Here is the latest engine to leave the JTW shops, Montana Rail Link SD40-2XR. Tina saw one of these and wanted one To date this is my most ambitious project. I started with a Kato SD40, striped it and added the following details: BLMA lift rings grab irons cut levers. Relocated the horns to the long hood, (this was an ex BN engine in real life. Sunrise: plow MU's hoses frame mounted bell cab shades speed recorder The locomotive was painted with Polly Scale B&O Enchanment blue (A very good match to MRL blue) and black. I used three decal sheets from Microscale to do unit #264 cause Tina liked the Operation Life Saver. I then weathered acording to the pictures I had. It only took a few weeks of work and was a lot of fun. The BLMA grabs and rings were so easy to do that I'm going to do it on all me Locomotives now. Thanks for looking.
Nice looking unit. It may need some SD45 brothers to go along with it. If you ever see the MRL in person it changes your perspective I'll tell you. If I were to change modelling preferences, MRL would top the list. In fact watching their Helper operations changed the operating pattern on my layout and led to a complete rebuild. grant
Great modeling job I caught my first MRL unit on a train last week and took a bunch of photos. They are very sharp looking units. Harold
Thank you everyone for the kind words, it will be on display at the Floquil booth at Cincinnati next week. Colonel: I just may do that as my next detail project will probably be a BNSF SD40-2. Alan: The 2XR is a designation that MRL used on these units to rebuild as a dash 2 electronics. MRL did most of the work at their shops. These units were bought from the BN as SD40's. I think the XR is MRL shops prefix for rebuild. Tony: the next project is on my work bench right now. It's a CSX SD50 in the YN3 blue/Yellow paint scheme. I have to have it and a Dash8-40BW in BNSF done for the show next week. Hmm, maybe a step by step on the engines that will be at NMRA is in order?
And where do I mail my SD40 for the MRL rebuild to? That's a WONDERFUL job on that one! I'll have to try the grabs and rings on my next prioject. They make alot of difference in the final poduct.
