Next Kato announcement

[milw156]

EMD SDP40F on Brooklyn locomotive works site. Now they will need to offer mix and match Hodge podge trainsets of at least 6 different railroads for them to pull. The Empire Builder used to have primarily CB&Q, BN,GN,NP,Milw,with an occasional UP,SP,RF&P and others
http://www.blwnscale.com/kato-sdp40f.htm

[jmlaboda]

Wonder if they'll consider a Santa Fe freight unit as well???  Unlike some other lines ATSF had little problem running these units...

[TiVoPrince]

While
SDP40 in Bloody Nose has been near top of my list for years. I'm still debating the Nscale vs. On30 dilemma so all on hold for now. Availibility of sets and individual "dogs dinner" variety passenger and baggage cars will go a long way to support this model.

Thank you Kato for validating my longstanding wildest dreams and desires...

[arbomambo]

A day late...already being discussed in product discussion

[peteski]

A day late...already being discussed in product discussion

Yeah, Product Discussion section - where new product announcements are posted.


Actually that discussion goes few months back... We just received a confirmation now. 
https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=36545.0

[bobdobbs]

I wonder if it will randomly derail on curves like the prototype!

[Ed Kapuscinski]

All the weight will be hung from the roof of the shell.

[davefoxx]

Oh, come on, guys.  Don't be so negative.  The SDP40F still looks good at a forty-five degree list to port and on the shoofly bypassing the wreck.





DFF

[Bob Bufkin]

Believe the cause was light weight baggage cars behind the engine.

[bobdobbs]

dont matter, I'm gettin' one!  Very cool engine, and the SD40-2 mechanism is tried and true, easy to DCC!

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Believe the cause was light weight baggage cars behind the engine.

I always heard it was that the water tanks for the steam generators were up in the upper corners of the car body, and they sloshed over bad track.

[Bob Bufkin]

The SDP40F was mechanically reliable but experienced several high speed derailments, causing the railroads over which Amtrak ran to impose speed limits starting in 1976-77. Although the "hollow bolster" truck design was suspected, this was never proved, despite extensive investigation by EMD, Amtrak and the Federal Railroad Administration. It was supposed that the steam generators and water tank may have made the rear of the engine too heavy. Later FRA investigations concluded that the actual culprits were lightweight baggage cars on most trains, which caused harmonic vibrations when placed directly behind the much heavier SDP40F.[4] Also playing a role was the sometimes poor quality of track the locomotive operated over.[5]:126

Whatever the derailment cause, the speed restrictions, along with electrification of Amtrak's passenger car fleet, led Amtrak to adopt the EMD F40PH as their standard passenger locomotive, which was based on the proven GP40-2 freight locomotive.

In 1984, Santa Fe Railway traded lower-power locomotives to Amtrak for SDP40Fs, reconditioned under the name SDF40-2 for use as freight locomotives. They replaced the hollow HT-C bolsters with conventional HT-C bolsters, converted the below-frame combination fuel/water tank to an all-fuel tank, removed the above-frame water tanks (replacing these with concrete ballast) and used the engines for nearly 15 years. In exchange, Amtrak received 43 smaller locomotives for use in switching service.[5]:133

[peteski]

Bob, if you quote some source it is helpful (and customary) to include the info about where you obtained the quote.

[bobdobbs]

+1  Looks like Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMD_SDP40F

[bbussey]

Officially announced a few minutes ago.

http://www.katousa.com/N/SDP40F/index.html
www.katousa.com/cgi-bin/dl/dl.pl?dl.mif,N-SDP40F-PhaseIBody.pdf