Chesapeake & Indiana O Scale Premier SD40-2 Diesel Engine With Proto-Sound 3.0

Cataloged from 1972-1986, the SD40-2 was the last hurrah of EMD's reign as the locomotive builder for America's railroads - a dynasty that began in the 1930s and vanquished Alco, Baldwin, Lima and Fairbanks-Morse. For more than a decade, the six-axle, 3000 hp SD40-2 was virtually the standard new-purchase engine for North American freight service, until General Electric dethroned EMD as the top-selling diesel builder in 1983.

Tasked with creating an upgrade to the already-solid SD40, EMD's designers created a locomotive that looked a lot like its predecessor but was better in almost every way. The major visual change from the SD40 was a three-foot longer frame with distinctive front and rear "porches," required to accommodate the new high-adhesion HT-C trucks - which improved both tracking and pulling power. Under the hood, upgraded traction motors and alternator, along with tougher pistons, piston rings and bearings in the 16-cylinder turbocharged model 645 motor, made the SD40-2 10-15% more reliable than the SD40 it replaced.

The most significant change, however, was a major advance in diesel technology: solid state electronics. Gone were the hardwired circuitry and the maze of switches, contacts, interlocks and relays that had characterized all earlier diesels and led to a well-known saying in locomotive shops: "With a steam engine, it took five minutes to find a problem and five hours to fix it; with the new diesels, it takes five hours to find the problem and five minutes to fix it." The transistors, printed circuit boards and other solid-state components that formed the electrical guts of the new -2 engines were both easier to maintain and more reliable, and paved the way for the computerized controls that would later introduce the third generation of diesel technology.

The SD40-2 turned out to be the apex of second-generation diesels, and the perfection of EMD's 645 diesel motor. Viewed as an industry benchmark for reliability, the SD40-2 became EMD's all-time best seller, with 3,949 regular SD40-2's delivered. Including variations - like Southern Pacific's famed "tunnel motors" and units with elongated noses that housed remote-control electronics - total production exceeded 5,700 locomotives, sold to 24 American and 6 Canadian roads, plus railroads in Brazil and Mexico. Even today, more than three decades after the last SD40-2 was delivered, more than 1,000 units are still rostered by the Big Six Class 1 railroads in North America.

• Intricately Detailed, Durable ABS Body
• Die-Cast Truck Sides, Pilots and Fuel Tank
• Metal Chassis
• Metal Handrails and Horn
• Moveable Roof Fans
• Metal Body Side Grilles
• Detachable Snow Plow
• (2) Handpainted Engineer Cab Figures
• Authentic Paint Scheme
• Metal Wheels, Axles and Gears
• (2) Remote-Controlled Proto-Couplers
• O Scale Kadee-Compatible Coupler Mounting Pads
• Prototypical Rule 17 Lighting
• Directionally Controlled Constant Voltage LED Headlights
• Lighted LED Cab Interior Light
• Illuminated LED Number Boards
• Lighted LED Marker Lights
• (2) Precision Flywheel-Equipped Motors
• Operating ProtoSmoke Diesel Exhaust
• Onboard DCC/DCS Decoder
• Locomotive Speed Control In Scale MPH Increments
• Proto-Scale 3-2 3-Rail/2-Rail Conversion Capable
• 1:48 Scale Proportions
• Proto-Sound 3.0 With The Digital Command System Featuring Freight Yard Proto-Effects
• Unit Measures: 17 1/2" x 2 5/8" x 3 7/8"
• Operates On O-42 Curves Diesel DCC Features
• F0 Head/Tail light
• F1 Bell 
• F2 Horn 
• F3 Start-up/Shut-down 
• F4 PFA 
• F5 Lights (except head/tail)
• F6 Master Volume 
• F7 Front Coupler 
• F8 Rear Coupler 
• F9 Forward Signal 
• F10 Reverse Signal 
• F11 Grade Crossing 
• F12 Smoke On/Off 
• F13 Smoke Volume 
• F14 Idle Sequence 3 
• F15 Idle Sequence 2 
• F16 Idle Sequence 1 
• F17 Extended Start-up 
• F18 Extended Shut-down 
• F19 Rev Up 
• F20 Rev Down 
• F21 One Shot Doppler 
• F22 Coupler Slack 
• F23 Coupler Close 
• F24 Single Horn Blast 
• F25 Engine Sounds
• F26 Brake Sounds
• F27 Cab Chatter
• F28 Feature Reset