This one has kind of a backstory on how it falls under "cheap" and "rescued." In fact it was soo cheap, it was almost free. Heck, I may have been payed to take it away.
This locomotive originally came from a guy on another forum. He's know to run his engines hard, handle them kind of hard, and usually until they burn out or break down. I knew this engine was gonna be rough when I got it, but the guy never told me it was a snoot. I though it was a normal-nosed SD40-2 I could turn into a BN unit. I ended up making a trade to get this loco. I sent 2 P2K engines in exchange for this (got them for like 30 each); he sent me 50 bucks, and about 15 freight cars (mostly athearn or accurail kits, but with kadees and metal wheels).
Well it got here, and the first thing I noticed was the snoot. I though, "oh crap, can't use it." It was covered in a mixture of dirt, soot, and dust. Handrails were busted up, were discolored (almost orange), and in some places held together or on my hot-glue. It ran, but made a god-awful screeching noise. Needless to say, I though this was something I couldn't really use, and would just take up space on my bench.
Well I decided to start with a clean slate, literally, and the first thing I did was pull off the handrails and give it a bath. I took some warm water and dawn dish soap and an old, soft, toothbrush and went to town. It cleaned up pretty well, just needed some touch-up in a few spots. Then I notciced, this engine wasn't half bad. Needed some pilot details and a few other odds and ends and it'd look halfway decent. While I was at it, I took the trucks apart, then cleaned and lubed them. I got the trucks to roll very freely on their own with the worm gear installed.
So I rummaged through my parts box and came up with the following stuff, most purchased through the Milton train depot/museum/hobby shop:
1x Custom Finishing (Bob Raza?) MU hoses, $3
2x Detail Associate lift bars (they were out of the brackets, and I lost a few in the process), $2
1x Ainclair Antenna (out of a P2K loco's extras) freebie
2x sets of atlas GP38 windshield wipers (I bought 2 sets, but it turned out to be 4 sets), $1
1x Atlas speed recorder (forgot for what), a pack of 4 costs under a buck. $1
So about $7 worth of parts in the first stage, but IDK where to figure how much I got the loco for.
The project sat after installing those parts for a few weeks. Turns out a guy on the same forum was trying to off-load a bunch of locos, one of which had a motor I could use in the ATSF SD40-2. I traded 7 of the freight cars from the above trade, plus 1 extra I had (duplicate) for a few athearn BB locos and 2 shells:
1x FP45 in amtrak, with a RTR SD40-2 motor
1x FP45 in amtrak, with a P2K E-unit chassis
1x SD40-2 SOO, early release.
1x SD45, custom paint
1x KCS SD40-2 #666 shell. custom paint
1x AHM U25C shell (ground up to fit the SD45 chassis), probably just for parts for my project.
So I stuck the motor from the first FP45 into the SD40-2, and it worked. Really well infact. Very quiet, smooth throttle response. I then stuck a DH163 I got from a friend (used, $15) and tried to see if the beacon would work using the factory board. It burnt the first bulb, I checked voltage and it was 1.5v. tried another one. Worked, then when the power was cut. poof. Another bulb. Turned out the inrush current was 2.4v. oops. I decided to pull the DH163 and use a DH123 (used, $10) and program the reat lights to be the beacon in foward. Works like a charm. I used the dead bulb with the leads cut down to about 1/4" in the rear.
I then ordered a replacement handrail set from athearn for about $7. Never knew the front one was 5 pieces until I got it. IDK how I got it to stay together, but I did.
So, I've inveted about $34 bucks into this loco. But then IDK if I got it for cheap, free, or got paid to take it away. I'll leave that to you guys.
Here's what she looks like:
Originally I thought of selling this loco. But I found pics of a sister unit in pool service on the BN on the point of a coal train in the mid-80s. All the pics of 5119 are in california. What's to say this unit didn't get stuck to a BN coal train or used in pool service at one point? So for now, it stays with me for a pool power engine for a coal train. So as of now, it gets stuck with my 2 BLI BN C30-7s.
