Sci-FiFleetAdmiral Posted November 4, 2015 Hey fellow EBers, I'd like to present my second-ever train MOC, and the one I'm most proud of; a Burlington Northern EMD SD40-2 Burlington Northern EMD SD40-2 by Joshua, on Flickr Here's the engine without the base: EMD SD40-2 without base by Joshua, on Flickr The SD40-2 was introduced in January 1972 as part of EMD's Dash 2 series, competing against the GE U30C and the ALCO Century 630. Although higher-horsepower locomotives were available, including EMD's own SD45-2, the reliability and versatility of the 3,000-horsepower (2,200 kW) SD40-2 made it the best-selling model in EMD's history and the standard of the industry for several decades after its introduction. The SD40-2 was an improvement over the SD40, with modular electronic control systems similar to those of the experimental DDA40X. Peak production of the SD40-2 was in the mid-1970s. Sales of the SD40-2 began to diminish after 1981 due to the oil crisis, increased competition from GE's Dash-7 series and the introduction of the EMD SD50, which was available concurrently to late SD40-2 production. The last SD40-2 delivered to a United States railroad was built in July 1984, with production continuing for railroads in Canada until 1988, Mexico until February 1986, and Brazil until October 1989. As of 2013, nearly all still remain in service. The SD40-2 has seen service in Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Guinea. To suit export country specifications, General Motors designed the JT26CW-SS (British Rail Class 59) for Great Britain, the GT26CW-2 for Yugoslavia, South Korea, Iran, Morocco, Peru and Pakistan, while the GT26CU-2 went to Zimbabwe and Brazil. Various customizations led Algeria to receive their version of a SD40-2, known as GT26HCW-2. SD40-2s are still quite usable nearly fifty years after the first SD40 was made, and many SD40s and locomotives from the pre-Dash-2 series (GP/SD 40s, 39s and 38s, and even some SD45s) have been updated to Dash-2 specifications, possibly including downgrading from 20-645E to 16-645E engines, including, certainly, Dash-2 electrical controls, although the pre-Dash-2 frames cannot accommodate the somewhat similar HTC truck in the space allocated to the Flexicoil C truck (the frame is not long enough). Most SD40-2s which remain in service have by now been rebuilt "in-kind" for another 30 to 40 years of service, although a few (under 30) have been rebuilt to incorporate a 12-cylinder EFI-equipped 710G engine. Source, Wikipedia --------------------------------------------------------- This model has been in existence for several years, but just now reached the stage where I'm comfortable posting it, as all the previous versions were, quite frankly, abysmal. worth noting is that this model was blogged on The Brother's Brick: http://www.brothers-...0-2-locomotive/ Although you can't see it in these photos, the model features working front lights. Hope you all like it! C&C welcome! Cheers, Joshua Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
THERIZE Posted November 4, 2015 wow that thing looks so epic! I love the snot lettering. all those grills and fans look great! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lady K Posted November 4, 2015 Very well done! The SD-40 has always been my favorite since I grew up in a small railroad town. The terrain is great as well. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zephyr1934 Posted November 4, 2015 What an excellent piece of work. Though if you want to show off the locomotive you do need to extract it from the equally well done landscape. Using strictly brick built techniques it would be hard to do better. There are only two things I see. First, perhaps a half plate offset on the cheese bricks on the nose so they line up smooth. Second, if you didn't care about being able to put minifigs in the cab you could do a brick built set of windows to replicate the fact that the green line splits the cab windows (e.g., replacing the black 1x2 tile next to the cab window in this MOC with green and black 1x1 tiles... an earlier version of the cab build can be found in the REC reveal of RB2). Don't get me wrong though, these suggestions are minor. Meanwhile, is it built to run or is it built for display? It does look like there could be room to fit PF in that 6 wide hood, but that would require reworking those fantastic trucks. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
xboxtravis7992 Posted November 4, 2015 Well done. I see Union Pacific's SD-40N locomotive's all the time were I live. Your model looks like a good depiction. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sci-FiFleetAdmiral Posted November 4, 2015 (edited) wow that thing looks so epic! I love the snot lettering. all those grills and fans look great! Thanks! I spent alot of time trying to get those letters just right, so I'm very glad you like them! Very well done! The SD-40 has always been my favorite since I grew up in a small railroad town. The terrain is great as well. Thank you Lady K! It's always been my favorite too! What an excellent piece of work. Though if you want to show off the locomotive you do need to extract it from the equally well done landscape. Using strictly brick built techniques it would be hard to do better. There are only two things I see. First, perhaps a half plate offset on the cheese bricks on the nose so they line up smooth. Second, if you didn't care about being able to put minifigs in