Building an Athearn DD40 from collected parts

[@tracynation2820]

Super. I've always liked the EMD DD-40, as well as all the double diesels, and thanks to my model railroad and real railroad magazines, I already knew that it was a "Plans only" Athearn locomotive. Once they came up with the safety cab, the DD-40 idea was retired, and the DD-40AX "Centennial" was born. A dual motor DD-40, heavily ballasted, will easily pull eighty or more cars without overheating, but a single motor DD-40 is no slacker, and can pull plenty of freight at the stock factory weight, and it has more open space to add more weight, due to one less motor, and can actually pull more cars for a shorter time because it weighs more, but may not be quite as fast and is more prone to motor overloading, overheating, and failure, especially when combining a heavily ballasted locomotive with a mile long train and higher throttle settings. My DD-40 is a single motor, heavily ballasted all wheel drive unit (By choice, although dual motors was tempting.) that has a small homemade fan attached to the driveshaft of the motor, (Good advice from my hobby shop.) and you can operate for hours pulling a whole yard full of train cars behind it without any issues. My favorite double diesel locomotives were the DD-35B units, which were originally sold as DD-35 locomotives without the "B" that is normally applied to cabless units from EMD. I liked the smooth roofline, without the giant hump in the middle that adding a cab caused, and the fact that it still looked like two GP-35s glued together. My DD-40 still runs great after almost fifty years, and has acquired a nice patina on the paint job from being operated so often, which makes it look very realistic. It is also a great snowplow locomotive, and I have grown quite fond of it over the years. Added up all together with me buying it brand new, adding Kadee couplers, extra weight, windows and special details, plus maintenance, it has only cost me about a dollar a year for this awesome locomotive, so I sure got my nickels worth with this purchase. Hello from the Tracy Mountain Railway in Colorado. 💙 T.E.N.

[@DarthSantaFe]

These really are some great models for the railroad even if they never quite made it to real life production! Considering how long these sold and that Athearn's since made the DDA40X in the Genesis line, it would be great to finally see them do a proper DD35A and B.

[@MozanaRN]

After a few projects using the older stanchion I have grown to like them better than the stanchions bent for the modeler. The older stanchions fit the horizontal handrails so much more firmly and look good after painting. Thank you for this video. Best wishes.

[@leroyducharme2477]

I modified mine with Hex drive engines. Had to grind off back on boss on frame to clear the engines. Used the hex drive shafts and plastic tubing to correct length even connected the two engines the same way and poof!

[@scottb8175]

I almost always removed the Athearn top motor brush clip to solder on the wires. Learning the hard way. - it became always after the first time I tried it with my 250 watt soldering gun and melted the motor frames on an SD-45. When Athearn finally started supplying their locomotives with the fully formed handrail stanchions, It took the only really nasty part of putting one together out of the equation! I was buying new Athearn blue box well into the early 80's that still had the awful stanchions with partial handrail bends. They often had a sharp burr at the other end that had to be removed before pressing them into the shell, too. I found it best to bend them around a #72 drill bit shank in a small vise using smooth jaw needle nose pliers. Most often, nasty cuts and punctured finger tips were inevitable. Sometimes the stanchions would break while bending, so I ordered and kept extras. I think I might still have some in my parts bins.

[@DarthSantaFe]

Yeah, good idea there with the motor clip. The pre-formed handrails really did make the Blue Box kit building a lot better! I managed not to hurt myself with this one, but I'm sure it could happen eventually if I ever do more with these older stanchions.

[@YourLocalRailfan]

Wanna try dis myself

[@Gfysimpletons]

Sweet..👍🏼I took two mantua Alco Illinois central shells, cut them in half and made a “generic” DD. 🤷‍♂️ Just an idea, when I do my stanchions I like to install them first, then brush my paint lightly down to instill a rust drip image. Great video

[@cacline72]

Love these DD40 models, I have two UP models and both are equipped with dual motors.

[@russcole5685]

Do the dual motors pull better than a single or ould it be better to add weight for traction to a single motor rather than adding a second

[@GreeneBrent-c2g]

very informative. bought an SD70 both trucks busted now I cant wait to get in the shop and fix it right

[@DarthSantaFe]

Hope that goes well for you! The SD70 is quite a bit more complicated, but the overall chassis layout is similar enough that you should be able to get into it and repair it.

