FEATURES:

#1637 and #1641 never wore the Pulling for You slogan

#1651 and #1655 feature Pulling for You slogan

Phase I

Front and rear MU hose catch trays with reinforcing strip

MU hoses

Trainline hoses

Straight coupler cut levers

MU stand

Front and rear drop steps

81 nose with ratchet brake and headlights

Early cab with louvers

Cab mounted Pyle dual gyralight with glare shields and lower red light

Leslie S5 air horn

Firecracker antenna

No sunshades

Welded cab side plate with arm rest

Early bolted and hinged battery box doors with short louver

Early ECAFB

Early inertial intake grilles

Rounded blower housing

Early dynamic brake hatch

Standard raised exhaust

Chicken wire grilles

Standard see-through fans

Curved radiator fan grab iron

Rear drop step

Blomberg-B trucks with Hyatt bearing cap

Intermediate speed recorder mounted on left front axle

Salem air filter

Underframe mounted bell

2900 gallon fuel tank

Fully-assembled and ready-to-run

DCC-ready features Quick Plug plug-and-play technology with both 8- and 9-pin
connector

Scaled from prototype resources including drawings, field measurements,
photographs, and more

Accurately-painted and printed paint schemes

See through cab windows

Full cab interior

Standard cabs including sliding windows

Walkway tread

Fine-scale Celcon handrails for scale appearance

See through dynamic brake fans on locomotives equipped with dynamic brakes

Windshield wipers

Lift rings

Wire grab irons

Detailed fuel tank with fuel fillers, fuel gauges, breather pipes, and
retention tanks

Sander lines

McHenry scale knuckle couplers

o Kadee compatible

Genesis driveline with 5-pole skew wound motor, precision machined flywheels,
and multi-link drivetrain for trouble free operation

All-wheel drive with precision gears for smooth and quiet operation

All-wheel electrical pickup provides reliable current flow

Wheels with RP25 contours operate on Code 70, 83, and 100 rail

Incandescent bulbs for realistic appearance

Bidirectional constant lighting so headlight brightness remains constant

Heavy die-cast frame for greater traction and more pulling power

Packaging securely holds for the model for safe storage

Replacement parts available

Onboard DCC decoder with SoundTraxx Tsunami decoder

Sound units operate in both DC and DCC

o Some functions are limited in DC

o Engine, horn, and bell sounds work in DC

All functions NMRA compatible in DCC mode

Slow speed control

Program a multiple unit (MU) lashup with lead unity only horn, bell, and
lights

Lighting effects such as alternating ditch lights, Gyralight where
prototypically accurate

Many functions can be altered via Configuration Value (CV) changes

o CV chart is included in the box

In 1965, Electro-Motive Division introduced the 3000 horsepower GP40. With 1,264
GP40s constructed, it was a popular model. However, it was not without its
problems, some stemming from the high horsepower these engines produced. When
EMD introduced the Dash 2 line in 1972, the upgraded version of this
workhorse, the GP40-2, included many improvements. From the outside, the GP40-2
differed from its earlier iteration only in minor ways, with such Dash 2
spotting features as a roof overhang on the rear of the cab, a water-level sight
glass on one of the long hood doors (standard on Dash-2s, this glass was an
option on the previous generation of EMD models), a revised battery box design,
a pair of horizontal stiffening ribs on the blower housing and the redesigned
Blomberg truck sideframes the Blomberg M. Many railroads opted to use older
Blomberg B sideframes from units they were trading in, however. Internally, the
GP40-2 was a whole new locomotive, incorporating 40 or so component changes and
redesigns. Two major improvements were the improved Dash 2 electrical system, in
which the old maze of hardwired circuitry, relays, interlocks and switches were
replaced with solid state components that were much more easily diagnosed and
replaced should a problem arise. And, from a day-to-day operational standpoint,
the GP40-2 featured vastly improved adhesion and wheel-slip control. These made
the GP40-2 less slippery on the rails, and the EMD sales force wasted no time
trumpeting these features.


Perhaps because of the large number of GP40s already on the rails, sales of the
GP40-2 were modest, although they were sold to railroads spanning from Alaska to
Mexico, with a variety of options including with or without dynamic brakes, high
noses, equipped with steam generators for passenger service, a variety of fuel
tank sizes, and more.. As with most diesels built over a long period of time,
other external changes occurred over the years radiator grilles changed from
chicken wire to corrugated, nose lengths changed from 81 to 88, the earlier
fans were replaced with quieter Q-fans, side sill notches disappeared in
favor of straight side sills and the ribbed blower housings were switched to the
later free-flow angled blower housing.


Two railroads were impressed enough, however, to place large orders over the
course of the GP40-2s production run The Chessie System (Baltimore & Ohio,
Chesapeake & Ohio and Western Maryland) purchased 348 GP40-2s, and Canadian
National ended up placing orders for over 260 units. The GP40-2 family
eventually sold 1139 units.


The CN ordered their GP40-2s with Comfort Cabs, which featured the now-common
wide nose, designed by CN in cooperation with the locomotive builders. These
cabs included increased collision protection along with crew amenities such as
refrigerators, hot plates and even coffee pots. As these safer cabs were adopted
by more railroads over the years, eventually becoming standard from both EMD and
GE, the name evolved into North American Cab. CNs initial orders were
designated as GP40-2L by EMD, and these diesels were constructed with a more
lightweight frame (hence the L in the model designation), which resulted in a
side sill/walkway that sat slightly higher than the side sill/walkway on a
GP40-2. By the time of CNs final order in 1976 (units 9633-9677), the frame was
constructed to standard GP40-2 standards and, even with the Comfort Cabs, the
designation reverted to just GP40-2. For clarity, railfans chose to call them
GP40-2(W), in order to call attention to the then-non-standard cab/nose. Being
an unofficial designation, the W is set off in parenthesis.)


Other major railroads that purchased GP40-2s include Alaska Railroad, Boston &
Maine, Chihuahua-Pacífico, Conrail, Cotton Belt, Detroit Toledo & Ironton,
Florida East Coast, Frisco, GO Transit, Kansas City Southern, Louisville &
Nashville, Reading Company, Richmond Fredericksburg & Potomac, Rio Grande,
Seaboard Coast Line, Sonora-Baja California, Southern Pacific and Western
Pacific. The SP also purchased the only three GP40P-2 locomotives built, which
featured a longer frame to accommodate a steam generator for passenger service
at the engines rear. Canadas GO Transit purchased GP40-2(W)s equipped for
passenger service. Two Mexican railroads purchased 13 units (CH-P bought four
and S-BC acquired nine) with high noses that housed steam generators but, as in
the GP7 and GP9 days, carried the standard EMD designation GP40-2.


As a testament to the GP40-2s durability as well as signifying problems with
the later 50-series diesels, GP40-2 production continued even after EMD began
selling what was slated to be their replacement. In fact, the last GP40-2s
(Florida East Coast 433 and 434) were built a full year after the final GP50 was
constructed.