@Dj'sOgaugetrains posted:It’s a Nick-name. Google image a Canadian National wide cab SD40-2
Wonder who came up with such an incorrect "Nick-name"? I've always heard those referred to as "Super Cabs", or "Wide Nose".
@Hot Water posted:Wonder who came up with such an incorrect "Nick-name"? I've always heard those referred to as "Super Cabs", or "Wide Nose".
I can tell you it wasn’t me! 😇 anyway, I’m really looking forward to these.
@Hot Water posted:Wonder who came up with such an incorrect "Nick-name"? I've always heard those referred to as "Super Cabs", or "Wide Nose".
Those CN units pre-dated "Super Cabs" and "Wide Nose". I also saw them called "Safety Cabs" and "Comfort Cabs". The CN developed them with EMD to be more comfortable for the crews in the harsh Canadian winters.
I saw the older cab style called "Spartan Cabs" as well. You can probably thank the guys from the railfan magazines.
Scott just posted actual photos of the various SD40-2's on the 3rd Rail site. Have to say the MoPac units look nice!
@Texas Eagle 77 posted:Scott just posted actual photos of the various SD40-2's on the 3rd Rail site. Have to say the MoPac units look nice!
I agree Ricky !!! Actually they ALL look nice !!! I can’t wait for delivery !!!!!
Going back to the first post on this thread and it is dated 09/2016. It's been a long road to get here, but I think it was certainly worth the effort.
I don't know why, but it took a very long time for this project to get traction. Reservations were sluggish for several years. When reservations grew to the critical level, we swiftly scheduled design and production. But COVID caused havoc with our teams as lock down after lock down disrupted their workers. Design usually takes 3-4 months, it took nearly 2 years. After the lock downs were lifted, things started to move again, but there were a lot of errors. Corrections were ignored and Jonathan had to review the same drawings at least 3 time, sending the same corrections again and again. It was a daunting task.
We didn't let production start until all corrections were adhered to and confirmed to us. Production started in November of 2023 and again, usually this only takes about 3 months, but it's been 6 months since they started. This time the delays were due to the huge numbers of detail configurations for the 30+ Road Names planned. But our team at the factory diligently organized production and powered through the difficulties. Now here we are, almost done.
Finally, these are finishing production with painting and lettering complete and assembly, testing and boxing up. They plan on ordering a container the first week of May. It takes about 1 month from that point to receive them, probably the first week in June. Those with reservations will receive shipping information once the container is on-board. It was a wild ride, but from the pictures I share with you on our web site, these are fine scale models through and through. Yes, there will be some errors, there always are. But as a modeler myself, perfection is something to strive for, but never attained. Our goal is to capture the essence of the prototype, which I whole heartedly think they did.
I hope all of our customers enjoy these models when they arrive. As always, we are here to swiftly and efficiently take care of any problems that arise from shipping.
I want to thank the many people that assisted us in reviewing and correcting drawings and photos of the production samples; Jonathan being the point man. THANK YOU. And to our many patient customers, I can't believe how long you can wait for these models. It's amazing. What a lucky business owner I am to have such supportive help and customers. THANK YOU. It's why we are still in business. Onward...
Sincerely,
Scott Mann - Sunset Models / GGD / ERR
Those units are very impressive!
The Conrails have Flexicoil trucks and class lights as per prototype
Nice work Scott, Jonathan and company
AMAZING effort to launch a model in so many roads and variations! In my opinion, this was a release of three distinct models: SD40-2, SD40T-2, and GMD SD40-2W. I can only imagine the research that had to go into each paint scheme and road specific details.
I hope this is a success for 3rd Rail and that we'll see a rerun in the future. 
Great job and thanks Scott, Jonathan and Team!
What I would order in a new production run are
CN SD40-2W in the 1985 painted special, colorful scheme for EXPO '86 VANCOUVER
The ex-MP SD40-2 that was sold to the GRAND TRUNK WESTERN to become GTW 5936
Andrew
The pictures so far are stunning! 
There were 4 different SOO LINE SD40-2 paint schemes. One choice for SOO LINE is not enough.
Andrew
