Chessie System SD40-2's in G Scale
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SD40-2 drawing by Michael Eby https://trainiax.net , painted by railfanmatt4
Chessie System was formed in 1973 by the merger of three railroads: Baltimore & Ohio, Chesapeake & Ohio, and Western Maryland. (B&O, C&O, WM.) The three railroads began operating as one system in 1973, and the very distinctive Chessie System paintscheme was an eastern railroading icon through the 1970's and 80's. Fourteen years after it began, Chessie System was folded into CSX in 1987.
For a large Class-1 system of this era, Chessie System owned a surprisingly small amount of SD40-2's! Only twenty! while other railroads of the time bought them by the hundreds. But for various reasons, Chessie only needed a relatively small amount of them for their needs at that time.
Chessie's twenty SD40-2's were ordered new from EMD in 1977, were assigned to the B&O, and were numbered B&O 7600 - 7619. (as this webpage is being written in 2022, 45 years later, all twenty are still operating with CSX! as CSX 8242 - 8261.)
EMD Builders photo, 1977
The stylized "C" in Chessie System on the side of Chessie System locomotives is "Chessie, the Railroad Kitten", who was an advertising mascot created by the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad in 1933, to advertise their new and improved line of passenger train sleeper cars, where you could "sleep like a kitten"
All model railroaders have reasons why they model what they model, and often it's related to where, and when, they grew up. It's the same with me! My hometown is "Waverly New York and Sayre Pennsylvania" (and yes, I said that correctly) 😉 I became a camera-toting teenage railfan in 1983, when I was 14 years old. I had just missed the LV and EL (I was only 7 years old in '76) and by the 80's Conrail was in town, with D&H and Guilford run-through trains in Waverly as well. As I took photos in Waverly and Sayre from '83 to '89, Conrail SD40-2's were everywhere, every day. Probably the single most common model on Conrail during this era. Which means, I love the SD40-2! 🙂 It's my favorite modern locomotive.
Two Conrail SD40-2's lead a westbound freight on Conrail's "Southern Tier Main", the former Erie/EL main. Waverly NY, 1986. Scot Lawrence
Conrail SD40-2 6496 has just left the former LV Sayre PA yard, and is headed north on the former LV main in Waverly NY, taking a coal train up to Ithaca. Waverly NY, 1985. Scot Lawrence
Chessie System was not one of my hometown railroads in Waverly/Sayre, but they did operate in Western New York, over on the former BR&P/B&O lines out of Rochester & Buffalo, about two hours west of Waverly on the Route 17 expressway:
Map of the BR&P Railroad. The BR&P was taken over by the B&O in 1932, then was part of Chessie System during the Chessie era, 1972 to 1986. My hometown of Waverly/Sayre is visable on the right edge of the map, on the old Erie, DL&W and LV mainlines.
Map showing the entirety of Chessie System, 1973 to 1987, where these SD40-2's roamed. Rochester NY was a bit of a "backwater" on the system, ;) at the end of a branch, but it still counts! :)
Salamanca, Rochester and Buffalo were slightly "out of range" for my home railfanning territory during my teen years of the 80's, (two to four hours away) and I never made it over there during the Chessie years, although Chessie System rolling stock and locomotives could be seen in Waverly/Sayre:
Chessie coal hoppers in Sayre PA, 1984. A common sight through the 80's, the coal was bound for the Milliken power plant north of Ithaca.
Chessie System locomotives on a D&H train, Waverly NY, 1985. Chessie locomotives were much less common here than the Chessie coal hoppers, but could still occasionally be seen.
But then! after college I moved to Rochester NY! where I have lived since 1995, now more than half my life. And Chessie System was a hometown railroad of Rochester. Today the Rochester & Southern Railroad runs on the former BR&P/B&O/Chessie out of Rochester, (only 5 miles from my house!) and sister road Buffalo & Pittsburg runs on the former BR&P/B&O/Chessie out of Buffalo.
So! That is a simplified version of why I'm building a trio of 1/29 scale Chessie System SD40-2's! 🙂
On to the models:
December 4, 2022
The last look at the "as bought" Chessie shells, and the two "doner" SD40-2's, before I begin taking them apart and working on the project!
