U.S. Army SDP-45's ???

berkmeister · Unread post by **berkmeister** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 1:11 pm

Sunday afternoon, a friend and i were pacing a southbound NS freight on the Marion District south of New Paris on State Road 15. Behind the 2 NS engines were 3 six-axle engines that had flared-out radiators and a extra roof fan behind the usual 3 fans that would indicate a steam generator for pulling passenger trains. These were painted in red, white and blue stripes from front to back with a light blue scheme on the upper half and a dull silver scheme on the lower half. The engine numbers were 4670, 4671 and 4672. But i was surprised when i read "U.S. ARMY" below the cab windows above the engine numbers!!! These sure look like the rare SDP-45 model to me, i don't think i've ever seen this type of model before except in photos and HO-Scale models. To see these marked U.S. ARMY really intrigued me!!! Anyone know anything about these??? Berkmeister

MagnumForce · Unread post by **MagnumForce** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 4:07 pm

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/Locopi ... ?id=172480

4 axle and hep units, not steam generators. MK GP40ph-2

ConrailMan5 · Unread post by **ConrailMan5** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 4:15 pm

Looks like a Sdp45 frame with b-b trucks. Just another mk rail Frankenstein model.

Standard Railfan · Mon Jan 21, 2013 4:19 pm

So the US Army has some HEP equipped locomotives built for passenger service. Hmmmm. Does the Army have any place where they might need/want to run passenger trains?

MagnumForce · Unread post by **MagnumForce** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 5:02 pm

do you realize how long an sdp45 frame is? These were built from GP40s.

SD80MAC · Unread post by **SD80MAC** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 5:13 pm

Ex Virginia Railway Express commuter GP40PH-2's. Rebuilt by MKM/MPI. No idea why the Army owns them now but VRE retired them recently IIRC.

ConrailMan5 · Unread post by **ConrailMan5** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 5:14 pm

Standard Railfan wrote:So the US Army has some HEP equipped locomotives built for passenger service. Hmmmm. Does the Army have any place where they might need/want to run passenger trains?

Saw an article in trains about them running troop trains on csx between some base in Virginia and another place. Sorry about the ambiguity, I'll try to find the article

ConrailMan5 · Unread post by **ConrailMan5** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 5:19 pm

Looks like they have been canceled
http://news.fredericksburg.com/newsdesk ... obile=true

conrailman75 · Unread post by **conrailman75** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 5:21 pm

My friend was the conductor on that train with the army units, it was 19K.

Standard Railfan · Mon Jan 21, 2013 10:01 pm

ConrailMan5 wrote:Looks like they have been canceled
http://news.fredericksburg.com/newsdesk ... obile=true

Thanks for chasing that down. I was thinking we may be looking at something new.

Standard Railfan · Mon Jan 21, 2013 10:03 pm

MagnumForce wrote:do you realize how long an sdp45 frame is? These were built from GP40s.

About 65 feet IIRC. By definition, can it be an SD with four axle trucks?

Y@ · Unread post by Y@ » Mon Jan 21, 2013 10:20 pm

Standard Railfan wrote:About 65 feet IIRC. By definition, can it be an SD with four axle trucks?

No. They are not now, nor were they ever, SDP45's.

CSX_CO · Unread post by **CSX_CO** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 10:49 pm

Standard Railfan wrote:So the US Army has some HEP equipped locomotives built for passenger service. Hmmmm. Does the Army have any place where they might need/want to run passenger trains?

That or the things are basically an GP40-2 and they got them for a steal because no one else wanted them?

Practice Safe CSX

Mr. Tops · Unread post by **Mr. Tops** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 11:10 pm

They look longer, because they are. Originally GP40s with a lengthened frame and long hood to accomodate the HEP. Fuel tank is also smaller than original which gives the optical illusion that the unit is longer than what it actually is.

Firemedic Mike · Tue Jan 22, 2013 3:46 pm

ConrailMan5 wrote:Looks like they have been canceled
http://news.fredericksburg.com/newsdesk ... obile=true

That would have been an interesting sight: U.S. Army troop trains. Wonder what happens to the three locomotives and 10 cars now?

Ohiorailfan · Unread post by **Ohiorailfan** » Thu Jan 24, 2013 4:24 pm

They are apparently headed to the Wisconsin and Southern

60Tonner · Unread post by **60Tonner** » Thu Jan 24, 2013 8:19 pm

Firemedic Mike wrote:
ConrailMan5 wrote:Looks like they have been canceled
http://news.fredericksburg.com/newsdesk ... obile=true
That would have been an interesting sight: U.S. Army troop trains. Wonder what happens to the three locomotives and 10 cars now?

Interesting??? Interesting was back in 1968-69 when I was at Fort Eustis running troop trains with 2-8-0 steam and heavyweight passenger cars. Plus we ran those big ugly diesels with boilers.

60Tonner
714th Rail

Firemedic Mike · Fri Jan 25, 2013 1:58 am

That would be far more interesting.

Do you happen to have any pictures? I am always interested in military rail operations, yet when I enlisted I joined the one branch of the military that had little to no rail operations I know of. I have seen locomotives and or cars lettered U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force, and even U.S. Marine Corps, but other than an old Alaska R.R. caboose made into a station for the Auxilary and a tribute unit by (I believe) CV, never saw a Coast Guard loco or railcar.... Might make a good freelance model railroad though....

RailRoadFan.com

B1G - The Big Train

U.S. Army SDP-45's ???

U.S. Army SDP-45's ???

Re: U.S. Army SDP-45's ???

Re: U.S. Army SDP-45's ???

Re: U.S. Army SDP-45's ???

Re: U.S. Army SDP-45's ???

Re: U.S. Army SDP-45's ???

Re: U.S. Army SDP-45's ???

Re: U.S. Army SDP-45's ???

Re: U.S. Army SDP-45's ???

Re: U.S. Army SDP-45's ???

Re: U.S. Army SDP-45's ???

Re: U.S. Army SDP-45's ???

Re: U.S. Army SDP-45's ???

Re: U.S. Army SDP-45's ???

Re: U.S. Army SDP-45's ???

Re: U.S. Army SDP-45's ???

Re: U.S. Army SDP-45's ???

Re: U.S. Army SDP-45's ???