It's All About Character - The EMD SD40-2

Not unlike myself, as locomotives age they tend to develop a character all their own. As the years of tireless and dedicated service on the line creep by the paint chips and fades, the rust takes hold, and the engine becomes unique in fleet of sameness.

The EMD SD40-2 locomotive was once the ubiquitous engine on most railroads in the early 1980s. They were once so common that it was extremely rare to ever catch a train without a solid consist of these units on the point, let alone at least one in the lash-up. No longer is this the case. The new “unit ad-nauseam” is the GE DASH 9-44CW. Try to find a train without one today - not a chance - at least on a Class 1 railroad.

As I dug through my archives I pulled out some of my shots of the good old SD40-2s for you to see. All of these shots are more than 4 years old which is a testament to their rarity on the line in service today…

BNSF 6867 and 6937 (EMD SD40-2) provide the horsepower on the manned helper service in Cajon Pass in April 2006. [4/6/2006 - Cajon Subdivision] © 2010 Joe Perry.

BNSF 6951 (EMD SD40-2) in manned helper service on Cajon Pass.[4/15/2006 - Cajon Subdivision] © 2010 Joe Perry.

CSX 8118 (EMD SD40-2) Is running off miles on the UP’s Yuma Subdivision. [4/22/2006 - Yuma Subdivision] © 2010 Joe Perry.

A former BN unit, now owned by First Union Rail, FURX 7937 (EMD SD40-2) provides leased power to a BNSF stack train through Devore, CA in April 2006. [4/30/2006 - Cajon Subdivision] © 2010 Joe Perry.

BNSF 6858 (EMD SD40-2 “Snoot Nose”) lends its muscle to a manifest train leaving Winslow, AZ. [7/6/2006 - Gallup Subdivision] © 2010 Joe Perry.

From a scene rare today, BNSF 4155 (GE DASH 9-44CW), BNSF 6733 (EMD SD40-2), BNSF 805 (GE DASH 8-40CW), BNSF 8002 (EMD SD40-2), BNSF 7044 (EMD SD40-2), BNSF 7920 (EMD SD40-2), CSXT 9039 (GE DASH 9-44CW), and CSXT 8022 (EMD SD40-2) provide the muscle to move this manifest east out of Winslow, AZ. [7/6/2006 - Gallup Subdivision] © 2010 Joe Perry.