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  • EMD SD45 series official thread (covers all variations)

  • Discussion of Electro-Motive locomotive products and technology, past and present. Official web site can be found here: http://www.emdiesels.com/.
Discussion of Electro-Motive locomotive products and technology, past and present. Official web site can be found here: http://www.emdiesels.com/.

Moderator: GOLDEN-ARM

 #595414  by SOU2645
 
CSX 8974 has a 16 cylinder engine now. And all six NS units are mechanically SD40-2's - tho still classed as SD45-2. 1701 already had a 16 cylinder 645 (put in by CR) the rest were done by NS. CSX 8973 is now retired to the REDI center in Atlanta. CSXT has 2 "true" SD45-2's left 8954 and the HLS1 (ex 8969).
Larry
 #676204  by KSmitty
 
Just learned that the 680 (mrl 680 ex-grs, exx-nw) was parted out and then cut up. With ST 681 down and presumably done for good, are there any operable hihood sd-45's left anywhere?

What about inoperable?
 #679526  by SSW9389
 
Kevin: N&W Bicentennial SD45 #1776 is at the Virginia Transportation Museum in Roanoke, VA. See http://www.vmt.org/n&w45Diesel1776.html for a photo. I don't know of any others intact or operational.

Ed
 #679660  by KSmitty
 
thnks for the reply, thats a good photo :-D
Good to know that the hihood sd-45 is not completely gone :-D
 #679755  by Allen Hazen
 
My recollection is that almost all the Bicentennial units on major railroads were repainted into standard livery very soon after 1976. Did Norfolk & Western fail to do this, or was the 1776 repainted back into bicentennial livery when donated to the museum?
 #679756  by Allen Hazen
 
Answer to my last question: repainted twice. George Elwood's "Fallen Flags" railphoto site (go to the Norfolk & Western Index, then to the Diesel Locomotive sub-index) has photos of this unit in Bicentennial colors from 1974-1976, one in black from the 1980s, and a final photo at the museum in Bicentennial colors from the early 2000s.
--
My recollection is that this was the second Bicentennial unit for a Class-1 railroad (after SCL's U36B 1776). I think that it was repainted by N&W, and the Bicentennial color scheme is much simpler (at the risk of offending N&W loyalists I would say "cruder") than that on the SCL unit, which was delivered in Bicentennial colors by GE.
 #679803  by scottychaos
 
Allen Hazen wrote:My recollection is that almost all the Bicentennial units on major railroads were repainted into standard livery very soon after 1976.
Probably most of them, yes..
but there is one glaring exception! :)
D&H 1976, painted in its bicentennial scheme in 1975,
is now in its 34th year without a full repaint.

photo from 1976:
http://www.railpictures.net/images/d1/0 ... 375879.jpg

photo from 2006:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u45/ ... llsize.jpg

the blue was touched up and given a new coat..but the basic scheme, apart from the lettering,
remains intact..

Today the unit is operating as Tioga Central 506 out of Wellsboro, PA.

ok..Getting back to the high-hood SD45's..
Only one survivor on Guilford?
all others are known scrapped?

Scot
 #679811  by KSmitty
 
and the one on guilford is oos at waterville. Its been in the shop for about a month? and is most likely being parted out :(
 #722640  by The tram man
 
How many of thease units were built with elephant ears and for what railroads did they operate?

Pictures would be apriciated.
 #723286  by westr
 
I don't think any SD45s were "built" with elephant ear radiator shrouds. The elephant ears were added later as an early 70s experiment between Southern Pacific and EMD to determine the benefit of the radiators drawing in air from closer to the ground, where it would be cooler in tunnels, like the "tunnel motor" SD45T-2 and SD40T-2. Only Southern Pacific locomotives had elephant ears, and they only had them for a few years before they were removed. According to http://espee.railfan.net/spsd45t-1.html (where there are pictures) there were 12, maybe 13 SP SD45s with elephant ears, out of over 300 total on SP. I'm not sure if the experiment led to the tunnel motor design, or if it was a later attempt to retrofit existing locomotives to get the tunnel motor benefits. In any case, the elephant ears were apparently decided to not be worth it.

Southern Pacific's 4 GP40Xs were built with elephant ears, and were the only locomotives delivered new with them. The elephant ears were later removed from them as well.
 #725330  by ENR3870
 
I believe CP Rail tried the "elephant ears" on some SD40-2's as well.
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