The 10 year old Kato SD45 mechanism that will be powering my model of Conrail 6147 has put many scale miles under its wheels. While working on the paint and decals on the shell I realized I should also pay the mechanism some attention.
Conrail’s SD40s were hard working locomotives. It inherited 118 of them from the Penn Central (originally from the PRR) and the CNJ. They proved to be more reliable than their bigger brothers, the SD45s, and as such served in much more widespread and longer service.
Conrail 6303 is an ex-Penn Central SD40. It is a Kato SD40 that I custom painted.
Conrail’s SD35 were mostly retired by 1985. A few survived being pressed into service during traffic surges, but their dilapidated condition shows that their time was running out.