[@vincenttolve9756]

Great work! Another thorough demonstration of the skills I don't have.

[@hamiltonsullivan6563]

Yo I've been waiting for another vid! Love the history on it and the custom elongated driveline.

[@princenoah1950]

The king is back 😃

[@muir8009]

Great channel, every time you put one up I have to watch them over and over: they're always so comprehensive and just plain watchable. Thanks for the cary info: it feels soft. The bodies are in their original wrappers, boxes etc so are pretty tidy

[@DarthSantaFe]

Cary originally made the F3 bodies from lead, then switched to zinc diecast. An easy way to tell is by the softness of the metal. Try making a small scratch on the inside using a metal tool. If it wants to dig in, the body is lead. Both materials will tarnish over time (yours may have been in very good storage conditions), so a clear coat using a gloss spray lacquer will help to preserve it.

[@dteddy1970]

I feel to need to add a correction. This model is a DD-35, and not a 40. The 40 is the "Centenial" locomotive for UP. It had a different nose than the 35.

[@DarthSantaFe]

The Athean model was based on EMD's plans for a standard cab DD40, but since no railroads ever ordered it and Athearn had already made the tooling, they painted and numbered it as a DD35 but still sold it as a DD40. Since the DD35 had two GP35 engines, the rooftop ventilation is different from the DD40 which was planned to have two GP40 engines. The longer wide cab unit was the DDA40X.

[@gacj2010]

Man , I dont know how you do it...you make it look so easy but you got the way on this.

[@startrekking359]

Been watching you videos, great as far as the stantions a smooth jawed needle nose pliers works much better it slides the tab around the railing much smoother.smoother ,I really do like your videos keeping vintage HO alive.

[@DarthSantaFe]

Thanks! I've rarely had to work with the old unbent stanchions and don't have much experience with them as a result, so I'll have to try that next time some of those come around.

[@varrunningtrains4112]

Great seeing another video! Certainly one of the more unique diesels athearn made. Would love to see you do a video on the late Yellowbox early bluebox era steam locomotives if you have some in your collection!

[@DarthSantaFe]

I do have an 0-4-2T that needs some repair! The gear axle is cracked, so I’ve been thinking of what to do about it since it’s a unique part.

[@varrunningtrains4112]

@@DarthSantaFe that would be really neat! I have 2 0-4-2T’s and one of their P4 4-6-2’s. Never got the gearbox to mesh right on the P4, but it looks like almost all of them run rough.

[@DarthSantaFe]

@C A They do, so I’m keeping them in mind. The difficulty is that the original gear is like the 12T ones used in the diesels, holding pressed in half axles.

[@adventuresinmodelrailroading]

EMD did display a DD40 but it was just an empty DD35a shell.

[@wolframvonbach1685]

great video!

[@swagmanexplores7472]

Great Vid thanks. It has motivated me to try to build something up from my Athearn spare parts boxes 👍

[@DarthSantaFe]

Thanks! The somewhat universal nature of Athearn parts makes it pretty easy to build a working model from a spare parts box.

[@swagmanexplores7472]

@@DarthSantaFe also love your earlier vids of Shays. I have several bachmann and MDC shays in the collection - my favourites !

[@GarrettTaylorLeedy]

Looks like it runs really good I like it

[@SwindellSteamWorks]

Another great build. Only thing I would point out is the color of the chassis. It should be the same Harbour Mist Gray as on the shell. You COULD repaint it if you really wanted to. However, it is your model. If you're fine with the black then that's all that matters. Keep up the good work man!

[@DarthSantaFe]

Thanks! As for the color of the chassis, I looked up photos of UP #70 before painting, and found that, surprisingly, it was actually black unlike most others! I was definitely considering gray before that. www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3098269

[@vertisjohnson219]

Athearn needs to revitalize them as part of their Genesis lineup. DD35A & DD35B would sell

[@DarthSantaFe]

They already have the DDA40X mechanism, so that would be a good starting point!

[@bobbertthebuilder4856]

I have one of these myself in the bloody nose southern pacific livery. And I love it however one of the issues I have with mine is I feel like it pulls too much amps for just being dual motor. I cleaned and re worked the motors and gear boxes but every time I try and run it on one of my large transformers it will barely run or pop the breaker within the power provider. How have you got around this?

