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Rio Grande owned a total of 73 SD40T-2 locomotives, nick-named "tunnel motors"
for their unique radiator arrangement which drew intake air from deck-level
grilles at the rear of the unit. This was designed to more efficiently
cool the engines when inside tunnels by drawing air from lower down.
Arguments occur over how effective the technique was, but what is not argued is the fact that
these units were highly successful in a demanding role. Rio Grande's SD40T-2s came in several groups, as shown in this
table.
| Number Range |
Date Purchased |
Comments |
| 5341 - 5355 |
Oct 1974 |
"Short"
(81-inch) nose. (All SD40T-2s were delivered in the billboard
"Rio Grande" scheme.) |
| 5356 - 5366 |
July 1975 |
"Short" nose |
| 5367 - 5373 |
Aug 1975 |
"Short" nose |
| 5374 - 5385 |
Jan 1977 |
"Long" (88-inch) nose |
| 5386 - 5397 |
Aug 1978 |
"Long" nose. Low-nose light mounted in external box. |
| 5398 - 5413 |
Mar 1980 |
"Long" nose. Leslie horns. |
The photos below are arranged numerically wherever possible. Final disposition data is shown in
green.
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No. 5347 -- Nov. 1991, leading a unit coal train with 9 units, about to enter Tunnel 1. No, the hill's not really this steep! This unit is featured in my
Detailed Photos
section.The 5347 was retired on 11/28/2001.
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Top: No. 5348 -- leading a hot freight at Coal Creek (July 1986).
Bottom: No. 5348 at Denver's North Yard (west side) in November
1990. It's in the middle of a road consist, preparing to hook onto a
westbound train.
The 5348 was wrecked on Nov 22, 1994 at Pando, along with fellow Tunnel Motor
No. 5370.
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No. 5350 --
Dec. 1991, leading a unit coal train (with 8 units) down the front range, about to enter Tunnel 1.
This unit is featured in my
Detailed Photos
section. The 5350 was repainted into Southern Pacific colors prior to the UP merger. Since then it has been repainted again, as Union Pacific
No. 8609.
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Three views of No. 5352 -- repainted into Southern Pacific colors prior to the UP merger, this unit was photographed at Campbellton, TX on the rainy afternoon of 3/23/2001.
This unit, and other repaints of the SP era, originally had a small "D&RGW" caption under the cab numbers.
By 2001 they are gone from the 5352.
The 5352 was renumbered to UP 8610 10/8/2001, retired 12/26/2001, and went to a scrapper 4/15/2002.
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No. 5355. Brad Hoeme photo.
The 5355 was repainted into Union Pacific colors and numbered 4043, then renumbered 8613.
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TOP
No. 5356 leads two fellow Tunnel Motors and a GP30 (not visible) out of Coal Creek canyon, Thanksgiving Day 1982.
 BOTTOM
No. 5356 as she appeared on Nov. 8, 2002, working near Valley Junction, TX.
Do the math, that's nearly exactly 20 years between these images. Bryan
Flint photo
The 5356 was patched to
UP8614 on 1/10/03, then renumbered as UP7877 around 10/20/2003. |
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No. 5357 leads five tunnel motors towards Price, east of Soldier Summit, in April 1998.
Note the box on the nose where the lights used to be. (Dennis Walts photo)
The 5357 was renumbered to UP 8615 on 12/28/1999.
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SD40T-2's 5358 and 5362-- Four Tunnel Motors and an SD45 are exiting Coal Creek with the CSDPU unit train, bound for Colorado Springs, in April of 1984.
Both of these units now wear UP colors, as # 4046 and 4049, respectively.
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No. 5359 -- Aug. 18, 1996 running second on a coal train, at Cotopaxi,
CO. An access door is open, showing a fire extinguisher.
This unit was repainted in UP colors on 4/20/1999 as # 4047, and renumbered later to # 8617
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No. 5361, leading the MDVPU manifest freight through Sedalia on 4/26/2001.
Three other tunnel motors (including one Espee unit) are trailing.
No. 5361 was retired Nov 28, 2001 and subsequently sold
(see the Deadline feature for later photos). |
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No. 5364 -- Aug. 1996, at Cotopaxi, CO. with a coal train.
This was three weeks prior to the UP merger. The power for this train
consisted of three Rio Grande tunnel motors and one EMD lease SD40-2. You
can see more photos here.
This unit was repainted and renumbered as UP # 4051, as of 9/20/1999, renumbered to 8621, and as of 28 Dec 2001 wears
No. 2893.
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Top: No. 5365 on Nov. 20, 1991 at Tunnel 1 (same train as
the 5347 shot). There were 9 units on this coal train: 4-3-2. This one is part of the
swing helper (mid-train set).
Bottom: July 20, 1994 in the fog at the same location, but facing the other way. It was
running as swing help, in tandem with EMD SD70M demonstrator # 7000, on the
eastbound CSUX train.
The 5365 was patched as UP 8622 on 5/07/2002.
