ScaleTrains SXT38815 EMD SD40-2, RI Rock Island/Red & Yellow #4790 DCC & Sound HO Scale

ScaleTrains Rivet Counter SXT38815 EMD SD40-2, RI Rock Island/Red & Yellow #4790 DCC & Sound HO Scale (Note pictures may show a different road number).

The Rivet Counter™ series SD40-2 is the definitive HO Scale model of EMD’s best-selling diesel locomotive. Our model combines smooth operating performance with unparalleled railroad, road number, and era specific details™. Even though the first SD40-2s were first built 50 years ago, many continue in revenue freight service today.

Road Number Specific ScaleTrains

• New roadname 
• Era: 1973 to 1980 
• RI Series 4790-4790, built 12/1973
• Fully-assembled
• LED-illuminated ground lights on both sides of locomotive*
• LED-Illuminated rectangular walkway lights mounted between front and rear sanding valve doors and round walkway light, aft of raised walkway duct*
• LED-illuminated front tricolor stand-off class lights; flush-mounted rear class lights with raised gaskets***
• Printed number boards with separately controlled backlit LED-illumination*
• Front EMD-style low pilot plow with multiple unit (MU) hose doors and grab irons
• 4-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 without loop handles
• As-delivered pilot faces with angled lifting slots
• Deck-mounted multiple unit (MU) receptacles
• "Tall" stepwells with see-through steps
• Front and rear early small deck extension
• Handrail set with inward-facing stanchion mounting brackets, and gangway chain
• Front and rear standard drop steps
• Scale sectioned treadplate detail on walkways
• 81” low short hood with ratchet handbrake and angled chain guard
• Bolted battery box doors with narrow louvers
• Early cab sub-base doors with early hinges
• Standard EMD headlight in number board housing
• Dash-2 cab with 11-bolt (top and bottom) side window panels
• Rectangular vent on right cab side
• Detailed cab interior with separate floor, rear wall, seats, and standard AAR control stand
• Sliding cab side windows
• Tall clear wind wings with mirror, mounted fore of cab side window on both sides of cab
• Standard EMD sunshades with long sunshade tracks
• Lost-wax brass Nathan P-5 (P135R24) horn mounted on number board housing
• Motorola ASP-16 “firecracker” antenna mounted on the cab
• Accurate hood door and long hood detail
• Early electrical cabinet "zig-zag" seam, further from rear of cab
• Early “stand-off” ECAFB 
• Early inertial air intake grilles without drip rails 
• Standard turbo exhaust stack
• Non-dynamic brake housing with batten strip
• See-through dynamic brake intakes with resistor grid detail
• “Chicken-wire” radiator intake grilles
• See-through standard 48” radiator fan housings with fan blades visible inside
• Curved radiator fan grab iron
• Underbody frame rail with separate plumbing and traction motor cables
• Detailed HT-C trucks with Hyatt bearing caps, early center axle snubbers, sanding lines and brackets, and D-77 traction motor and air duct details
• Dimensionally accurate truck centers
• GE speed recorder with adapter flange mounted to first axle on left front 
• Rearward-facing handbrake chain mount for HT-C trucks
• Tall jacking pads with holes (early)
• Forward engineer’s side sidesill notch
• Tab-mount EFCO
• Frame-mounted steel bell
• Graham-White (Salem) brand 824-170 and 818-170 primary and secondary centrifugal air filters (accordion-style)
• 4,000-gallon fuel tank with fuel fillers, vertical gauges, round gauges 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 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 model
• Minimum radius: 18”
• Recommended radius: 22”

• DCC & sound equipped locomotives also feature:
• ESU LokSound 5 DCC & Sound decoder with “Full Throttle” functions
• Two (2) cube-type speakers
• Turbocharged EMD 16 Cylinder 645E3 prime mover
• ESU designed “PowerPack” with two super capacitors***
• Operates on both DC and DCC layouts

* Lighting features operate when using an ESU decoder with appropriate programming while operating using DCC

** During DC operation, class lights illuminate in white. Access to other colors and the ability to change colors requires an ESU DCC decoder while operating in DCC

*** Compatible with appropriately programmed ESU decoders while operating using DCC

In January 1972, the Electro-Motive Division (EMD) of General Motors would build the first production models of a locomotive design that would prove to be 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 from 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 the use of the new HT-C three-axle truck in place of the Flexi-coil C of the SD40. 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, both with original owners, as well as 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 locomotive’s presence on U.S. rails for decades to come.