[@DarthSantaFe]

Do you have a multi-meter to check how much current it's using? I've found that the ones with gold motors will draw about 0.6A to 0.7A running free, and the old gray motors will use about 1A to 1.2A running free. Remotoring with some modern can motors will help if the old ones are using too much power. And if you're using a train set controller, a lot of those are only made to handle 0.5A to 1A.

[@czwij]

love your videos. Might i ask where you got those couplings? I have a brass ktm which has those exact couplings, but broken. Thanks.

[@DarthSantaFe]

Thanks! The couplings I used are old Athearn parts I had on hand. Athearn doesn't make them anymore, but they're not too hard to find. A-Line also makes an Athearn clone universal kit (#12030) to fit 2mm shafts, and they can be easily drilled out to fit larger motor shafts.

[@cnwproductions]

Nice

[@shanestoddard9488]

I would narrow the body, install new cab and pilots and use dual motors!!! Paint the trucks silver and bore them!

[@intoxicode]

I just wonder why no one does dual motor anymore on these..

[@DarthSantaFe]

Athearn offered it both ways, but the dual motor version is more sought after. I don't think the single motor ones sell off as fast, so there can be more of them available at a time than the dual motor versions.

[@intoxicode]

@@DarthSantaFe I mean couldn't you just make a dual motor I mean you probably would need DCC Just to get them both functioning in unison, and just modify a shaft between the two motors so it's the appropriate length? Or just ditch that idea completely and just run two motors with one motor powering each truck?

[@DarthSantaFe]

@@intoxicode Ah, I see. I could install a second motor easily enough, but I made this one a single motor since that’s what I had on hand. I have another DD40 in SP that came with dual motors with flywheels on both, and they do each drive a single truck.

[@nosadonions3231]

The dark coating on the steel is called "bluing" a common anti-rust coating, I thought the DD-40's had a flywheel in their drive.

[@DarthSantaFe]

They did get flywheels later with the gold motors. Older ones didn’t get that upgrade, but with 16 wheel electrical pickup, they do pretty well even without them.

[@trainssker]

Now… can you make it DCC?

[@DarthSantaFe]

I only run DC, but wiring an Athearn for DCC is pretty easy. Just place a piece of electrical tape on the frame under the motor, solder one wire from the decoder to the frame and the other to the top contacts on the trucks, then solder the motor wires from the decoder to the contacts on the motor. The headlight bulb should also be replaced with a wired one.

[@endeavor105]

I hope you see this. I'm hoping to follow your video for my own reconstruction. Any particular place to buy parts? Specifically the powered trucks.

[@DarthSantaFe]

The DD40 parts have become pretty scarce lately, but you can still find them now and then at train shows or on eBay. All I can recommend is doing a quick search every few days to a week on eBay or keeping a look out for them in old stock if you go to any train shows or hobby stores.

[@Benthetrainkid]

Technically looks more like a DD35A than a DD40

[@DarthSantaFe]

Yes, the planned DD40 looked very similar, so when EMD cancelled the design, Athearn painted these to represent the DD35.

[@Mauscmkwk]

When will you continue those steam loco kits

[@DarthSantaFe]

Working on it! My workbench got a little full and I’m getting some things cleared off.

[@gary-williams]

I find it very odd that whoever produced the shell gave it the road number of 70 as all the DDA40X's were in the 69XX range.

[@danilosakovic8243]

Io Good job 🎉

[@mattomon1045]

Now will you DCC w sound it?

[@DonaldMajoros]

This is a DD35. Nice job

[@DarthSantaFe]

Thanks! The Athearn model was actually a DD40 based on plans released by EMD at the time (easiest spotting differences are the 3rd and 6th fans, which were smaller on the DD35), but when there were no orders and the real ones were cancelled, Athearn painted theirs to represent the DD35. Athearn tried this a few times in the 60's to be first on the market for the latest in new trains, but that unfortunately resulted in some poorly scaled models since the prototype plans can change during development (worst example was the GP30).

[@frankmarkovcijr5459]

I love the old fashioned Metal Trucks metal is always better than plastic I don't care what anybody says. Metal scream quality plastic screens cheap