Now available from Rapido Trains are HO scale EMD GP40 locomotives in a multitude of production phases with an extensive array of road-specific details corresponding to each paint scheme and era.
Introduced in 1966 as part of a new line of locomotives based on EMD’s new 645-series prime mover, the 3,000 horsepower turbocharged GP40 was the pinnacle of four-axle freight locomotives in this new product line. Between 1966 and December of 1971, the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors produced over 1,100 GP40 locomotives for 28 US railroads, two Mexican railroads and Canada.
Each highly-detailed Rapido GP40 comes equipped with exquisite multimedia see-through cooling fans produced under license from Cannon and Company, separately applied metal grab irons, wire handrails with plastic stanchions, etched metal windshield wipers and walkway steps and a full complement of underbody detail including traction motor cables, air reservoirs, air dryers, different fuel tank capacities, and much more. At the heart of every Rapido GP40 is a heavy die-cast metal chassis encasing a precision can motor with flywheels. The provided motherboard includes not only a 21-pin DCC plug with optional ESU Loksound 5 sound decoder, but also Rapido’s “Mo-Power” keep-alive circuitry to provide smooth operation over temporary electrical gaps under DCC.
Lighting features include illuminated LED headlights, number boards, walkway lights, ground lights and where applicable – classification lights, rooftop strobes, ditch lights or oscillating Gyralites per prototype.
Road names for this inaugural GP40 production include:
- Canadian National (GMD GP40 – large noodle or stripes)
- Canadian National (GP40R – ex-IC)
- Illinois Central (GP40R Deathstar)
- MKT (Missouri-Kansas-Texas 1982+)
- Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac (block scheme 1989+)
- St. Louis Southwestern (Cotton Belt, 1966+)
- Union Pacific (1997+)
- Western Pacific (silver and orange 1970+)
- Wisconsin Central (1994+)
Multiple road numbers are offered per livery.
DC+DCC+Sound GP40s equipped with ESU Loksound 5 decoders carry a suggested $349.95 MSRP, while DC silent units with a 21-pin DCC plug retail for $239.95 each.
Non-sound DC Loco+Slug sets carry a MSRP of $449.95 USD, while DC+DCC+Sound Loco+Slug sets are $669.95.
Available now direct or from authorized hobby dealers while supplies last.
Rapido Trains, www.rapidotrains.com
The St. Louis Southwestern Railway – known informally as the Cotton Belt, was a wholly owned subsidiary of the Southern Pacific Railroad. Until the 1990s, SSW owned the only non-Dash-2 GP40s on the entire Southern Pacific system. Delivered in 1966, Cotton Belt’s GP40s were numbered 7600-7607 and featured the standard SP warning light package and an “extended-vision” window arrangement enabled by a thinner vertical window post ahead of the engineer’s seating position.
With its prototype constructed in November of 1969, MKT 226 represents one of 79 GP40s on the roster of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad. Built without dynamic brakes, this GP40, along with sister MKT 227 became the slug “mothers” permanently assigned to supply electricity to the traction motors of MKT Slug 501.
Available with the MKT and UP GP40s is a replica of MKT 501 in matching paint. MKT 501 is a slug whose prototype was rebuilt from a wrecked MKT GP40. Each slug also features lighted number boards and a precision drivetrain with can motor and flywheels driving all four axles.