The three Chessie System SD40-2 shells I bought direct from the manufacturer, USA Trains. They had a "clearance" sale on surplus shells a few years ago, I think they were about $50 each (which is a fantastic price, for G-scale) so I bought three! They all have the same markings and road number: C&O 6184, which is totally wrong. (As discussed above, all Chessie SD40-2's were B&O!) So im going to strip those marking and re-letter. And then I also have two "complete" USA Trains SD40-2's, that I picked up used on ebay over the past 5 to 10 years, these will be the doners for the trucks, electronics, fuel tank and handrails. Then I will need to find a set of running gear and handrails for the 3rd Chessie unit. (I wouldn't mind making the 3rd unit an unpowered "dummy" unit, depending on what I can find.)
Video 1, December 4, 2022:
December 10, 2022.
I ran the two Burlington SD40-2's for the last time in their "as delivered" state, at the Garden Factory Holiday Railroad, in Gates NY: https://www.gardenfactoryny.com/seasonal-events/model-train-display
Video 2, December 10, 2022:
December 24, 2022
Disassembly of the shells begins! taking off the cabs, removing the window "glass", in preparation for removing the lettering.
Video 3, December 24, 2022:
January 22, 2023
All lettering is removed! 🙂 I used acetone to remove the blue B&O lettering and the road numbers, and 91% rubbing alcohol to remove the silver outline on the cab windows, and the numbers in the numberboards.
Update: I said in the video above that I was going to use "Super Clean" to remove the cab lettering. I have used Super Clean before to remove lettering, I had good luck with it on Bachmann boxcars: (video link), but before I started on the Chessie cabs I read online about another method: Acetone, so I tried that, and it worked really well! 🙂 I dipped a q-tip in the acetone, and gently rubbed off the blue C&O lettering and the numbers. it took them off very cleanly, and only slighly impacted the underlying yellow paint. It did "dull" the yellow paint a bit, but I corrected that by spraying back over that area with the "Chessie yellow" spray paint I found, "Behr Premium, Blazing Bonfire gloss" - The acetone and the yellow paint worked great!
Additional work still needed on the cabs: Removal of the beacon and antenna on the roofs, fill with squadron putty, sand smooth and paint. Paint black outline (gaskets) on the cab front windows.
March 12, 2023
Cutting off and smoothing-out the roof-top light beacon and the "firecracker" antenna. I roughly cut them off with a jeweler's saw first, then cut them lower with a knife, then sanded smooth. next is filling with putty, sanding smooth again, then painting.
March 25, 2023
Making gradual progress! (i'm in no hurry)
Roof-top beacon lights, and firecracker antenna base, are fully removed, filled with putty, and sanded smooth:
Next (below) I did some cab window painting! painted the window "gaskets" black. I did this with one of my D&H GP38-2's a few years ago, the effect is *so* much better than the strange USA Trains silver paint borders. It's discussed in video 3 above, and you can also read more about it here: Link
I would prefer to not hand-paint those gaskets with black paint and a brush, because its not as neat and crisp as I would prefer.. but its the only way i can think of for now. I'm getting better at it!
I've decieded to modify the hand brake on the side of the nose. The models have the wrong style for Chessie, it will be easy to cut out and plate over. Im just going to cut out the exiting brake apparatus, fill in the hole with white styrene sheet, build it up to the correct profile, and add a brake wheel. (the USA Trains SD70MAC brake wheel should work, if they are available.)
And lastly (for today) I noticed the large "Chessie System" lettering on the long hoods will need some paint touch-up! G-scale diesels (and probably other scales too) have factory lettering applied by "paint stamping", a (probably rubber) stamp is coated with paint, then stamped on to the shell. But because of this stamping process, the paint doesn't usually make it down in to gaps and grooves, so I'll fill in that blue by hand with a small paintbrush. Chessie the kitten also needs her ear painted yellow! 🙂
May 28, 2023
Suffered a major paint fail! 😮😑😓 I found an excellent blue match in spray paint! the color match is virtually perfect! (Rustoleum, Gloss Protective Enamel, Navy Blue) but....