the cab you could do a brick built set of windows to replicate the fact that the green line splits the cab windows (e.g., replacing the black 1x2 tile next to the cab window in this MOC with green and black 1x1 tiles... an earlier version of the cab build can be found in the REC reveal of RB2). Don't get me wrong though, these suggestions are minor. Meanwhile, is it built to run or is it built for display? It does look like there could be room to fit PF in that 6 wide hood, but that would require reworking those fantastic trucks. Wow! Thank you so much! The cheese wedges are only like they are because I wanted to make the nose lights actually work, and in order to do that I had to make this> http://alpha.brickli...e?P=32000#T=Cso fit in the nose, so the cheese wedges had to be pushed out like that. Otherwise they would have lined up like the set below them. I thought about that, but I decided that having two minifigs fit in the cab was more important to me than having the stripe be completely accurate. I originally built it just for display, since it can't go around standard Lego curves, but I found it can run on larger curves, composed of alternating straight and curve track pieces, and through some experimentation I developed a truck built around the nine-volt motor piece, that can be switched out with the brick-built truck on the front or back of the locomotive. It still can't run on switch track sadly, but at least it can run! Well done. I see Union Pacific's SD-40N locomotive's all the time were I live. Your model looks like a good depiction. Thank you! I have plans someday to build this in Union Pacific colors, so it's funny you mentioned that. Cheers, Joshua Edited November 4, 2015 by Sci-FiFleetAdmiral Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LEGO Train 12 Volts Posted November 4, 2015 Amazing masterpiece! I love this locomotive and I like also the background of this beauty: the ballast and the grass! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dr_spock Posted November 4, 2015 Nice job. I like your brick built BN. I think BN railroad should spend some money and weed spray their mainline. That lack of maintenance doesn't look good for a class I railroad. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RacerGTR Productions Posted November 5, 2015 Now that's seriously cool and realistic, i like how your train fits with its surrounding! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sci-FiFleetAdmiral Posted November 5, 2015 (edited) Amazing masterpiece! I love this locomotive and I like also the background of this beauty: the ballast and the grass! Thank you! I'm very glad the background has received a lot of attention, as I spent a surprising amount of time on it. Nice job. I like your brick built BN. I think BN railroad should spend some money and weed spray their mainline. That lack of maintenance doesn't look good for a class I railroad. Thank you dr_spock! LOL! I tried to make it as realistic as possible, and believe it or not, out West here in the US there is a surprising amount of weeds on some of the lines. Now that's seriously cool and realistic, i like how your train fits with its surrounding! Thanks! I worked hard to make sure the surroundings were as realistic as possible, so I'm glad you like it. Cheers, Joshua Edited November 5, 2015 by Sci-FiFleetAdmiral Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
xboxtravis7992 Posted November 5, 2015 Nice job. I like your brick built BN. I think BN railroad should spend some money and weed spray their mainline. That lack of maintenance doesn't look good for a class I railroad. Besides, who said it was the mainline? A lot off SD-40's work branchlines now :) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zephyr1934 Posted November 6, 2015 Makes total sense, and still looking great Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Man with a hat Posted November 6, 2015 Great work. Also the scenery is very good. And I love those brick built lettering. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dr_spock Posted November 6, 2015 Thank you dr_spock! LOL! I tried to make it as realistic as possible, and believe it or not, out West here in the US there is a surprising amount of weeds on some of the lines. Well, you are certainly doing a good job with the realism. Besides, who said it was the mainline? A lot off SD-40's work branchlines now :) That could be the case. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Duq Posted November 7, 2015 That's a really nice engine. I love brick-built logo's when possible. And as has been mentioned before, your presentation is awesome! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kieran Posted November 7, 2015 Wow, looks so good and on the base, well done Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sci-FiFleetAdmiral Posted November 8, 2015 Makes total sense, and still looking great Again, thank you so much! Great work. Also the scenery is very good. And I love those brick built lettering. Thank you! Glad you like it. Well, you are certainly doing a good job with the realism. That could be the case. Thank you dr_spock! That's a really nice engine. I love brick-built logo's when possible. And as has been mentioned before, your presentation is awesome! Thanks Duq! I'm so glad the base is being noticed and appreciated. Wow, looks so good and on the base, well done Thank you kieran! Cheers, Joshua Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
