Introduction

ScaleTrains Rivet 40744 HO Scale EMD SD40-2 Santa Fe ATSF 5170 – DC (with Ditch Lights)

The Rivet Counter series SD40-2 is the definitive HO Scale model of EMDs best-selling diesel locomotive. This model combines smooth operating performance with unparalleled railroad, road number, and era specific details. Even though the first SD40-2s were built 50 years ago, many continue in revenue freight service today.

FEATURES:

• New road numbers
• Series 5170 to 5192; built 11/81-12/81
• Road numbers 5170, 5179, 5187
  • Era: 1990s to early 2000s
  • LED-illuminated front deck mounted ditch lights**
  • Front anticlimber support mounted dummy multiple unit (MU) receptacles
  • Lost-wax brass cast Leslie RS-3-LR horn mounted with clearance bracket relocated to dynamic brake housing
• Fully-assembled
• Multiple road numbers
• No truck ground lights (prototype not equipped)
• LED-Illuminated round walkway lights mounted between front sanding valve doors; rectangular walkway lights mounted between rear sanding valve doors and round walkway light, aft of raised walkway duct*
• Blanked front class lights with round plate
• Printed number boards with separately controlled backlit LED-illumination*
• Vapor Corporation cab roof mounted HVAC unit
• Front EMD-style low pilot plow with multiple unit (MU) hose doors and grab irons
• 3-hose multiple unit (MU) hose clusters with silver gladhands
• Semi-scale coupler buffer equipped with durable metal semi-scale Type E knuckle couplers
• Front and rear straight uncoupling levers with loop handles; two inner and two outer mounting brackets
• Notched pilot faces with high angled lifting slots
• Pilot face mounted multiple unit (MU) receptacles
• Front anticlimber support mounted dummy multiple unit (MU) receptacles
• “Tall” stepwells with see-through steps
• Narrow blunt front anticlimber
• Handrail set with anticlimber front; outward facing rear end rail mounting brackets and chain
• Rear late fixed drop step
• Scale sectioned treadplate detail on walkways
• 88 low short hood with wheel handbrake and round vent on lower right side
• Bolted battery box doors with wide louvers and horizontal stiffener rib
• Late cab sub-base doors with lift-off hinges
• Retrofitted headlight cut into nose; blanked number board light
• Dash-2 cab with welded side window panels
• Rectangular vent on left cab side, towards rear of cab
• Detailed cab interior with separate floor, rear wall, seats, and standard AAR control stand
• Sliding cab side windows
• Tall mirrors mounted fore of cab side windows on both sides of cab
• Standard EMD sunshades with short sunshade tracks
• Large Sinclair Excalibur ice skate antenna (communications) and conduit on ground plane mounted on cab roof
• Small Sinclair Excalibur ice skate antenna (Locotrol/EOT) and conduit on ground plane on cab roof
• Accurate hood door and long hood detail
• Late electrical cabinet “zig-zag” seam, closer to rear of cab
• Late welded ECAFB
• Late inertial air intake grilles with top and bottom drip rail
• Post-1980 exhaust silencer
• Accurately-profiled “post-1980” extended-range (bulged) dynamic brake housing
• See-through dynamic brake intakes with resistor grid detail
• Corrugated radiator intake grilles
• See-through 48 single-speed radiator “Q-Fans with fan blades visible inside
• Angled radiator fan grab iron
• Underbody frame rail with separate plumbing and traction motor cables
• Detailed HT-C trucks with Hyatt bearing caps, late center axle snubbers, sanding lines and brackets, and D-77 traction motor and air duct details
• Rust-color painted wheelsets
• Dimensionally accurate truck centers
• Speed recorder mounted to first axle on left front
• Rearward facing handbrake chain mount for HTC trucks
• Short jacking pads (late)
• Spare knuckle holders mounted to truck sideframes
• Aft engineers side sidesill notch
• Tab-mount EFCO
• Frame-mounted steel bell
• Graham-White (Prime) brand 975-075 dual air filter set (can style)
• 4,000-gallon fuel tank with fuel fillers, vertical gauge, and round gauge on stand
• Factory-applied wire grab irons, wire lift rings, windshield wipers, trainline hoses with silver gladhands, sand hatch covers, and much more
• Motor with 5-pole skew wound armature
• Dual flywheels
• All-wheel drive
• All-wheel electrical pick-up
• Directional LED headlights
• Printing and lettering legible even under magnification
• Operates on Code 70, 83, and 100 rail
• Packaging safely stores the model
• Minimum radius: 18
• Recommended radius: 22
• DC/DCC & sound ready locomotives also feature:
  • Operates on DC layouts
  • DCC ready with 21-pin connector

* Lighting features operate when using an ESU decoder with appropriate programming while operating using DCC.
** In DC operation, both front ditch lights illuminate; rear ditch lights (if equipped) do not illuminate.
*** Class lights illuminate in white color only in DC operation. Access and change the colors with an appropriately programmed ESU decoder while operating using DCC.
**** PowerPack feature is only compatible with appropriately programmed ESU decoders operating on a DCC layout.

In January 1972, the Electro-Motive Division (EMD) of General Motors would build the first production models of a locomotive design that would prove legendary: the SD40-2. As the flagship of the Dash-2 series, the SD40-2 would build upon the lessons learned from its predecessor, the SD40. While the sixteen-cylinder 645E3 turbocharged prime mover remained the same as its SD40 cousin, the SD40-2 boasted a modular, solid-state electrical system, which featured removable cards in place of troublesome relays in its high-voltage cabinet. These cards greatly simplified troubleshooting electrical problems and streamlined repairs.

Externally, the biggest change was using new HT-C three-axle trucks instead of the Flexi-coil type C of the SD40s. The new truck promised greater adhesion, and was longer than the Flexi-coil C, necessitating an increase of the length of the SD40-2s frame to an overall length of 68, 10 over the couplers. This also had the effect of giving the SD40-2 its characteristic long walkway porches at each end. Other small external improvements, such as longer battery box compartments, rear overhang on the cab roof, and drip rail over the front cab door, added to the list of external differences between it and the SD40.

Domestic production of the SD40-2 continued until July 1984, making it one of EMDs most popular locomotives of all time. Many remain in service today with original owners and secondhand operators like regional railroads and shortlines. Within the past decade, CSX, Norfolk Southern, and Union Pacific have rebuilt hundreds of SD40-2s to extend their operating lives. This will ensure this venerable locomotives presence on U.S. rails for decades.