SD45

The **SD45** is a diesel locomotive in the game Railroad Tycoon II. It becomes available in 1972, and while not having a high top speed, it is comparatively cheaper both purchase and run than most other diesel locomotives. Because of it's high hauling power, the SD45 performs well on most freight services, and it can usually haul 6 cars of any cargo without much trouble.

## Strategy

When the SD45 becomes available, the player has to choose whether to continue using the GP9 or SD45 for general freight services. While the GP9 is faster than the SD45, it isn't as powerful, and also a bit more expensive. On most services the SD45 will generate more revenue, especially on more marginal routes, but other factors such as train density and supply available also affect the best choice. If the player has electrified, the Penn E44 is still the better option, due to it's superior speed. The SD45 is also a very good locomotive for routes with high gradients, possibly being the one of the better non-electric choices even for passengers whenever grades are consistently between 2-4%. A few problems with the SD45 is that it's slow speed and poor acceleration means that it really can't be used heavily on main lines (where fast passenger trains run), and instead the GP18 or the electric Class E111 should perform intercity freight duties. The SD45 also doesn't have fantastic reliability either, but it's managable because of the low travelling distance in it's lifetime. Eventually, the services that the SD45 runs on will likely be replaced by the Dash-9 (1993), which is similarly specified (though much more expensive), or the Class E111, which is a faster locomotive at a lower cost (requires electrification).

## History

The **SD45** is a six-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between 1965–1971. It had an EMD 645E3 twenty-cylinder engine generating 3,600 hp (2,680 kW) on the same frame as the EMD SD38, EMD SD39, EMD SD40, and EMD SDP40. As of 2017, most SD45s have been retired and scrapped.

1,260 were built for American railroads before the SD45-2 replaced it. Other models, like the SD45T-2 'Tunnel Motor', were released in 1972.

SD45s had several teething problems. Reliability was not as high as anticipated; the twenty-cylinder prime mover could break its own crankshaft. Though it produced 600 horsepower (450 kW) more than the 16-645E3 in the SD40, some railroads felt it wasn't worth it, even after EMD redesigned the block to reduce crankshaft flexing, thereby producing the 645F crankcase and crankshaft. But, the redesigned block and crankshaft formed the basis of the exceptionally reliable 710G engine, which is the cornerstone of EMD's current offerings.

The SD45s lasted in operation well into the 1990s, with many of them being sold off to smaller regional railroads like the Susquehanna, Wisconsin Central, and Montana Rail Link. None of the current Class 1 Railroads in the United States are operating SD45s, and what few SD45-2s that are left have been rebuilt and reclassed as "SD40s" in one way or another.

Happily, with the SD45 leaving such a big impact on the railroad scene, several have been preserved and can be viewed at various museums across the country. A small number of them are still in operation today on shortlines and industrial operations.

**Trivia:**

The locomotive's in-game model appears to be based on the HO scale Athearn "Blue Box" SD45, which was introduced in the late 1960s, shortly after the prototypes went into service. The locomotives were offered decorated for Santa Fe; Chicago, Burlington, & Quincy; Seaboard Coast Line, Southern Pacific, and Union Pacific as well as in the EMD Demonstrator livery (which is how the in game model is depicted). All of the road names they chose were accurate, but the Burlington was an unusual choice, as the Burlington had ordered SD45s prior to the the Burlington Northern merger in 1970, but they didn't start arriving on the property until after the merger had occurred.