InterMountain - 69303S-05 - Locomotive, Diesel, EMD SD40-2 - Canadian National - 5283

Model Information: InterMountain first introduced this model in 2010, and has produced two additional runs, in 2012 and in 2018. The run announced in January 2015 is based on the newest Intermountain chassis (see below); initially announced to be delivered in Sept. 2015, it was actually delivered in February 2018.

The design of the chassis is very much similar to the Atlas SD50/60 mechanism. This particular model appears to employ a slightly modified version of the chassis/mech used by Intermountain in their 2008 SD45-2 model. It sports all the features one normally associates with "modern" diesel models - IE, DCC-Ready / split-frame / all-metal chassis, 5-pole / skew-wound / "slow speed" motor, dual flywheels, low-friction drive, bi-directional LED lighting, all-wheel drive and pickup (no traction tires), blackened / low-profile wheels, shell-mounted magnetic knuckle couplers, all-plastic gearing, etc.

Comment from Intermountain for the 2015 announced release: The InterMountain Railway Co. N scale SD40-2W has been manufactured with the 4-window safety cab, the snow shields over the air inlets and the distinctive stairwells and handrails. The model features include: sharp painting and lettering, etched metal details and wire grab irons. All locomotives are factory equipped with ESU sound decoder or ESU non-sound decoder. DC only is available for N scale.

Note that the shells are likely not to be interchangeable between the 2010/2012 and the 2018 releases; the newest one is fitted with a light pipe for the headlight with a LED installed on the central PCB, whereas on the older one, the headlight is lit with a wired LED installed at the front of the chassis.
The ditch lights on this model are decorative only and non-operating.

DCC Information:
Models produced up to 2012 accept the following plug-in decoders (non-sound):
- Digitrax DN166I0: 1.5 Amp Decoder for Intermountain N scale SD40T-2 / SD45T-2.
- TCS IMD4-W: BEMF decoder designed to fit Intermountain N scale SD40-2W.

Note from Intermountain:
The N Scale SD40-2W requires soldering for the headlight and reverse light. These decoders come with pre-soldered LED lights that must be removed (except for the TCS IMD4-W). Note their location soldered on the DCC decoder. For all manufacturers' decoders, the existing wired LED lights used on the factory DC board need to be soldered to the DCC decoder the location of the previously removed pre-soldered LED lights (or as directed for the TCS IMD4-W). If the lights do not illuminate, simply reverse the wires of the individual LED and try again.

Models produced from 2018: From the run announced in 2015, this model is proposed factory-equipped with either a non-sound DCC decoder (models suffixed by "D") or a sound DCC decoder (models suffixed by "S"), both from ESU - LokSound Select Direct Micro or LokPilot Micro. The new associated design induced significant delays, and the new models have been actually released in February 2018.
The factory-equipped DCC board (sound or non-sound) comes fully equipped with operational LEDs for rotary beacon and front/rear ditch lights. This makes it possible to later install those for locomotives not factory-equipped with them.

DCC manual for sound and non-sound versions can be downloaded from InterMountain Instructions Library - N Scale web page.
ESU LokSound file #93820 can be downloaded from IMRC DCC Assistance web page.
ESU are proposing a replacement board for this model in the case where you would like to add sound into a DC or DCC-silent version: the LokSound Select Direct Micro ref.73199.

Also accepts the following plug-in decoders (non-sound):
- Digitrax DN166I3: 1.5 Amp Mobile Decoder that fits InterMountain N Scale SD40-2 released 2017

Prototype History: The EMD SD40-2 is a 3,000-horsepower (2,200 kW) C-C diesel-electric locomotive built by EMD from 1972 to 1989. The SD40-2 was introduced in January 1972 as part of EMD's Dash 2 series, competing against the GE U30C and the ALCO Century 630. Although higher-horsepower locomotives were available, including EMD's own SD45-2, the reliability and versatility of the 3,000-horsepower (2,200 kW) SD40-2 made it the best-selling model in EMD's history and the standard of the industry for several decades after its introduction. The SD40-2 was an improvement over the SD40, with modular electronic control systems similar to those of the experimental DDA40X.

Peak production of the SD40-2 was in the mid-1970s. Sales of the SD40-2 began to diminish after 1981 due to the oil crisis, increased competition from GE's Dash-7 series and the introduction of the EMD SD50, which was available concurrently to late SD40-2 production. The last SD40-2 delivered to a United States railroad was built in July 1984, with production continuing for railroads in Canada until 1988, Mexico until February 1986, and Brazil until October 1989. As of 2013, nearly all built still remain in service.

