Does this mean something was tripped??? Why not look around a little before you back down the hill?

Oh what the blanky-blank. It's only 3 blanky-blank hours.

[mxdata]

Anyone wonder why some of the breakers in the panel are on a black background and some are on a polished metal background?