Building on a rich tradition started in 1946, the Athearn brand is home to the hobby’s best-loved models. Athearn has brought the joy of model railroading to you for 75 years, starting from our classic ‘Blue-Box” kits to our most recent Genesis 2.0 line. With accurate detailing and painting, Athearn is the brand that any hobbyist is proud to own and operate. No matter your era or favorite railroad, Athearn truly is “Trains in Miniature.”

 

 

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 SERIES LOCOMOTIVE FEATURES:

• Fully-assembled and ready-to-run

• DCC-ready features Quick Plug™ plug-and-play technology with 21-pin NEM connector

• Scaled from prototype resources including drawings, field measurements, photographs, and more

• Accurately –painted and –printed paint schemes

• Coupler cut levers

• Flexible rubber MU hoses for durability

• Flexible rubber trainline hose

• See-through cab windows

• Fine-scale Celcon handrails for scale appearance

• Photo-etch stainless steel windshield wipers

• Wire grab irons

• Detailed fuel tank with fuel fillers, fuel gauges, & breather pipes

• Separately applied air tanks

• DCC-ready Non-sound version features 21-pin NEM DCC plug

• See-through dynamic brake and radiator fans

• Exhaust stack

• Frame mounted bell (unless noted)

• Detailed 4000 gallon fuel tank (unless different capacity is noted)

• McHenry scale knuckle couplers - Kadee compatible

• All-wheel drive with precision gears for smooth & quiet operation

• All-wheel electrical pickup provides reliable current flow

• Wheels with RP25 contours operate on all popular brands of track

• Bi-directional LED lighting for realistic appearance

• Heavy die-cast frame for greater traction and more pulling power

• Packaging securely holds model for safe storage

• Warranty service available

• Minimum radius: 18” Recommended radius 22”

 

SOUND-EQUIPPED MODELS ALSO FEATURE

• For the first time, factory equipped with Tsunami2 Sound

• Dual cube speakers

• Onboard DCC+Sound models have full-feature Tsunami2 sound decoder by SoundTraxx

• Sound units operate in both DC and DCC

• Full DCC functions available when operated in DCC mode

• Engine, horn, and bell sounds work in DC

• All functions NMRA compatible in DCC mode

• Precision slow speed control

• 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

 

 

Union Pacific

This release represents “standard” Union Pacific SD40-2s as they appeared in the mid-1980s, with two major spotting features:

20-inch high cab side numbers (the numbers having been moved there from their location on the long hood, starting in November 1980). This was done to improve the visibility of the numbers when being viewed by the low-resolution video cameras then in use by UP at major yards and terminals.

Grey-colored trucks. These replaced aluminum paint which had been in use since 1953. This change was implemented in February 1984, to avoid the high cost of repainting the entire Missouri Pacific fleet.

 

UP FEATURES:

• Leslie RS3L horn

• Firecracker antenna

• Cab roof mounted strobe

• Large snowplow

 

 

 

Looking for more Athearn SD40-2 Diesel Locomotives? Click here!

 

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