EMD SD38

EMD SD38
Norfolk Southern #3809.
Type and origin Power type Diesel-electric Builder General Motors Electro-Motive Division (EMD) Model SD38 Build date May 1967 – October 1971 Total produced 108
Specifications Configuration: ​  • AAR C-C Gauge 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge Fuel capacity 3,200 US gal (12,000 L; 2,700 imp gal) Prime mover EMD 645E Engine type V16 diesel Cylinders 16
Performance figures Power output 2,000 hp (1.5 MW)

The SD38 is a 6-axle road switcher diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between May 1967 and October 1971. It had an EMD 645 16-cylinder engine generating 2,000 horsepower (1.5 MW), compared to the turbocharged EMD 645E3 V-16 engine that produced 3000 horsepower. The SD38 had the same frame as the SD39, SD40 and SD45. 52 were built for American railroads, one was built for a Canadian railroad, four were exported to a mining firm in Jamaica and seven were exported to a mining firm in Venezuela. The SD38 was succeeded by a Dash 2 version called the EMD SD38-2.

Original Owners

Railroad	Quantity	Road numbers	Notes
Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad	3	861-863
Detroit, Toledo and Ironton Railroad	5	250-254	To Grand Trunk Western 6250-6254; 253 and 254 still in service as Reading and Northern Railroad Nos. 2003 and 2004
Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway	6	650-655	650 sold to CITI Rail in 2011, 654 sold to Hartwell railroad in 2011, 651-653, and 655 sold to DMIR in 1992/1993.
Kaiser Bauxite	4	5101-5104	Jamaica/Now called Noranda Bauxite Limited (NBL)
McCloud River Railroad	3	36-38	36 & 38 on MCR property as of July 2017, 37 Now On Dakota Southern RailwayBuilder No. 34880-34882
Orinoco Mining Company	7	1021–1027	Venezuela
Penn Central	35	6925-6959	All went to Conrail with same #'s. When Conrail broke up, 21 went to Norfolk Southern (Some rebuilt to slugs, rest retired), 13 to CSX (All but two retired), and 1 to the Reading Blue Mountain & Northern Railway (Operational).
RFFSA (Brazil)	45	3601-3645	SD38M - 34 units in service

An M version of SD38 was built for the Brazil Federal Railways (RFFSA - Rede Ferroviária Federal S. A.).

Forty of a passenger version, the SDP38, were built for the Korean National Railways in May-July 1967. The units were numbered 6351-6390.

References

• Pinkepank, Jerry A. (1973). The Second Diesel Spotter's Guide. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Kalmbach Publishing. ISBN 978-0-89024-026-7.
• Sarberenyi, Robert. EMD SD38, SD38AC, and SDP38 Original Owners. Retrieved on August 27, 2006

External links

• EMD#SD38, SD38AC, SDP38 Original Owners by Robert Sarberenyi
• Locomotive Bogie Truck EMD#FlexiCoilC