Any CNW fans remember the days when SD45's reigned supr

LAST EDITED ON Jul-17-02 AT 04:44 AM (EDT)

Hi all, I been at it again. I committed sacriledge to the BN, PC, and CR fans and did what any true CNW fan would do. Around 1983, the CNW had just gained entry to the Powder River Basin coal fields, and found themselves EXTREMELY power-short. The CNW management, always looking for a "cheap" stop gap fix, purchased SEVERAL second-hand SD45's from Conrail, and BN. The thought was to repaint/rebuild them into SD40-2 standards, and get another 20 years out of the old girls. Well, they rebuilt a grand total of three of them, one with a CAT diesel. The reason only three??? Remember the cheapness thing? Well, MoPac had just merged with the UP, and they had SD50's on order from EMD (in fact, they were in production at the time) The UP didn't want them, and cancelled the order. The CNW got a bargain-basement price for the units, and the SD45 rebuild program was put on hold. (This is also why the units did not have ANY CNW trademark items on them, they were built to MP specs...The same thing happned the next year when the SOO LINE backed out of their SD60 order, and CNW got them, albiet completely SOO-ized.)With the arrival of the SD50/60's the SD45's were removed as they failed, some never receiving CNW colors. Some were sold to other lines, like the WC, and others. Some went to LRC, M-K, and other rebuild shops, along with the CNW's original non-dynamic SD45's and still soldier on today on roads like KCS and UP (from SP) A few held on until after the "BORG" (UP merger) assimilated the CNW. So below is a tribute to this neat time on the CNW. The fonts and lettering is true-to-life, as pics were used for reference. If there is any intrest I will upload them. BTW, the original painters get 90% of the credit, as I did what CNW did and just patched the Reporting marks and added CNW ones and a few details. Let me know what you all think!!! (yep, No see-through windows yet, and Chip, if you read this, you told me to turn off something on my lettering thingy on the puter...HELP!!!!)Kelley

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RE: Any CNW fans remember the days when SD45's reigned , Gixxer86g, Jul-17-02, 05:10 AM, (1) RE: Any CNW fans remember the days when SD45's reigned, plainsman, Jul-17-02, 05:48 AM, (2) RE: Any CNW fans remember the days when SD45's reigned, tlml67a, Jul-17-02, 10:33 AM, (3) RE: Any CNW fans remember the days when SD45's reigned , henry3, Jul-17-02, 11:55 AM, (4) RE: Any CNW fans remember the days when SD45's reigned, joha107, Jul-17-02, 05:02 PM, (5) RE: Any CNW fans remember the days when SD45's reigned, Gixxer86g, Jul-18-02, 07:21 AM, (6) RE: Any CNW fans remember the days when SD45's reigned, akajim, Jul-18-02, 01:20 PM, (7) RE: Any CNW fans remember the days when SD45's reigned, ace6879, Jul-18-02, 02:26 PM, (8) RE: Any CNW fans remember the days when SD45's reigned , ssw, Jul-18-02, 02:34 PM, (9)

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Very nice!!!!The CNW is a fovorite.One of the great things about this forum is the tons of stuff I've learned here.SD45's are among my favorite locomotives.Many railroads stayed away due to perceived higher maintenence costs.In reality,along with the SD40,they are some of the best locos ever built.Roundhouse Richie'the ace loco(and anything else with a motor) mechanic from the NYSW used to say that he'd take 1 old, decrepit SD45 over 2 brand new B40-8's any day.

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Actually, it was fuel consumption rather than reliability, that did in the SD45. A SD40-2 could equal or outperform a SD45 in almost all areas except high speed service, at lower operating cost, largely because it used less fuel. Few RRs could use the high speed benefit of the SD45, and thus prefered the SD40 or especially the SD40-2. Santa Fe, which had lots of high speed routes, used the SD45 and SD45-2 to advantage.
Bob

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Looks great - by all means - please share and upload when possible.Thanks!!! Michael

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Looking good, Kelley! Now we just need the Powder River Basin to run 'em on...though I suppose that the IC2 would make a good substitute. <g>Henry

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LAST EDITED ON Jul-17-02 AT 05:07 PM (EDT)

you beat me too it, hehe . that was my next project. oh well. looks really, really good. can't wait to d/l those. great job. the only thing i would suggest is too make the steps on the black one yellow instead of white and lose the white blocks on the frame. other than that it looks great. joeTKW

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I've read that a lot of railroads stayed awy from the SD45's because of the 20 cyls, vs. 16.But,like the SD40's,and any other old Chevy they turned out to have extremely long lives.

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I remember Kelley !!!! Ron K of Rockford

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Hey Ron, They use to come into Belvidere every day for a while. Usually a SD40-2 and a SD45 combo. I actually ran one of these out of town when I was 16. we had the 6500 and the 6879. "Bubba" (Real name too) Let me run her all the way to Marengo. Two nights later, Ii was the other way around, and I ran my first Sd40-2 (6879/6534) God I miss those days!!!
Kelley

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>Hi all,
>
> I been at it again. I committed sacriledge to the BN, PC,
>and CR fans and did what any true CNW fan would do.
Who's got the stake , lighter fluid and Matches? I'll bring the fire ants! :-P

Bradley Linda

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