In the new Lionel catalog they are showing SD-40 locos. Does anyone here know if the SD-40 and SD-40-2 have the same exterior profile? In other words, is the only real world difference the "guts" of the loco?
For example, does the SD-40 have the same large "back porch" as the SD-40-2?
The reason I ask is that I missed the SD-40-2 from a couple of years ago and if the SD-40 is the same from a cosmetic point then I'll just order the new version.
Thanks!!
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No they are not the SD40 is shorter then the SD40-2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMD_SD40-2
It's shorter. SD40 = 65' 8"
SD40-2 = 68' 10"
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SD40-2 would have been a better option for Lionel to do IMO.
Well maybe with the modular designs in tooling, they can do the -2 in the future. Hopefully so, and if they do, they must address the roof top details for all the western roads. AC, antenna, antenna stands, piping for the horn etc etc. It's a difference of night and day between the flat cab roof, and full decorated with all those little details.
Just look at the Atlas GP60's in SP and SF. That to me is road specific detail and accuracy 
I looked up on lionel site the SD40-2 is 17 inches but the new SD40 does not have size no where if they are the same length. I looked at both pictures and the SD40 looks like the plateform is shorter.
Well maybe with the modular designs in tooling, they can do the -2 in the future. Hopefully so, and if they do, they must address the roof top details for all the western roads. AC, antenna, antenna stands, piping for the horn etc etc. It's a difference of night and day between the flat cab roof, and full decorated with all those little details.
Just look at the Atlas GP60's in SP and SF. That to me is road specific detail and accuracy
About the only part the 40 and 40-2 have in common would be the fuel tank and the fans. Pretty much everything else is different.
The SD40 locomotives were built in the late 1960's and early 1970's.
The SD40-2 locomotives were built in the middle 1970's to early 1980's.
Andrew
The SD40 is a great model for LIONEL to produce, because some people would like to have locomotives that operated between 1968-1999.
Andrew
Laidoffsick i can tell the back plateform is shorter then the sd40-2 from the picture.
Atlas has already done the SD-40. The only major diesel class yet to be done in three rail is a GE Dash-7 B class (four axle) which would have been a better choice IMHO.
Lionel already did the SD40-2 that coincided with the delivery of Legacy control systems. It's the only Legacy loco I own and totally out of step with what I prefer in motive power...too modern and CN. At the time there just wasn't anything conveniently available up here in Legacy and the price of the SD40-2 seemed very reasonable.
Bruce
The issue with Lionels Sd40-2 was it's undersized fuel tank.
You can't beat a sd40-2 with a full scale size fuel tank!
I like Atlas and I like their SD40. Having said that, this new Lionel model will be superior in my opinion. Why? They will have Legacy control, Legacy RailSounds, LCS sensor, Road specific details, and most of all the Vision Line style pilots. These are the only game in town for those of us that can't stand to see gaps between frame and pilots. Now I don't have to fix my own pilots anymore... Sold.
I wonder if they can do the Canadian National SD40 since it has some very specific detail placements for bells and lights. The CN SD40s have a roof overhang behind the cabin.
Andrew
It is a nice looking engine but not at 650-520 street. I will go with the Atlas model if I need one but I do not have a yearning for a SD-40, if it was a SD-40-2 I may have a need for it but again not at 520.00.
The biggest spotting difference between an SD40 and a -2 are the trucks. SD40s used Flexicoil trucks and -2s rode on HTCs The HTC trucks had a strut in the center.
Conrail still used the Flexicoils on their -2s.
I have 6 Atlas SD40s and they are as detailed as any engine I've seen, short of a brass model. Based on what I've read about the Lionel SD40s in the new catalog and the Notch 6 podcast with Mike Reagan I'm fairly confident that the Lionel model will surpass the Atlas model in detail. It's already a given that it has it over Atlas as far as operating features and sound (LEGACY vs TMCC).
If anyone has the resources (personnel and money) to pull it off it's Lionel and no one else.
I guess we'll find out in 10 months or so but I'll predict now that the new Lionel SD40 will make others forget that Atlas ever did an SD40.
It is a nice looking engine but not at 650-520 street. I will go with the Atlas model if I need one but I do not have a yearning for a SD-40, if it was a SD-40-2 I may have a need for it but again not at 520.00.
Oh I'm sure the new Atlas stuff will come with a hefty price increase as well.
Yep, -2 already done. One of the few diesels that I have bought in a while. CSX; I see
them in the yards in Mobile - switchers now.
The GM&O had SD40's (not -2's), and Atlas did them. I wish Lionel would.
The GM&O also owned the very first (one of the first?) SD40 ever built - it was yet another length (shorter) and was built on the SD35 frame. A few others were built, and they were actually termed SD40X (sometimes SD35X). There were 9 of them, and the UP owned the other 8.
Better yet, it still exists, at least as of last year.
SD40-2 would have been a better option for Lionel to do IMO.
Probably not. Lionel has been doing SD40-2s for many years, and has done a lot of them. I have the Soo Line one from 2001, so they go back at least that far, and I know they were still being cataloged in 2013 (Legacy equipped, of course).
The long rear porch is the most easily recognizable difference (the SD40 is the top photo, and the SD40-2 is in the bottom photo). The porch is very long on the -2, and the engine is overall a longer engine. When -2s are MUed back to back, there's a big gap between the engine bodies (bottom photo). The front porch is somewhat longer as well. There are also considerable differences on the roof equipment, as well as trucks, as has been mentioned. Of course, the interior engine, electrical systems, and everything else was completely different.
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