Western Railroad Discussion > The Gap

One of the things I like about Rio Grande's SD40T-2 fleet is the "gap" between the front truck and the fuel tank. SP's T-2's don't have this feature, due to their larger fuel tanks.

Helper, Utah is down to one SD40T-2 working the dirt train. DRGW 5349 and 5371 arrived at Roper Yard this morning for 90-day inspections.

Here's the latest trace of the remaining six originally numbered D&RGW T-2's:

DRGW 5349 Arrived Roper UT 05/11/03 05:30

DRGW 5354 Arrived Kirby TX 05/11/03 06:06

DRGW 5371 Arrived Roper UT 05/11/03 05:30

DRGW 5377 Junction Received New Orleans LA 05/07/03 19:55

DRGW 5390 Arrived Helper UT 05/10/03 10:00

DRGW 5401 Arrived Galena Park TX 05/11/03 04:45

--James

---

I believe I saw it mentioned here in the past, but for those of us who are new since then, or like me, probably forgot, what was the purpose/reason for the shortened fuel tank?
--Mike

MagmaJctAz wrote:

> I believe I saw it mentioned here in the past, but for those
> of us who are new since then, or like me, probably forgot, what
> was the purpose/reason for the shortened fuel tank?
> --Mike

I'm just going to take a crazy stab at this, but I think the SD40T-2 has a longer frame than the SD40-2. So, the Rio Grande ordered their T's with the fuel tanks standard to SD40-2s, thus creating the "gap" to the front truck. The SP just took advantage of this gap and ordered their T's with longer fuel tanks.

I haven't heard the frame one before, but it could be true. The reasoning I have heard is they didn't need the large tank to run the DRGW tunnel motors from Denver to Salt Lake City or vise versa. Why haul around the "extra" fuel and weight if you don't need it.

Paul Birkholz
Sheridan, WY
http://www.mtnwestrail.com