Rivet Counter HO Scale EMD SD38-2, Bessemer & Lake Erie

Built by EMD from November 1972 through June 1979, the SD38-2 was essentially the six-axle version of the smaller GP38-2 that featured numerous electronic upgrades. Unfortunately, a total of only 90 units were manufactured. Although sales were less than anticipated, the SD38-2 proved to be a reliable workhorse with many of these locomotives remaining in hump yard or local service today.

The Rivet Counter™ series SD38-2 is the definitive HO Scale model of EMD’s unique non-turbocharged six-axle locomotive. Our model combines smooth operating performance with unparalleled railroad, road number, and era-specific details™. Not to mention, Rivet Counter models come equipped with industry-leading LED lighting features right out of the box.

Run: 2

Announced: May 2, 2025

Estimated Time of Arrival: November 2025

Preorder Guarantee Date: Jun 2, 2025

DCC & Sound Equipped Retail: $406.99 DC/DCC Ready Retail: $249.99

See below for your price

In stock

SKU

2-RCHOSD38-3

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Grouped product items
Item Number	Road Number	Control & Sound Options	Our Price	Availability	ETA Date
SXT41214	870	DCC & Sound Equipped	$324.99	Preorder Preorder by 06/02/2025	November 2025
SXT41215	870	DC/DCC Ready	$199.99	Preorder Preorder by 06/02/2025	November 2025
SXT41216	872	DCC & Sound Equipped	$324.99	Preorder Preorder by 06/02/2025	November 2025
SXT41217	872	DC/DCC Ready	$199.99	Preorder Preorder by 06/02/2025	November 2025
SXT41224	879	DCC & Sound Equipped	$324.99	Preorder Preorder by 06/02/2025	November 2025
SXT41225	879	DC/DCC Ready	$199.99	Preorder Preorder by 06/02/2025	November 2025

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ADDITIONAL PHOTOS

PRODUCT DETAILS

Road Number Specific ScaleTrains

New roadname
Era: Mid-1970s to Early-1990s
Series 870 to 878, built 3-5/1973; series 879, built 2/74
B&LE 870
- Roman W6A2 class and B&LE stencils on battery box
- Rear-placed builders plate
- White “Fuel Oil” stencil on fuel tank
B&LE 872
- Roman W6A2 class and B&LE stencils on battery box
- Forward-placed builders plate
- Red “Fuel Oil” stencil on fuel tank
B&LE 879
- Sans-serif B&LE stencil on left side kickplate
- Rearward-placed builders plate
- White “Fuel Oil” stencil on fuel tank
Fully-assembled
Multiple road numbers
LED-illuminated ground light on left side of locomotive*
LED-Illuminated rectangular walkway lights mounted between front and rear sanding valve doors and round walkway light, aft of raised walkway duct*
LED-illuminated Pyle-National (Translite) #20585 Gyralite dual signal light (combined signal light and headlight) mounted on number board housing*
LED-illuminated front and rear tricolor flush-mounted with raised gasket class lights***
Printed number boards with separately controlled backlit LED-illumination*
Front and rear full width multiple unit (MU) hose catch tray
3-hose multiple unit (MU) hose clusters with silver gladhands
Semi-scale coupler buffer equipped with durable metal semi-scale Type E knuckle couplers
As-delivered pilot faces with no lifting slots
"Tall" 4-step stepwells with see-through steps
Front and rear early small deck extension
Handrail set with solid end rails
Front and rear standard drop steps
Scale sectioned treadplate detail on walkways
81” low short hood with ratchet handbrake, angled chain guard, and hot water heater louvers on left side
Sand fillers mounted in square recesses on hood ends
Bolted battery box doors with narrow louvers
Early cab sub-base doors with early hinges
Dash 2 cab with 11-bolt (top and bottom) window panels and hot water heater louvers on right front
No cab vents
Detailed cab interior with separate floor, rear wall, seats, and standard AAR control stand
Sliding cab side windows
Tall mirrors mounted fore and aft of cab side windows on both sides of cab
Standard EMD sunshades with long sunshade tracks
Lost-wax brass cast Leslie RS-3K-R horn with “snow-cone” debris covers on forward trumpets mounted on the cab
“Whip” antenna mounted on cab roof
Accurate hood door and long hood detail
Early electrical cabinet "zig-zag" seam, further from rear of cab
Early “stand-off” ECAFB
Intermediate inertial air intake grills with top drip rail
Dual tall exhaust stacks
Accurately profiled standard-range dynamic brakes with batten strip
See-through dynamic brake intakes with resistor grid detail
Square Paper Air Filter (PAF) housing
“Chicken-wire” radiator intake grilles
See-through standard 48” radiator fan housings with fan blades visible inside
Curved radiator fan grab iron
Underbody frame rail with separate plumbing and traction motor cables
Detailed HT-C trucks with Hyatt bearing caps, early center axle snubbers, sanding lines and brackets, and D-77 traction motor and air duct details
Rust-color painted wheelsets
Dimensionally accurate truck centers
Speed recorder mounted to third axle on left front
Rearward-facing handbrake chain mount for HTC trucks
Tall jacking pads with holes (early) with extra pads adjacent to stepwells
Tab-mount EFCO
Frame-mounted steel bell
Graham-White (Salem) brand 824-170 and 818-170 primary and secondary centrifugal air filters (accordion-style)
3,200-gallon fuel tank with fuel fillers, vertical gauge, round gauge in right tank side and angled breather pipe
Factory-applied wire grab irons, wire lift rings, windshield wipers, trainline hoses with silver gladhands, sand hatch covers, and more
Motor with 5-pole skew wound armature
Dual flywheels
All-wheel drive
All-wheel electrical pick-up
Directional LED headlights
Printing and lettering legible even under magnification
Operates on Code 70, 83 and 100 rail
Packaging safely stores model
Minimum radius: 18”
Recommended radius: 22”