Sanded, masked, and ready to paint!
Sprayed on the first light coat of Rustoleum on the roof, that went fine, waited 24 hours and sprayed a second/final coat, and then.. disaster! 😮😞 major paint crazing:
All three cab roofs were hopeless.. 🥺 I had to sand off the bad paint and start over. That basically ended the project for the 2023 season.. (I can't paint indoors in the winter, I dont have a setup for that.).. So..I'll be back next year!
June 12, 2023
I got the third "doner" SD40-2! another BNSF unit, bought used on ebay. (with no handrails though!) 😐 These three units will donate their trucks, motors, fuel tanks, and all electronics to the three Chessie system frames and shells. I will likely then sell off the remaining BNSF and burlington shells, unless I end up with some other project for them. I ran all three units together for the first, and only, time on June 12, to test them all. All three work fine! 😄
March 23, 2024
I'm starting to work on modifying the hand brakes on the side of the nose. As I discussed above, the USA Trains SD40-2's have the wrong style hand brake for the Chessie System SD40-2's. The stock shells have the earlier "ratchet" style of brake:
While the prototype Chessie units have the later "wheel" style:
I found a really nice high-resolution close-up, from a UP unit, here:
https://donstrack.smugmug.com/UtahRails/Locomotive-Details/SD40-2s/i-69jzB8w
That photo will be my guide for scratch-building new brakes.
July 27, 2024
A year later, finally getting around to fixing that bad paint crazing on the three cab roofs! Recap from last May; I tried Rustoleum spray paint, chosen because it was a good color match (and it was) but it crazed badly on the 2nd coating. 😐 From now on, i'm only going to use Krylon! which has always worked great for me. So I sanded off all the crazed paint, and tried again:
I went in search of a good color match with Krylon, found one! Krylon Decor Selects Matte Deep Denim Blue. Much better! excellent match to the blue, and also a nice semi-gloss/satin finish, which to me is about a 97% match to the "factory" USA Trains blue! 😃
The photo above is after two thin coats. The cab on the left needs one more coat, you can still see the underlying "spots", i'm going to wait a week for the 3rd coat. (I read (from the instructions on the krylon can, and other sources) that for this particular paint, you can apply the next coat after one minute, or one week! but not between one minute and one week! (up to an hour is actually probably fine, rather than literally one minute) but it needs to be "soon", within minutes, or if that window passes, then wait a week for the paint to fully cure.
But overall, it's a success! (although weirdly, the "dimple" from the roof beacons are still visable! I filled with putty (several times), and sanded smooth.. not sure why that isnt perferctly flat! but im calling it a win! I generally subscribe to the "maker axiom" of "don't let perfect be the enemy of good" 😄
July 28, 2024
Doing the first "swap" of trucks, fuel tank, and all electronics from one of the BNSF frames over to one of the Chessie System frames. I photographed all the electronics on the "doner" BNSF shell, labeled the plugs, unplugged the plugs, then unscrewed and moved over one component at a time. A fiddly but also fairly simple job:
August 8, 2024
Big update for Summer 2024! 🙂
Video 4:
And going along with the video above, some additional photos from August 8, 2024:
The first "doner" SD40-2 (one of the two BNSF units) has had its trucks, fuel tank, and all electronics moved over from the BNSF frame to one of the three Chessie frames.
August 17, 2024
New vinyl lettering applied to one of the shells! It looks great! 😀😍
New B&O lettering has replaced the original incorrect C&O, and correct road numbers added. I worked with Del Tapporo at G Scale Graphics to design the vinyl lettering.
First, here is the original, "before" version, showing the factory lettering from USA Trains. Both the "C&O" and the road number are wrong:
December 6, 2020
And now the "after" version, with the new lettering applied:
August 17, 2024
August 25, 2024
Video 5! Another big update for Summer 2024:
And some additional photos from August 25:
All three cabs have their new vinyl lettering!
Chessie's ear hand-painted yellow, on each shell.
Blue painting underway. (more detail is in Video 5, above)
Also painted the beautiful Phase-2 radiator grills, 3D printed by Oley Valley Railcar.
