Introduction

ScaleTrains Rivet 40790 HO Scale EMD SD40-2 Norfolk Southern NS 3387 – DC (Ex CR Patch 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 paint scheme
• Era: early 2000s
• Series 3377 to 3404; ex-CR 6441 to 6482, built 9-11/1974
• Road number 3387
  • Patched for NS; Conrail scheme with small Quality logo
  • Front EMD-style low pilot plow with multiple unit (MU) hose doors, 3rd rail notches and grab irons, Rear EMD-style weedcutter low pilot plow
  • Front dummy multiple unit (MU) receptacles mounted on anticlimber deck (x2)
  • Rear pilot face mounted multiple unit (MU) receptacles (x2)
  • Standard bolted battery box door on left side with short louvers; bolted and latched Conrail-style split battery box door on right side to accommodate Cab Signal System (CSS) box on top of battery box
  • Tall mirrors mounted fore of cab side windows on both sides of cab
  • Lost-wax brass cast Leslie RS-3-LR horn with anti-debris shower caps; mounted on number board housing
  • GE type speed recorder mounted to center axle on left front, additional standard speed recorder mounted to center axle on right side
• Fully-assembled
• Multiple road numbers
• No truck ground lights (prototype not equipped)
• LED-illuminated front pilot-face mounted ditch lights**
• LED-Illuminated rectangular walkway lights mounted between front and rear sanding valve doors and round walkway light, aft of raised walkway duct*
• Blanked front and rear class lights with gasket
• Printed number boards with separately controlled backlit LED-illumination*
• Flange lubrication cabinet
• Two strap Cab Signal System (CSS) box
• Equipped with LSL indicator lights (non operating) aft of cab on frame (both sides)
• 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
• Front pilot face mounted multiple unit (MU) receptacles
• Short 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; nose top and side grab irons repositioned to opposed side for Cab Signal System (CSS) box clearance.
• Late cab sub-base doors with lift-off hinges
• Standard EMD headlight in number board housing
• Dash-2 cab with 13-bolt (top and bottom) 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
• No sunshades or sunshade tracks
• Large Excalibur ice skate antenna (communications) and small Sinclair Excalibur ice skate (Locotrol/EOT) antenna mounted on numberboard housing on either side of the horn, additional large Excalibur ice skate antenna mounted on cab roof
• Accurate hood door and long hood detail
• Early electrical cabinet “zig-zag” seam, further from rear of cab
• Late welded ECAFB
• Intermediate inertial air intake grills with top drip rail
• Standard turbo exhaust stack
• Accurately-profiled extended-range dynamic brakes without batten strip
• See-through dynamic brake intakes with resistor grid detail
• Corrugated radiator intake grilles
• See-through standard 48 radiator fan housings with fan blades visible inside
• Angled radiator fan grab iron
• Underbody frame rail with separate plumbing and traction motor cables
• Detailed Flexicoil sideframes with Hyatt bearing caps, high mounted brake cylinders, outer sanding lines and brackets, and D-77 traction motor and air brake duct details
• Rust-color painted wheelsets
• Dimensionally accurate truck centers
• Forward facing handbrake chain mount for Flexicoil trucks
• Short jacking pads (late)
• Forward engineers side sidesill notch
• Sill-mount EFCO
• Frame-mounted steel bell
• Graham-White (Salem) brand 824-170 centrifugal air filter (accordion-style)
• 4,000-gallon fuel tank with fuel fillers, vertical gauges, round gauge in tank sides, and vertical breather pipe
• 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.