EMD SDP45 - Original Owners

Original Owners

The Southern Pacific Railroad ordered their ten on May 9, 1966 with the units being placed in service between May 24 and July 26, 1967, initially on the City of San Francisco between Oakland and Ogden, and eventually used system-wide. As built, each unit carried 2,500 US gallons (9,500 l; 2,100 imp gal) of fuel and 3,000 US gallons (11,000 l; 2,500 imp gal) of steam generator water in a partitioned underframe tank. The steam generator was a Vapor Model OK-4740. SP's units were built with Pyle National Gyralights on the leading end, came with Nathan P-3 horns, and cost $317,156 each (SP's straight SD45's from the same period cost $290,788 each). Ordered with 62:15 gearing with the overspeed set at 72 mph (116 km/h), the gearing was changed to 60:17 (overspeed at 83 mph/134 km/h) during 1968-1969. All except 3201 and 3207 would eventually be re-geared back to 62:15 once they entered commute service. After Amtrak took over long-distance routes in 1971, various units were leased to Amtrak for West Coast service (primarily on the Coast Starlight) until Amtrak purchased their SDP40F locomotives, while the rest were used in freight service and on Company specials. Beginning in 1974 the SDP45s were used for commuter service on the San Francisco Peninsula, replacing the Fairbanks-Morse Train Masters. SP's commuter service was very demanding work and the locomotives required electrical modification in order to meet those demands. A "Passenger Start" switch was installed inside the cab electrical cabinet; in the "COMM" position the units were held in Parallel, in the "FRT/PASS" position normal transition was made. They stayed on the commute route (often working in freight service on weekends) until 1985 when Caltrain equipment arrived, and they were placed into freight service until their retirement, initially working out of Roseville, then in local and hauler service in the Los Angeles Basin. All were retired between 1986 (3208) and 1990 (3204) and sold for scrap.

The Great Northern Railway purchased eight SDP45s in 1967, to replace older F-units on the Empire Builder. Normally paired back-to-back, they were also used singly leading F-units. These joined six smaller SDP40 locomotives ordered in 1966 for the Western Star. After the startup of Amtrak in 1971, Great Northern Railway successor Burlington Northern Railroad converted all fourteen SDP passenger locomotives to freight service.

The Erie Lackawanna Railroad ordered 34 AC130s in 1969 and 1970. Intended only for freight service, these units had a long metal head end; the extra space aft of the radiators had concrete ballast. Their longer frames permitted a larger fuel tank which gave the locomotives a greater range between fueling stops. Some sources say the second order for 15, delivered in 1970, were designated model AC130 by EMD rather than SDP45.