August 17, 2024
Comparing the stock USA Trains radiator grills, which represent Phase-1 "wire grid" SD40-2 grills, to the Oley Valley Railcar grills, that represent Phase-2 and Phase-3 "corrugated" SD40-2 grills. (the prototype Chessie units are Phase-2)
Stock USA Trains Phase-1 grills on the left, Oley Valley Railcar Phase2 & 3 grills on the right.
Stock USA Trains Phase-1 grills on the left, Oley Valley Railcar Phase2 & 3 grills on the right.
September 15, 2024
As I discussed in Video 5 above, for painting the first set of trucks I moved everything over from one of the BNSF units over to one of the Chessie system frames, then! after everything was fully installed on the frame, I decided to remove the truck sideframes for painting. This ended up being more of a hassle than it was worth, because it required the removal of many screws, and cutting wires! not ideal. I successfully got the sideframes painted and re-installed in the end, but for the remaining two sets of trucks I used a different method: This time I removed the blocks from the "doner" frames, but didnt immedially install them on the Chessie frames. Instead I left the sideframes mounted to the blocks for painting! then sealed off the wheels and blocks with plastic bags and painters tape, leaving only the sideframes exposed, then spray painted the sideframes while they were still attached to the blocks.. much easier! 😄 definitely the better way to go.
October 28, 2024
End of year update for 2024!
Video 6:
And some additional photos from October 28, 2024:
November 5, 2024
Working on replacing the hand brakes on the side of the nose. The stock USA Trains SD40-2 represents a Phase-1 locomotive, while the prototype Chessie units are Phase-2. The largest external differences are the radiator grills, already replaced, (see details above), and the nose hand-brake setup. First, here is the stock Phase-1 brake setup:
Fortunately the brake apparatus is a separately molded part, and pops right out! The new brakes will be scratch-built out of styrene, except for the actual round brake wheel, which is the USA Trains SD70MAC brake wheel. I built the rest of the apparatus out of various bits of styrene, using prototype photos as a guide for size and placement.
The bits of scrap styrene glued to the back are "spacers", so the panel will extend out from the nose the desired distance.
Still need to drill out that hole on the bottom, add some rivet detail, paint, and have the brake information decal made.
April 14, 2025
Video 7:
Update! July 2025. Finally found the orange paint for the handrails! 😃
July 5, 2025
Video 8, discussing the paint:
Update! there actually ended up being one more spray paint needed! which was not discussed in the video above: Krylon Satin Clear, for over-spraying the decals near the end of the project. I used Krylon flat clear for the handrails, but satin clear for the decals, to over-spray the decals once they were on the locomotives. I made "masks" out of large cardboard pieces, placed them over the decals to be sprayed, then hit them with a thin layer of the satin clear, trying to get it only on the decal and just outside the decal's edge, to "seal" them in place. (standard model railroad decal sealing procedure, common in all scales.)
July 19, 2025
Handrail painting and installation is underway! I ran two of three units on July 19th, with my Chessie System rolling stock! Only some detail painting, and installation of small decals remains!
