Dear HO Scale Customers;

Athearn is excited to announce New EMD (Electro-Motive Division) SD40-2 Diesel Locomotives

Burlington Northern

After years of standardization, BN began to experiment with new locomotive paint schemes in the 1980s. The Tiger Stripe scheme was an attempt to improve grade crossing visibility; the later “White Face” scheme was an outgrowth of this idea. Several SD40-2 units received this scheme before the BNSF merger.

BN 1876 was originally the road’s Bicentennial 1976, but was damaged in a grade crossing accident shortly after. Another unit was quickly numbered as the BN 1976 (2nd), so this unit was repaired and renumbered to 1876 to honor the centennial of the 1876 Battle of Little Bighorn.

 

ROAD NUMBER SPECIFIC FEATURES:

• #7000, #7060, #7123: Corrugated Grills, RS3L horn on long hood, Large and small Firecracker antennas, Cab A/C, EMD standard style plow, Operating front ditch lights
• #1876: Early production with wire-grid radiators, no anticlimbers, RS3L horn on cab, Operating Western-Cullen beacon, EMD standard style plow, Large Firecracker antenna, Separate etched plates of Custer and Sitting Bull

 

Milwaukee Road

The Milwaukee Road was a repeat EMD customer up until its demise. Along with a large group of 4-axle units and specialized branch line power, the road rostered many SD40-2 locos, which were primarily assigned from Chicago to the Pacific Northwest. One unit, #156, was painted in special colors for the nation’s 1976 Bicentennial.

MILW FEATURES:

• Early production with wire-grid radiators, no anticlimbers
• Operating Western-Cullen beacon
• Sinclair or whip type antenna
• Cut levers with straight or looped handles
• 3200 gallon fuel tank

 

Southern

As with all contemporary SOU road units, their fleet of SD40-2s were built with high noses. Alphabet characters placed after the road number were used as a computer check digit to prevent identification errors.

 

SOU FEATURES:

• Corrugated radiators
• Bell mounted on long hood
• P5 horn on each end
• Firecracker antenna
• Large angled snowplows on each end
• Cab vent

 

New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway

NYSW 3018 is a former SOU SD40-2 which has had its nose chopped down. The unit wears standard NYSW yellow paint and is a common sight along the line.

NYSW 3024 wears a special silver-and-maroon scheme inspired by the classis Susquehanna Alco RS1 and S2 locos. It rolled out of the paint shop in April of 2023.

 

ROAD NUMBER SPECIFIC FEATURES:

• #3018: Former SOU, Medium flat-top plow
• #3024: Former BN, Cab A/C, EMD standard style plow

 

 

PROTOTYPE SPECIFIC INFORMATION

The SD40-2 was introduced in January 1972 as part of EMD’s Dash 2 series, responding to competing products from GE and ALCO. Reliability and versatility of the 3,000-horsepower SD40-2 made it the best-selling model in EMD’s history and the standard of the industry for several decades after its introduction. The SD40-2 was an improvement over the SD40, with modular electronic control systems similar to those of the experimental SD45X and DDA40X. The last SD40-2 delivered to a United States railroad was built in July 1984, with production continuing for railroads in Canada until 1988.

 

SD40-2 LOCOMOTIVE FEATURES:

• Flexible rubber MU hoses for durability
• Flexible rubber trainline hose
• See-through cab windows
• Coupler cut levers
• Wire grab irons
• Exhaust stack
• See-through dynamic brake and radiator fans
• Frame mounted bell (unless noted)
• Detailed fuel tank with fuel fillers, fuel gauges, & breather pipes
• Separately applied air tanks
• Fine-scale Celcon handrails for scale appearance
• Photo-etched stainless steel windshield wipers
• LED Illuminated front and rear headlights, ditch lights, and beacons (where applicable to the prototype)
• DCC-ready Non-sound version features 21-pin NEM DCC plug
• McHenry operating scale knuckle couplers
• All-wheel drive with precision gears for smooth & quiet operation
• All-wheel electrical pickup provides reliable current flow
• 5-pole motor with precision-machined flywheels and multi-link drive train for trouble free operation
• Wheels with RP25 contours operate on all popular brands of track
• Heavy die-cast frame for greater traction and more pulling power
• Scaled from prototype resources including drawings, field measurements, photographs, and more
• Accurately –painted and –printed paint schemes
• Packaging securely holds model for safe storage
• Fully-assembled and ready-to-run
• Minimum radius: 18” Recommended radius 22”

 

SOUND-EQUIPPED MODELS ALSO FEATURE

• Onboard DCC decoder with SoundTraxx Econami sound
• Single cube speaker for optimal sound quality
• Sound units operate in both DC and DCC
• Engine, horn, and bell sounds work in DC
• Some functions are limited in DC
• All functions NMRA compatible in DCC mode
• Effect lighting (if applicable) using F5 and/or F6
• Excellent low-speed operation
• Program a multiple unit (MU) lashup with lead unit only horn, bell, and lights
• Many functions can be altered via Configuration Value (CV) changes
• CV chart included in the box

 

PRIMED FOR GRIME MODELS FEATURE

• Duplicated look and feel of “In Service” equipment
• Faded base colors matched to the prototype
• Perfect starting point for adding grime and rust

 

 

Order Due Date: October 31, 2026

 

Looking for more Athearn EMD (Electro-Motive Division) SD40-2 Diesel Locomotives? Click here!

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