EMD SDP45

The SDP45 was a six-axle, C-C, 3,600-horsepower (2,680 kW) diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division of La Grange, Illinois. It was a passenger-hauling version of the SD45 on a stretched locomotive frame with an extended, squared-off long hood at the rear, aft of the radiators, giving space for a steam generator for passenger train heating. This steam generator placement followed the pattern set by the SDP35 and SDP40.

A few SDP45s remain in service, rebuilt to SD40-2 standards.

Original Owners

The Southern Pacific Railroad ordered their ten on May 9, 1966 with the units being placed in service between May 24 and July 26, 1967, initially on the City of San Francisco between Oakland and Ogden, and eventually used system-wide. As built, each unit carried 2,500 US gallons (9,500 l; 2,100 imp gal) of fuel and 3,000 US gallons (11,000 l; 2,500 imp gal) of steam generator water in a partitioned underframe tank. The steam generator was a Vapor Model OK-4740. SP's units had Pyle National Gyralights on the leading end, came with Nathan P-3 horns, and cost $317,156 each (SP's straight SD45's from the same period cost $290,788 each). Ordered with 62:15 gearing with the overspeed set at 72 mph (116 km/h), the gearing was changed to 60:17 (overspeed at 83 mph or 134 km/h) during 1968-1969. All except 3201 and 3207 would eventually be re-geared back to 62:15 once they entered commute service. After Amtrak took over long-distance routes in 1971, various units were leased to Amtrak for West Coast service (primarily on the Coast Starlight) until Amtrak purchased their SDP40F locomotives, while the rest were used in freight service and on Company specials. Beginning in 1973 the SDP45s were used for commuter service on the San Francisco Peninsula, replacing the Fairbanks-Morse Train Masters. SP's commuter service was demanding work and the locomotives required electrical modification to meet those demands. A "Passenger Start" switch was installed inside the cab electrical cabinet; in the "COMM" position the units were held in Parallel, in the "FRT/PASS" position normal transition was made. They stayed on the commute route (often working in freight service on weekends) until 1985 when Caltrain equipment arrived, and they were placed into freight service until their retirement, initially working out of Roseville, then in local and hauler service in the Los Angeles Basin. All were retired between 1986 (3208) and 1990 (3204) and sold for scrap.

The Great Northern Railway purchased eight SDP45s in 1967 to replace F-units on the Empire Builder. Normally paired back-to-back, they were also used singly leading F-units. These joined six smaller SDP40 locomotives ordered in 1966 for the Western Star. After the startup of Amtrak in 1971, Great Northern Railway successor Burlington Northern Railroad converted all fourteen SDP locomotives to freight service.

The Erie Lackawanna Railroad ordered 34 SD45Ms in 1969 and 1970. Intended for freight service, these units had a long metal head end; the extra space aft of the radiators had concrete ballast. Their longer frames permitted a larger fuel tank which gave the locomotives a greater range between fuel stops. Some sources say the second order for 15, delivered in 1970, were designated model SD45M by EMD rather than SDP45.

Roster

Rebuilds

One Burlington Northern Railroad SDP45 (photo of BN 6599) was retrofitted with an articulated four-axle truck by EMD, converting it to an A1A-B+B wheel arrangement. The middle traction motor in the lead truck was removed and placed in the rear truck. The rear truck, called the HT-BB, for High Traction B+B arrangement, was tested successfully (closeup of HT-BB truck) but has not been produced for sale to date (July 2015). This testing was not related to the development of the HTCR three-axle radial truck first seen under SD60 EMD 3 and SD60MACs, and made standard on the early SD70 series.

Southern Pacific Railroad 8691-8696 were SD40M-2 rebuilds done by Morrison-Knudsen. They were ex-EL 36??, 3668, 3666, 3665, 3662 and 3659. It is this group that most surviving SDP45s belong to.

Erie Lackawanna 3637 was wrecked and rebuilt into a slug.

Preservation

Erie Lackawanna Railroad 3639, later Conrail 6670, is listed as being preserved at the Virginia Museum of Transportation. However their collection listing does not show it.

References

• Photographs of SDP45s including the one-of-a-kind seven-axle unit
• Shine, Joseph W. (1992). Great Northern Color Pictorial - Volume 2: Division Assignment, Second Generation Diesels, The Big Sky Blue Era. La Mirada, CA: Four Ways West Publications. ISBN 0-9616874-7-9
• Strauss, John F. Jr. (1998). Great Northern Color Pictorial - Volume 5: Rocky's Robe of Many Colors. La Mirada, CA: Four Ways West Publications. ISBN 1-885614-22-5
• Sarberenyi, Robert. EMD SD45 and SDP45 Original Owners. Retrieved on August 27, 2006
• The UNofficial EMD Homepage. Retrieved on July 13, 2009
• EMD's SD45 and SDP45 - Original Owners. Retrieved on May 27, 2009
• Great Northern Empire - GN EMP SDP45 Roster. Retrieved on May 27, 2009
• Southern Pacific SDP45. Retrieved on May 27, 2009.
• Southern Pacific SD40M-2. Retrieved on May 27, 2009.
• Erie Lackawanna Railroad Survivors. Retrieved on May 27, 2009.
• Preserved EMD Locomotives - All except Cab Units and Switchers. Retrieved on May 27, 2009.
• The Virginia Museum of Transportation - Railroad Collection. Retrieved on May 27, 2009.
• deYoung, Larry (2004). "EL SDP45s !!". Diesel Era. 15 (5): 42. 
• "EMD Locomotive Reference Data". La Grange, IL: Electro-Motive Division of General Motors Corporation. January 1981: 45. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to EMD SDP45 locomotives.