The GMD SD40-2W is a Canadian-market version of the SD40-2 diesel-electric locomotive, built for the Canadian National Railway by the Diesel Division of General Motors of Canada Ltd. (formerly General Motors Diesel) of London, Ontario; 123 were constructed between May 1975 and December 1980. The major difference between the SD40-2W and a regular SD40-2 is the fitment of a wide-nose Canadian comfort cab, commonly denoted by adding a 'W' in the model name (although the GMD designation on the builders plates remained 'SD40-2').

The SD40-2 has seen service in Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Guinea. To suit export country specifications, General Motors designed the JT26CW-SS (British Rail Class 59) for Great Britain, the GT26CW-2 for Yugoslavia, South Korea, Iran, Morocco, Peru and Pakistan, while the GT26CU-2 went to Zimbabwe and Brazil. Various customizations led Algeria to receive their version of a SD40-2, known as GT26HCW-2.

SD40-2s are still quite usable nearly fifty years after the first SD40 was made, and many SD40s and locomotives from the pre-Dash-2 series (GP/SD 40s, 39s and 38s, and even some SD45s) have been updated to Dash-2 specifications, possibly including downgrading from 20-645E to 16-645E engines, including, certainly, Dash-2 electrical controls, although the pre-Dash-2 frames cannot accommodate the somewhat similar HT-C truck in the space allocated to the Flexicoil C truck (the frame is not long enough). Most SD40-2s which remain in service have by now been rebuilt "in-kind" for another 30 to 40 years of service, although a few (under 30) have been rebuilt to incorporate a 12-cylinder EFI-equipped 710G engine.

From Wikipedia
Read more on American-Rails.com

Road Name History: The Canadian National Railway Company (reporting mark CN) is a Canadian Class I railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec that serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN's slogan is "North America's Railroad". CN is a public company with 24,000 employees. It had a market capitalization of 32 billion CAD in 2011. CN was government-owned, having been a Canadian Crown corporation from its founding to its privatization in 1995. Bill Gates was, in 2011, the largest single shareholder of CN stock.

CN is the largest railway in Canada, in terms of both revenue and the physical size of its rail network, and is currently Canada's only transcontinental railway company, spanning Canada from the Atlantic coast in Nova Scotia to the Pacific coast in British Columbia. Its range once reached across the island of Newfoundland until 1988, when the Newfoundland Railway was abandoned.

Following CN's purchase of Illinois Central (IC) and a number of smaller US railways, it also has extensive trackage in the central United States along the Mississippi River valley from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. Today, CN owns about 20,400 route miles (32,831 km) of track in 8 provinces (the only two not served by CN are Newfoundland & Labrador and Prince Edward Island), as well as a 70-mile (113 km) stretch of track (see Mackenzie Northern Railway) into the Northwest Territories to Hay River on the southern shore of Great Slave Lake; it is the northernmost rail line anywhere within the North American Rail Network, as far north as Anchorage, Alaska (although the Alaska Railroad goes further north than this, it is isolated from the rest of the rail network).

The railway was referred to as the Canadian National Railways (CNR) between 1918 and 1960, and as Canadian National/Canadien National (CN) from 1960 to the present.

Read more on Wikipedia.

Brand/Importer Information: InterMountain was founded in 1985 by Fred Brummet. They got started in the model railroad business by producing O-Scale model kits. They got started in the N Scale business almost a decade later when in 1994 they introduced the 40-23 reefer car in kit form. Later, in 1998, they started producing RTR (Ready-to-Run) models. By the early 2000s, InterMountain phased out kit production in favor of the RTR models.

The InterMountain Railway company is located at 1224 Boston Ave in Longmont, CO. They are a manufacturer of HO, N and Z scale model trains. They have produced kits as well as RTR (Ready-To-Run) models. Their N Scale products include locomotives as well as rolling stock. Their rolling stock lineup includes Boxcars, Hoppers, Tank Cars, Reefers, Gondolas, Stock Cars and Flatcars.

Their locomotive releases have primarily been diesel units, with the one major exception being their series of AC-12 Cab Forward steam locos. Their diesel lineup includes F3's, F7's, F9's, SD40's, SD45's and FT units. They are known for quality and detail. They also release their rolling stock in larger varieties of road numbers than most of the other manufacturers.