EMD SDP45
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The SDP45 is a six-axle, C-C,
diesel-electric locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the power source is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving whee ...
built by
General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...
'
Electro-Motive Division Electro-Motive Diesel (abbreviated EMD) is a brand of diesel-electric locomotives, locomotive products and diesel engines for the rail industry. Formerly a division of General Motors, EMD has been owned by Progress Rail since 2010. Electro-Motiv ...
of
La Grange, Illinois La Grange ( ; often spelled LaGrange) is a village (United States)#Illinois, village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is a suburb of Chicago. The population was 16,321 at the 2020 census. History The area around La Grange was first s ...
. 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 Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...
for
passenger train A passenger train is a train used to transport people along a railroad line, as opposed to a freight train that carries goods. These trains may consist of unpowered passenger railroad cars (also known as coaches or carriages) push-pull train, ...
heating. This steam generator placement followed the pattern set by the SDP35 and SDP40.


Original owners

The
Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Railroad classes#Class I, Class I Rail transport, railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was oper ...
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 Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...
and Ogden, and eventually used system-wide. As built, each unit carried of fuel and 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 , the gearing was changed to 60:17 (overspeed at ) during 1968–1969. All except 3201 and 3207 would eventually be re-geared back to 62:15 once they entered commuter service. After
Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
took over long-distance routes in 1971, various units were leased to Amtrak for West Coast service (primarily on the
Coast Starlight The ''Coast Starlight'' is a Amtrak Long Distance, long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak on the West Coast of the United States between Seattle and Los Angeles via Portland, Oregon, Portland and the San Francisco Bay Area. The train, ...
) 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 San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
Peninsula Commute The Peninsula Commute, also known as the Southern Pacific Peninsula or just Peninsula, was the common name for commuter rail service between San Jose, California, San Jose and San Francisco, California, San Francisco on the San Francisco Peninsu ...
, 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 Caltrain (reporting mark JPBX) is a commuter rail line in California, serving the San Francisco Peninsula and Santa Clara Valley (Silicon Valley). The southern terminus is in San Jose, California, San Jose at the Tamien station with weekday r ...
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 The Los Angeles Basin is a sedimentary Structural basin, basin located in Southern California, in a region known as the Peninsular Ranges. The basin is also connected to an wikt:anomalous, anomalous group of east–west trending chains of mountai ...
. All were retired between 1986 (3208) and 1990 (3204) and sold for
scrap Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap can have monetary value, especially recover ...
. The Great Northern Railway purchased eight SDP45s in 1967 to replace F-units on the ''
Empire Builder The ''Empire Builder'' is a daily long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago and either Seattle or Portland via two sections west of Spokane. Introduced in 1929, it was the flagship passenger train of the Great North ...
''. 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 The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
in 1971, Great Northern Railway successor
Burlington Northern Railroad The Burlington Northern Railroad was a United States–based railroad company formed from a merger of four major U.S. railroads. Burlington Northern operated between 1970 and 1995. Its historical lineage begins in the earliest days of railroad ...
converted all fourteen SDP locomotives to freight service. The Erie Lackawanna Railroad ordered 34 SDP45s in 1969 and 1970. Intended only for freight service, these units had standard (angled) long hood ends, and the extra space aft of the radiators had concrete ballast where a passenger unit would have a steam generator and venting. Their longer frames permitted a larger fuel tank which gave the locomotives a greater range between fuel stops. EMD later redesignated these as SD45Ms.


Roster


Rebuilds

One
Burlington Northern Railroad The Burlington Northern Railroad was a United States–based railroad company formed from a merger of four major U.S. railroads. Burlington Northern operated between 1970 and 1995. Its historical lineage begins in the earliest days of railroad ...
SDP45 6599 was retrofitted with an articulated four-axle truck by EMD in 1983–84, converting it to an A1A-B+B
wheel arrangement In rail transport, a wheel arrangement or wheel configuration is a system of classifying the way in which wheels are distributed under a locomotive. Several notations exist to describe the wheel assemblies of a locomotive by type, position, and c ...
. 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 but advances in traction motors obviated the need for four-axle trucks. This testing was not related to the development of the HTCR three-axle radial truck first seen under EMD SD60s and SD60MACs and made standard on the early SD70 series.
Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Railroad classes#Class I, Class I Rail transport, railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was oper ...
8691-8696 were ''SD40M-3'' rebuilds done by Morrison-Knudsen. They were ex- EL 3654, 3668, 3666, 3665, 3662, and 3659. It is this group that most surviving SDP45s belong to.


Preservation

Erie Lackawanna Railroad 3639, later
Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busine ...
6670, was listed as being preserved at the Virginia Museum of Transportation, although the museum's collection list does not show it. It currently remains stored offsite at the VMT.


References

* 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. * Strauss, John F. Jr. (1998). Great Northern Color Pictorial - Volume 5: Rocky's Robe of Many Colors. La Mirada, CA: Four Ways West Publications. * Sarberenyi, Robert.
EMD SD45 and SDP45 Original Owners
'. Retrieved on August 27, 2006 *

'. Retrieved on May 27, 2009 *
Preserved EMD Locomotives - All except Cab Units and Switchers
'. Retrieved on May 27, 2009. *

'. Retrieved on May 27, 2009. * * {{EMD SDs C-C locomotives SD45P Passenger locomotives Diesel–electric locomotives of the United States Standard-gauge locomotives of the United States American Passenger Locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1967 Conrail locomotives Great Northern Railway (United States) locomotives Southern Pacific Railroad locomotives