DCC & sound equipped locomotives also feature:

ESU LokSound 5 DCC & Sound decoder with “Full Throttle”
Two (2) cube-type speakers
Non-turbocharged EMD 16 Cylinder 645E3 prime mover
ESU designed “PowerPak” with two super capacitors***
Operates on both DC and DCC layouts

DC/DCC & sound ready locomotives also feature:

Operates on DC layouts
DCC ready with 21-pin connector

* Lighting features operate when using an ESU decoder with appropriate programming while operating using DCC

** In DC operation, both front ditch lights illuminate; rear ditch lights (if equipped) do not illuminate

*** Class lights illuminate in white color only in DC operation. Access and changing colors an ESU decoder with appropriate programming while operating using DCC

**** “PowerPack” feature only compatible with appropriately programmed ESU decoders operating on a DCC layout

PRODUCT VIDEOS

PROTOTYPE HISTORY

Following the success of the “1966-Line” of that same year, in January 1972 EMD was to give its product catalog a refresh, introducing what it dubbed the “Dash 2” line. Based on customer feedback, EMD retained the basics of the previous 1966 line, adding various improvements aimed at increasing reliability and performance. The Flexicoil-C truck used under the 1966-Line, its original iteration dating back to the SD7 of 1951, was replaced by a new truck design, called the HT-C, which offered greater adhesion, and was slightly longer than the Flexicoil-C. The frames of the six-axle Dash 2 units were lengthened slightly to accommodate the new truck design, and internally, all sported a new main electrical control cabinet featuring modular, solid-state components in the form of “cards” controlling various locomotive functions that could be pulled and replaced as needed, greatly simplifying the troubleshooting and repair process. The new models received a “-2” suffix, with the SD38 of 1966 being revised into the SD38-2.

Much like its SD38 predecessor, the SD38-2 was envisioned as a medium horsepower, high tractive effort machine, designed to haul heavy tonnage at relatively lower speeds. In contrast to its SD40-2 and SD45-2 brethren, which were optimized for hauling tonnage at higher speeds across all types of operating profiles, the SD38-2 was more at home lugging heavy commodity trains at low speeds, or shuffling long cuts of cars in yards. While it wasn’t the ideal choice for blasting high-priority TOFC trains across the country, it would be right at home dragging a heavy iron-ore train up a 2% grade. Powered by the same basic 16-645 prime mover that drove the SD40-2, the SD38-2 lacked turbocharging, keeping its horsepower (HP) at 2,000 instead of the 3,000 of the 40-series.

The lower HP rating suited its intended duty just fine, however, and the lack of a turbocharger simplified maintenance and reduced overall costs. Externally, the SD38-2 was very similar to the SD40-2, with the primary spotting features being a pair of radiator fans instead of the trio used on the SD40-2 (1,000 fewer HP didn’t require as much cooling), and it had a pair of small, oval stacks coming from its prime mover’s exhaust manifold instead of the single large rectangular stack coming from the turbocharger on the SD40-2. Lastly, the SD38-2 featured a large boxy housing on its roofline, just behind the inertial air filtration compartment, that housed groups of filter elements for engine combustion air.

While the overall number of SD38-2s built was but a tiny fraction of what EMD produced for the wildly popular SD40-2, the SD38-2 was sold to a wide variety of owners, representing most of the major carriers of the time during its production run from 1972 to 1979. Its performance characteristics were reflected in the roads that ordered them; Bessemer & Lake Erie and Elgin, Joliet & Eastern were tied for the most by an original owner and utilized them in the heavy terminal switching and drag freight service those roads handled. At the other end of the service spectrum were roads like Chicago & North Western and Southern Pacific, which ordered SD38-2s for heavy yard switching and hump duty, already having plenty of higher-HP units on their rosters, like SD40-2s, for handling higher-speed road applications.

While not as prolific as other models in the catalog at the time, the SD38-2 served an important role for the roads that ordered them, and have had long careers, with many going on to new owners and paint schemes through sales and mergers. This new model from ScaleTrains is a logical addition to the product line, being an extension of the SD40-2 project, similar to how the prototype SD38-2 and SD40-2 were part of the same product line. Inside you’ll find the same smooth, proven mechanism as used in the SD40-2, and HT-C truck gearbox with “clasp” brake shoes, or standard brake shoes, per prototype. Square or angled paper air filter boxes and different dynamic brake and exhaust stack options are present. It also features all of the road-specific detailing you’ve come to expect on ScaleTrains models, down to the unique extended walkway ducts and raised rear walkway and slug electrical connections found on the SP units. These new units would be right at home on almost any layout, handling heavy switching and drag road duty, just like their 1:1 counterparts.

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