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SD40T-2 No. 5366 and SD50 No. 5515 are the lead two units of a four-unit swing helper pushing at
Glenwood Springs, CO
on June, 1995. The other two
units were a speed-lettered ex-SSW SD45T-2 and a SP SD40M. The 5366 was
smoking up a storm on this day! The 5366 has repainted into Union Pacific colors and renumbered 4053 on 12/12/97, renumbered
again to 8623 in May 2000, and renumbered yet again to 2894 in January 2003. |
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The former
D&RGW No. 5369, now UP No. 4056, sits third in an eastbound consist in the yard at Tucson, AZ on 3/31/2000. For a fairly recent repaint job, the upper stripe is in pretty poor shape!
It looks like the Mars light is gone, but the horn is still over the cab.
Shortly afterwards, it was renumbered to 8626.
In the linked photo, it is seen with a westbound rail train at Coal Creek Canyon on August 14, 2001.
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No. 5371 at Rocky, running second on the MRODV train on 11/25/2000. Horn is moved, class lights and Mars light gone, but looking good nonetheless.
She also appears on my
Helper page.
As things turned out, this would be the last active D&RGW unit not
repainted or renumbered by Union Pacific. In a last-minute reprieve,
UP decided to keep her in her original paint until retirement. In 2008 she
finally left for Cheyenne, where she was stored until being donated to the Ogden Rail Museum in 2009.
BOTTOM: Here she's seen in Helper, UT on November 10, 2001. |
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Top: SD40T-2's No. 5376 and 5373 are the swing helper on an eastbound PSC unit coal train at Tolland, CO.
on
Nov. 22, 1994.
Bottom: No. 5376, about two years later, at Cotopaxi, CO
(8/18/96). Here it shows the SPL modifications.
The 5373 was patched to UP 8628 (6/27/01), and retired 8/29/01.
Subsequently it went to Balfour Beatty and numbered 203 (with a solid blue paint
scheme). UPDATE As of 9/30/2009, it is now on the
San Luis & Rio Grande, working out of
Alamosa.
See
my photo essay on the ex-5373.
The 5376 was patched to 8631 10/30/01
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No. 5381-- Viewed in North Yard, Denver in the summer of 1997. Steve Walden photo.
The 5381 was repainted into Union Pacific colors and renumbered 4065, then to 8635.
This is how it looked in UP paint as #
4065. Brad Hoeme photo.
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No.5385 leading the MRODV at Rocky on 11/25/2000. The Mars light gone, but the patch has been re-striped, and
she's looking good.
(Here's another
photo, from April 26, 2001)
The 5385 was patched as UP 8638 on 12/08/01.
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No. 5389,
after patching to UP 8582. Note the external box for mounting the low-nose
Pyle light, though it is blanked over by this time. Most of the structural
modifications appear to be SP-era. Bryan Flint photo.
The 5389 was patched on Aug 11, 2001, and retired at the
end of January 2003. |
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No. 5390, in Helper on November 10, 2001. The usual Espee modifications are evident.
Multiple other views can be found
here. Three other tunnel motors are also included.
No. 5390 was patched to UP 8583 on 10/25/2005, being the second-to-last active
Rio Grande tunnel motor in original paint/number until that time.
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No. 5392 is westbound at Tucson, AZ on March 12, 1995.
It's got ditch lights, relocated horns, and SP-style number boards.
The 5392 was retired on 2/27/01.
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No. 5393 leads five SD's on a long westbound drag at East Pinecliffe on 7/21/94.
The 5393 was repainted into Southern Pacific colors prior to the UP merger,
and renumbered to UP 8586 on 8/29/01. |
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No. 5395, seen Nov. 20, 1991 at Tunnel 1. You can see the external low-nose headlight box.
This unit is featured in my
Detailed Photos
section. The 5395 was repainted into Union Pacific colors and renumbered 4018, then renumbered to 8588 on 3/26/1999.
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No. 5401, on November 10, 2001 in Helper, Utah.
Multiple other views can be found
here. Three other tunnel motors are also included.
No. 5401 was renumbered to UP 8594 6/30//2005.
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No. 5403 is surrounded by SP units but on home rails at
Cotopaxi, CO on
Aug 17, 1996 The 5403 was repainted into Union Pacific colors and renumbered 8595 on 12/1/1999.
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Top: No. 5404 is running second on
the westbound Z train (priority intermodal), doing 70 mph alongside I-70 just east of
Parachute. (8/11/99)
Bottom: Here's another look. You can see she still carries her nose lights, though the horn has been moved to the long hood.
The 5404 was retired at North Little Rock on 6/03/2000,
sold by UP in December 2001, and reported seen in East St. Louis, missing parts (Jan 2006).
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SD40T-2 Nos. 5405 and 5351, SD45 No. 5316, and tunnel motors 5362
and 5358, are leading the CSUX unit train at Coal Creek, April 8,1984.
The 5405 was retired on 2/27/2001.
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Top:
No. 5413, the highest-numbered tunnel motor, in the siding at Silt with a dead manifest train on 8/3/98.
Bottom: The opposite side is seen here, from across Interstate 70.
The 5413 was retired on 12/19/01, and subsequently sold to the Wheeling & Lake Erie, where it currently retains its original paint.
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