Eastern Railroad Discussion > 2 handbrakes on 2 same motors from 2 different RRs

Caught CSXT Q452-30 at Martin Street waiting for a signal led by HLCX SD40-2 #HLCX 6328 and CSXT SD40-2 #CSXT 8380. What caught my eye was that the two motors each had a rear porch handbrake, so I took the opportunity to take some photos with the results below. This is such a rare find, and I wasw very excited to have caught these two rare motors. I hope you enjoy the photos!

Photo 1: Porch handbrake on HLCX SD40-2 #HLCX 6328.
Photo 2: Porch handbrake on CSXT SD40-2 #CSXT 8380.
Photo 3: Both porch handbrakes on HLCX SD40-2 #HLCX 6328 and CSXT SD40-2 #CSXT 8380.

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Alot of SD40's had rear brakewheels. Even though both of those
are called SD40-2's, they're actually rebuilt SD40's.

I was just going to say that the rear handbrakes were found on SD40's not Sd40-2's.

Wow, I did not know both were SD40s. I thought the CSXT SD40s are in the 4600 series?

CSX rebuilt most of their SD40 fleet in 1989 to SD40-2 specs.8302-8437 series are the original CSX numbers of said SD40 units as they kept their then current numbers during upgrading. The 4600's are unrebuilt units renumbered for yard service.
Larry

mgwsy1978 Wrote:
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> I was just going to say that the rear handbrakes
> were found on SD40's not Sd40-2's.


It's a phase change. EMD switched to the rear-mounted stand in late 1966... you'll find it on SD38s, SD40s and SD45s... no SD39 was built before 10/66... so they all have rear-mounted stands.

That was a good place to put them-----out of the way and on the spacious back porch, especially with the amount of bags/grips we have to carry through the front door........

Robbman Wrote:
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> mgwsy1978 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I was just going to say that the rear
> handbrakes
> > were found on SD40's not Sd40-2's.
>
>
> It's a phase change. EMD switched to the
> rear-mounted stand in late 1966... you'll find it
> on SD38s, SD40s and SD45s... no SD39 was built
> before 10/66... so they all have rear-mounted
> stands.


I have never known an SD45 to have rear mounted hand-brakes on the back porch.

SantaFeRuss

Yeah, I was gonna post about that too...I think he meant on the
rear, as in, under the right radiator. They were up in the nose
on the SD45's too, before being moved back there. SCL had some
SD45's that had no handbrakes (no notch in either location)

csxt4617 Wrote:
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> Yeah, I was gonna post about that too...I think he
> meant on the
> rear, as in, under the right radiator. They were
> up in the nose
> on the SD45's too, before being moved back there.
> SCL had some
> SD45's that had no handbrakes (no notch in either
> location)

Okay, you got my curiosity going on the SCL 45's with no handbrakes. I'd love to hear 'the rest of the story'. ;-) Thank you.

SBD had alot of units without handbrakes, some from the L&N side too.
The L&N GP35's had the notch in the nose for a handbrake, but it was
empty. Some of the GP30's were the same way (4088 had a handbrake).
The U25B's had no brakewheel either. Most of the SD35's and SDP35's
also had either an empty notch, or no notch at all. Even ex-WM SD35
4577 ended up without a handbrake at some point. I don't know the
story behind them, but I believe they used a chain or something to
chock the wheels.

Is that what the chains hanging from the traction motors are for?


csxt4617 Wrote:
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I believe they used a chain
> or something to
> chock the wheels.

csxt4617 Wrote:
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> SBD had alot of units without handbrakes, some
> from the L&N side too.
> The L&N GP35's had the notch in the nose for a
> handbrake, but it was
> empty. Some of the GP30's were the same way (4088
> had a handbrake).
> The U25B's had no brakewheel either. Most of the
> SD35's and SDP35's
> also had either an empty notch, or no notch at
> all. Even ex-WM SD35
> 4577 ended up without a handbrake at some point. I
> don't know the
> story behind them, but I believe they used a chain
> or something to
> chock the wheels.
Well thank you. I'd never imagined it possible that units were built without handbrakes. With all the requirements the FRA demands and then to have 'em say handbrake!?........no, you don't need no stinkin' handbrake!! There's always something-thanks again.