With over 3,100 units produced by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors between 1982 and 1984, the 3,000-horsepower, six-axle SD40-2 was one of the most successful diesel-electric locomotive designs ever produced.  With good maintenance practices, many of these locomotives are still earning their keep today.

Now available from Athearn Trains is a wide-ranging production of EMD SD40-2s as part of its standard Athearn brand (ready-to-roll) models.   Each locomotive comes with a high level of road-specific details, a diecast chassis housing a smooth drive system with multi-pole motor, dual flywheels, all wheels powered, directional headlight operation and much more.

Road names for this latest release include:

• Burlington Northern (Cascade Green, 88” nose, 8100-series, as-built)
• Conrail (Flexicoil trucks, as-delivered)
• Helm Leasing (HLCX red, blue or faded BN green, 88” nose, ditch lights)
• Kansas City Southern (White, 123-inch “Snoot” nose with brake wheel)
• Louisville & Nashville (gray/yellow, 81” nose with ratchet brake)
• Missouri Pacific (Eagle, non-dynamics, 81” nose with ratchet brake)
• Oneida & Western (light green, 88” nose)
• Reading, Blue Mountain and Northern (green/yellow with illuminated ditch lights)
• Reading, Blue Mountain & Northern (bluish, 88” nose with ratchet, ditch lights)
• Soo Line (Multiple variations, some with ditch lights)
• Santa Fe (nose-mounted Oscitrol warning lights, 88” nose)
• Union Pacific (“Fast-Forty”, 116-inch “Snoot” nose with brake wheel, strobe beacon)
• Wisconsin & Southern (multiple variations with ditch lights, including 40th Anniversary unit 4170)

LED-Illuminated ditch lights or warning lights come preinstalled where applicable per era/road number. Beacon flash effects available only on DCC-equipped models.  All models feature directional headlight operation under DC and DCC. DC/DCC-ready units retail for $189.99 while DC+DCC+Sound equipped SD40-2s equipped with an Soundtraxx Econami sound decoder are priced at $259.99.  Available now at your favorite dealer or direct.

Athearn Trains, Athearn.com

A late purchaser of the SD40-2, the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railway took delivery of its first SD40-2s in 1977, five full years after the model was introduced from EMD. Notable in this latest release from Athearn Trains are replicas of Santa Fe’s unique group of SD40-2s equipped with illuminated Oscitrol warning lights. 

Designed for higher reliability and lower maintenance without any need for moving parts, Oscitrol warning lights were a solid-state alternative to prior oscillating warning lights such as the Mars light or Pyle-National Gyralite.  In 1979, Santa Fe took delivery of 13 EMD SD40-2s equipped with Oscitrol lights mounted into the low nose.  Initially assigned to coal service with the Southern Pacific, these locomotives soon roamed far and wide throughout the West. 

Athearn’s SD40-2s are available in two configurations: either as a DC/DCC-ready silent engine or in a DC+DCC+Sound version that comes factory-equipped with a Econami sound decoder from Soundtraxx.

With over 400 miles of trackage in Pennsylvania, the Reading, Blue Mountain and Northern is the largest Class II railroad in the United States today.  Perhaps known best by the general public for its tourist trains, the railroad derives the majority of its revenue from coal transport. 

RBMN 3055 was originally constructed by EMD as Union Pacific 3550 in 1979. This locomotive continues in operation today on the Reading, Blue Mountain & Northern.  Athearn’s model of this colorful SD40-2 includes operating front and rear ditch lights, separately applied grab irons, flexible MU hoses and much more.  Additional RBMN road numbers for this release include Reading, Blue Mountain & Northern 3051 as well as RBMN 1983 finished in a special blue livery with “Blue Mountain & Reading” lettering commemorating the railroad’s original name and 40th anniversary of operation in 2023.