16 Burlington Northern SD40-2's on my Layout

[wesolint]

Nice looking lot. I believe that BN had either a rotary beacon (pre 1989) or ditch lights (post 1989) but not both at the same time. I have quite a collection myself but not finished to the level of detail you have. Nice work.

[88junor]

I would like to see your entire layout in person. Do you happen to live close to Tennessee by chance? Because I run BN, Santa Fe, and BNSF, but my favorite road is Burlington Northern. I actually built my first custom SD40-2B at 15. just so you know. BTW great looking equipment!

[richsd40]

@88junor I don't check Mike's video comments very often--sorry. No, we live in Mass. However, if you ever want to talk BN, my personal Email is richsd40@aol.com I WILL answer you!

~Rich

[hobbeekid]

S E W E R P I C K L E S !!!!

[whyroader]

 imagine, 16 consists rolling 1 by 1 on to your main line! and are all of those dcc?

[7nordic]

yes the gen RT are an excellent detialed RTR locomotive ..Arehte thearn RTR Gen 3 in BN still available?

[crazyfvck]

Stupid question.. How does one go about re-numbering a loco? Does the entire unit have to be repainted, or can you just buy a number decal with a colored background to cover the old number?

[richsd40]

@crazyfvck Not a stupid question at all. I made a series of videos showing how I do it. Go back through Mike's videos. I think there's 5 or 6 parts. It's really easy.

~Rich

[htc6600]

Great job but there are a couple of things I'd like to see. There are no brake lines between cylinders on the trucks. It's a detail that a lot of people overlook but if you're going to the level of detail that you are, adding these would be a necessity. I guess my other pet peeve are plastic handrails. They don't square up and it trashes the look of an otherwise great locomotive. It's worth the time and effort to install brass stanchions and learn how to bend the handrails yourself.

[richsd40]

@htc6600 I agree with you 100% I HATE these plastic handrails, mostly because they break and the Athearn ones come apart, which are a pain-in-the-ass! However, I have not had the time to do change them all, but the desire is there!!!! Not enough hours to do ALL that I want. Thanks for the comment, though. And since this video was made, I have bought and finished 8 more of these!

~Rich

[htc6600]

You can never have too many Dash-2's. Just think if those were real and you had 16 idling 645's; the sound would be awesome!

[funnelfan]

Man, that makes me want to get more of the BN SD40-2's. Looking at a photo of the 7209, it does have a air conditioner, but no antenna platform.

[richsd40]

@funnelfan That depends on the photo in the life of the 7209. For awhile the air conditioner was SF yellow, then other photos have it black. The railroads change many things sometimes on the locos throughout their lives. So, just pick a picture and that's what you do. It won't be right forever, but at some point it will.

[craftytiger]

I enjoyed seeing this video. Nice Job on the detailing. The only opinion that counts is your own, so if you're happy, that's all that counts.

I model these too, I didn't realize any BN locos, if only 2 had roof mounted AC units, thanks for the tip, I'll look up those #s on the roster sites.

[richsd40]

Thanks for the compliment! 7209 and 7210 seemed to do alot of pusher service on Crawford Hill, Nebraska and in Sheridan, Wyoming. I'm guessing the air conditioners were taken from Sante Fe, as for awhile, they were yellow. You can go to BN and Railroad photo archives, or Al Krug's "Tales from the Krug" website.

[richsd40]

Nope--there is NO BNSF on our layout! Our modeltime-period stops in 1995!

[usafisasome]

u mean bnsf

[richsd40]

Tonight, 1 week later, we planned to film some of these BN SD40-2s in consist pulling freight, but we were plagued with countless pile-ups and derailments--just one of those nights! We'll try again another time!

[richsd40]

Soon, in an up-coming session, we will film them in service, so stay tuned!

Rich

[richsd40]

The fans are correct from Athearn, as the model represents post-1980 SD40-2s, with Q-fans and silencer exhaust. The parts-- horns, beacons, drop-steps, MU hoses, cables, ditch-lights, plows, etc. are a combo of Detail West or Detail Associates. The extra decals are Microscale. These took alot of evenings to detail them and weather them, and thoughI know they are not perfect, they satisfy me. I appreciate all the positive comments, so Thanks in advance!

Rich

[Guilford88panam]

does he have factory fans from athearn in those or like cannon and co fans? they look amazing!

[conrailSD40guy]

These Athearn BN SD40-2s are generation 3 units, which means they came with factory install grab irons, hex drive, plastic fuel tanks, and the really good fans. They where released about a year and a half ago. Generation 2 Athearn SD40-2s had better fans than the originals, no grab irons, the new hex drive, but they still had the old frames with metal fuel tank. Then generation 1 Athearn SD40-2s are the originals with the bad fans, old fames with metal fuel tanks and the side body mounts.

[nuclearthreat545]

I love Burlington northern as much as i love UP

[bnsfrailnut]

very nice to see all that green

[guitar446]

very cool cant you tell me what detail parts company he used and what parts. thanks