Lanes Trains S Scale Southern Railway SD40-2 3233

Southern SD40-2 3233

This loco is Overland Models 1745 released in 1983. There were 10 of them made. This run of S Scale diesels had some models with low numbers made as part of a larger SD40-2 project. Buying a Southern Railway loco was very off track of my usual modeling. The southeast railroads had elaborate paint schemes especially for the E units. This is known as the “Tuxedo” paint scheme.

I found this internet photo sitting with other Conrail and Norfolk Southern locos was the winner in choosing 3233 as the number.

These 2 photos are courtesy of Warren Calloway.

This loco was also bought at the Ted Mauer auction on 6-22-19 with my Norfolk Southern B32-8 and Norfolk Southern GP38-2 In the past 2 years I have become interested in the high hood versions of the 2^nd generation of EMD locomotives. In S Scale that makes them RARE models. This is the first photo I took when I got it home. Yes I now see it is off the track!

This is the Overland “Tank Drive” stock out of the box C 1983. The big problem with this is each truck picks up power from 1 rail with only 3 wheels of contact. I flip the wheels on 1 truck so 6 wheels on each side pick up each rail. I make 2 wipers for the insulated side.

This has a WOW4 decoder. The DLG8 speaker fits perfectly in the dynamic brake area. This is the drive after some considerable effort, LUBING the entire loco, adding a coupling between the gearbox and motor, changing to plastic Overland driveshafts, and wiring for DCC. I do not use flywheels anymore. The decoder does a better job creating momentum.

On the track and running on 7-2-19

Completed 4-23-20

This paint is not great. It is a good 2 footer paint job at best. When I started working on it again in 2020 I was continually waiting for the deal breaker so I would strip it and start again for Norfolk Southern. There is no thin yellow stripe on the bottom of the white band on the real Southern SD40-2. This model had the thin stripe but was not completed! There was about 6 inches missing on the long hood. My thoughts were to make the bottom yellow stripe go away completely or complete the stripe. I found some yellow stripes from a Reading diesel set that was the same width and pretty close in color so I completed it. Right after I started adding the cab numbers and Southern decals I was happy. It just POPPED. I added low M U boxes and the drop steps on the pilots. I added a 5 chime horn at both ends and the hanging bell on the long hood.

This might not be the best model example of the Southern High Hood SD40-2 but it is good enough for me. I have not done any weathering in a while. This is actually the second loco in a row I gloss coated. My weathering needs some refreshing and new ideas.

This is posing with my custom made Norfolk Southern Heritage caboose with the Southern logo on the side.

Revised 4-23-20