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Is it reasonable for a diesel not originally equipped with with dynamic brakes to be retrofitted during a major rebuild? Or is a dynamic brake system too ingrained to be pulled off economically after the fact by simply adding the grid, fans, cabling and control hardware?
I'm wondering if it could be realistic for non-DB SD7/9s to gain DB capability with parts harvested from scrapped Dash-2 units? I picked up some non-DB SD7s on the weekend, and am trying to decide how they will fit on my railroad's roster.
I'm sure it's possible. A major rebuild would have the engine striped down to the frame and rebuilt so why not add dynamics while you're at it. They could be taken from a scrapped unit that was wrecked
One of the Apache RR's 4 second hand C420s had Dynamic Brakes installed, it was not built with dynamics as the other three were.
Yep. Has happened mamy times in the past with GE and EMD locos both.
Cool, thanks for the replies. That'll open up the possibility of running them with/instead of SD38-2s over a hilly section of my railroads trunk line.
Gomez Addams
Staff member
It happened more in reverse, units with dynamics had them removd during rebulds. I remember old BN units getting them taken off when rebuilt for IC service.
There were some Rock SD 40 units that had them added when they were returned at the shutdown, so they could bemresold to other roads.
At least one loco had dynamics added in a strange location - see attached model of mine. The original prototype was rebuilt by Burlington Northern after a wreck.
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