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South Jersey S Scale Modelers

Conrail SD40-2 6745

Like my Conrail SD40-2 6469 this page is also dedicated the late Dave Bailey who passed 1-23-19. Dave was 1 of the pioneer “Modern” S Scale modelers in the early 1990s. A big difference is 6745 was OWNED by Dave as 1 of his prized possessions. I can confirm Dave had 2) SD40-2. The other Dave Bailey SD40-2 is owned by my good friend John Peters Jr. and is usually here for me to run as well.  They are both Overland OMI1740 which are “most correct” for Conrail with anticlimbers and dynamic brakes.  The Conrail experts say they have significant detail issues but there is no second place or a better run of SD40-2. It is 1 of 15 models made total. I bought 6745 from my friend Bert Mahr on 8-13-22. Bert also modeled Conrail and was good friends with Dave.

 

I frequently start off my project pages with a prototype photo but I cannot this time. I don’t know how Dave did it but 6745 was a SD50 built in 1984 likely before Dave painted this loco. Oh well - I am not repainting this probably ever.

 

This is the famed Dave Bailey hump yard in use at the 1990 NMRA/NASG/N-Trak convention in Pittsburgh Pa. Bill Roberts is running what might be 1 of Dave’s SD40-2.

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The intended project was pretty simple.  I did my “Overland” procedure of cleaning out old lube, add better pickups and update the decoder.

 

This had a very old decoder set up from back when motor decoders and sound decoders were 2 units that had to be programmed separately. I ripped it out instantly and threw it all away to add a TCS WOW4 decoder and DLG8 speaker. There was no recycle value to the old decoders.

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This is my most recent pick up wipers for the SD40-2. It is pretty simple with .020 phosphor bronze wire on the tops of the wheels. I do not depend on the frame for pick up. Both rails are wired directly from the truck to the decoder. That is a Miniatronics 2 pin plug running to the truck.

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I got lucky this runs pretty well out of the box with just a decoder upgrade. Overland drives of this era can be really problematic needing a lot of work to run well. I want to add snow plows at some point.

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Updated 1-10-23

All photos and content © Lanes Trains 2005-2023