Modifications made to the cabs and shells, all changes and updates made to the three locomotives:
Strip silver paint from plastic window "glass" with 91% rubbing alcohol - Complete January 2023
Strip C&O and road number lettering from cabs with acetone - Complete January 2023
Design and have printed new vinyl lettering for cab B&O markings and road numbers. (see "detail parts" section below) - Complete March 2023
Paint window edges and "gaskets" black - Complete March 2023
Remove (cut, file, scrape, fill with putty, sand smooth) roof top beacons and firecracker antenna mounts. - Complete March 2023
Re-paint rooftops blue. - Complete July 2024
Touch-up cab sides with new yellow paint. - Complete July 2024
Remove some of the battery box latches, for road numbers - Complete August 2024
Paint Chessie the kitten's ear, yellow, on the long hood. - Complete August 2024
Apply vinyl B&O and new road numbers to cab sides - Complete August 2024
Order additional parts needed from USA Trains - Complete September 2024
Add new SD40-2 grill detail parts from Oley Valley Railcar (see "detail parts" section below) - complete September 2024
Paint truck sideframes and fuel tanks blue. - complete September 2024
Transfer trucks, fuel tank, and all electronics from the "doner" BNSF and Burlington SD40-2's over to the Chessie System frames. - complete October 2024
Paint door lines blue on the long hood, where paint stamp missed door creases - complete October 2024
Scratch-build new hand-brake apparatus for the locomotive nose. use USA Trains SD70 brake wheel. - complete November 2024
"Chessie Rock Plows" for the pilots - found 3D printed rock plows! (see "detail parts" section below, and Video 7)
Add two coupler boxes from Camarillo Pacific. (see "detail parts" section below) - complete November 2024
Paint handrails orange - complete July 2025
Add decals for number boards - complete July 2025
Add decal for brake sign on side of nose - complete August 2025
Add a black decal to represent the battery box slot - complete August 2025
Add "equipment trust" decal - complete August 2025
Add decal for the KarTrak ACI barcodes on the handrails. (see "detail parts" section below) - complete August 2025
Add air tank decal - complete August 2025
Clear-coat the water-slide decals. (all new decal signs and lettering *except* the vinyl cab B&O and cab road number lettering, I did not clear-coat those) - complete August 2025
Paint jack stands blue - complete August 2025
Add air hoses - complete August 2025
Scratch build long hood bell brackets - complete August 2025
Add new bell to long hoods - complete August 2025
Install horns - complete September 1, 2025! 😀
Paint used:
Krylon, Decor Selects, Matte Deep Denim Blue, spray paint - for Chessie Blue
Behr Premium, Blazing Bonfire gloss, spray paint - for Chessie Yellow
Black for window gaskets, used a small paintbrush.
Krylon K01613A07, Industrial, Semi-Flat Black - Black for handrails, as base coat to cover other roadname colors before spraying orange.
VHT engine enamel, SP 123 Chevy Orange - for Chessie Orange
Krylon Fusion Flat Clear - to tone down gloss of the orange handrail paint.
Krylon Fusion Satin Clear - to overcoat and seal the water-slide decals. (not the vinyl cab lettering)
Detail parts and lettering purchased. thank you to these vendors! 😁
In Video 7 above I highlight all these detail parts and lettering.
New B&O lettering and road numbers for cabs, vinyl lettering by Del Tapparo at G Scale Graphics: https://www.gscalegraphics.net
Ordered "Kartrak ACI Scanner Barcode" 1/29 scale decals from k4decals.com
I designed in photoshop the decals for:
- Number board decals. (3 sets of road numbers)
- Brake wheel decals.
- Battery box slot decals.
- Air tank lettering decals.
- Trust plate decals.
And then had them printed by Fusion Scale Graphics
Thanks to Nick O'Dell on the "EMD SD-40 and SD40-2 Locomotives" Facebook group for the air tank lettering, and the handbrake plate lettering.
and thanks to Michael Smith on the "Chessie System Modeling Group (new)" for the trust late lettering. thanks guys!
Purchased 3D printed SD40-2 grill detail parts from Oley Valley Railcar. these represent the correct style grills for the Phase-2 Chessie SD40-2's - https://www.ovrailcar.com/
Purchased one set of SD40-2 coupler boxes from Camarillo Pacific. (I'm only applying a coupler box to the two outward-facing ends of the 3-unit lashup, not all six pilots.
Chessie rock plows! At first I thought I would probably have to scratch-build these, but then I found two guys who can 3D print them! on the G scale 3D printing group, on facebook. I ordered a set from both Chris Murray and Donnell Wells. I ended up using the plows from Donnell Wells.
Thanks everyone! 😁🍻
September 1, 2025
The project is complete! 😀 After almost 3 years. Final steps were finishing the install of the remaining bits of decals and lettering, installing the rock plows, horns, brake wheel, and other small random bits. As I've said before in previous videos, this has turned out to be my favorite G-scale project! thanks everyone! Below is video 9, the final update video, and photos of the completed trio running on my Garden Railroad during Labor day weekend 2025.
Video 9:
And some additional photos from September 1st:
And that's everything! thanks! 🙂
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