The GP40-2W's are in....

[lock4244]

Yes, as the Ms got older they kept them strictly down east. Is CN still running out of fuel? I thought trip opti-mizer would have cured that.

I don't see too many pics of anything MLW west of Sudbury floating around the internet or in books, but I know for a little while the 2000's and 2300's were considered front line power east of Symington. By the time I started going trackside in the late 80's it was rare to see any MLW's venture north out of Toronto except to make a run up to Sudbury or North Bay. They were ever present on the Kingston, Oakville, Grimsby, and Dundas Subs though.

As far as I know CN still manages to run out of fuel... it's in their nature to push everything past it's limits. How else they gonna show better earnings every quarter? 

[spookshow]

Although the mechanisms are essentially identical, the chassis on the GP40-2W actually does have a few minor differences as compared GP38/39/40 chassis (presumably to accommodate the smaller fuel tank and the differently shaped lighting features inside the shell).



-Mark

[peteski]

And this model still has the ESU decoder.

[simsuper80]

Just got mine. The ditchlights are bearly even visible. I thought they were not working at first, then I had to look very carefully.

[lock4244]

Just got mine. The ditchlights are bearly even visible. I thought they were not working at first, then I had to look very carefully.

Still no power supply to test mine... many be next week. IIRC the ditchlights on the Rapido C40-8M aren't overly bright, seem to be about the same as the headlights. There's a good difference in brightness between the headlight and ditchlights on the GP40-2W?

[kscessandriver]

Just got mine. The ditchlights are bearly even visible. I thought they were not working at first, then I had to look very carefully.

That sounds a lot like the SD60E's that Atlas put out with ditch lights. It's inherent to the design of the lights on the board, IIRC.

[kscessandriver]

Just got mine. The ditchlights are bearly even visible. I thought they were not working at first, then I had to look very carefully.

Just got mine in today. While I wouldn't say the ditch lights are barely visible, they certainly aren't bright. But I do like the number boards can be turned on and off with a separate function. I'm happy with mine, I just feel lucky to have grabbed a Huron Central one when I happened to see it.

[mu26aeh]

In regards to the ditch light issue, I wonder why they don't use the design for the C40/CW40-8s that used the seperate LED board.  Cut a slot in the nose of chassis, boom, easy peasy ditch lights

[kscessandriver]

In regards to the ditch light issue, I wonder why they don't use the design for the C40/CW40-8s that used the seperate LED board.  Cut a slot in the nose of chassis, boom, easy peasy ditch lights

I actually just opened mine up. It's got the same, ditch lights on the front of the DCC board, but it does actually have light pipes that direct the light down to the ditch light housings. So it seems better to me.

[mu26aeh]

See spookshow's report

http://www.spookshow.net/loco/atlasdash8c.html

No light pipes needed, LEDs are lined up right behind the ditch lights.

[kscessandriver]

See spookshow's report

http://www.spookshow.net/loco/atlasdash8c.html

No light pipes needed, LEDs are lined up right behind the ditch lights.

Yeah, the ones with the individual boards down there are pre-Sound era locomotives by Atlas. If you scroll down, you'll see the board that is similar to that in the GP40-2W. They have built a containment area, with light pipes directly off the end of the decoder, to allow the light to get to the ditch lights, and well headlight for that matter.

[lock4244]

So I finally got my hands on a power pack and tested them on a section on Unitrak. They run well enough, no issues there, but they all emit a loud humming noise, like a transformer. That's a new one to me... these are all DC, no decoder, no sound. Not sure if it's an actual issue, but have never experienced this before with any make of locomotive.

One has a more white headlight than the balance, which tend towards the yellow. The ditch lights are pretty dim as mentioned by others.

[cv_acr]

Here's a visual on the taller frame on the GP40-2L (left) vs. GP40-2 (right):

http://acsoosub.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=5886928

The extra frame height pushes the walkway height up, extending the spacing between the ladder steps (bottom step is still at the same height above the rail) and is most noticeable in the height of the end of the bolster above the jacking pads.

If you don't have the two different units directly coupled though, the most visual difference is the larger fuel tank on the L version, as well discussed earlier.

[peteski]

So I finally got my hands on a power pack and tested them on a section on Unitrak. They run well enough, no issues there, but they all emit a loud humming noise, like a transformer. That's a new one to me... these are all DC, no decoder, no sound. Not sure if it's an actual issue, but have never experienced this before with any make of locomotive.

One has a more white headlight than the balance, which tend towards the yellow. The ditch lights are pretty dim as mentioned by others.

If these locos are also sold with factory installed decoder,  maybe you got one of those by accident?  It would still work in DC, but the buzzing would be the decoder running the motor?  Maybe?

The other possibility is that your DC pack puts out rectified unfiltered DC (at either 60 or 120 Hz, depending on the rectifier).  Maybe that causes the motor's rotor to buzz (it might have some loose iron laminations).

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Here's a visual on the taller frame on the GP40-2L (left) vs. GP40-2 (right):
http://acsoosub.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=5886928

Lol, looks like an "Intermountain vs Kato" SD40-2 comparison...