PRE-ORDER: Athearn 2965 - EMD SD40-2 (DC Silent) Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway (WLE) 7015 - HO Scale

Pre-Order Due Date:  Feb 27 2026

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For any pre-order submitted after the due date, we will try our best to fulfill your order, but are at the mercy of the manufacturer and if they produce more than were preordered by their dealers.

Pre-Orders will show a 0 shipping cost now, and shipping will be included on your invoice at time of product arrival.

When the product(s) are available to ship, you will receive an invoice via email and text through Intuit QuickBooks for the remaining 95%. Message and data rates may apply.

Please note that Estimated Arrival Dates can change at any point. Midwest Model Railroad is not responsible for manufacturers delaying production.

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Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway Company operates a fleet of SD40-2 locomotives over their 840-mile long system. Recently they painted
one unit into a special scheme to commemorate the nation’s upcoming celebration of 250 years of independence.
According to their Facebook page, “This one-of-a-kind unit was designed entirely in-house, drawing inspiration from the iconic Norfolk
& Western bicentennial locomotive of 1976. But this is no replica — it features a bold Wheeling twist, including chevron striping and our
signature flying letters. Every detail of the paint job was carefully considered and expertly applied, resulting in one of the most striking
finishes on our roster. Shop personnel spent countless hours sanding and buffing the clearcoat to eliminate any blemishes, also adding a
polished brass bell, vintage “raised letter” number boards, and a restored Leslie air horn, bringing back an audio-visual aesthetic largely
vanished from the modern railroad scene.”

SOUND-EQUIPPED MODELS ALSO FEATURE
• Onboard DCC decoder with SoundTraxx Econami sound
• Single cube speaker for optimal sound quality
• Sound units operate in both DC and DCC
• Engine, horn, and bell sounds work in DC
• Some functions are limited in DC
• All functions NMRA compatible in DCC mode
• Effect lighting (if applicable) using F5 and/or F6
• Excellent low-speed operation
• Program a multiple unit (MU) lashup with lead unit only horn, bell,
and lights
• Many functions can be altered via Configuration Value (CV) changes
• CV chart included in the box

SD40-2 LOCOMOTIVE FEATURES:
• Flexible rubber MU hoses for durability
• Flexible rubber trainline hose
• See-through cab windows
• Coupler cut levers
• Wire grab irons
• Exhaust stack
• See-through dynamic brake and radiator fans
• Frame mounted bell (unless noted)
• Detailed fuel tank with fuel fillers, fuel gauges, & breather pipes
• Separately applied air tanks
• Fine-scale Celcon handrails for scale appearance
• Photo-etched stainless steel windshield wipers
• LED Illuminated front and rear headlights, ditch lights, and beacons
(where applicable to the prototype)
• DCC-ready Non-sound version features 21-pin NEM DCC plug
• McHenry® operating scale knuckle couplers
• All-wheel drive with precision gears for smooth & quiet operation
• All-wheel electrical pickup provides reliable current flow
• 5-pole motor with precision-machined flywheels and multi-link drive
train for trouble free operation
• Wheels with RP25 contours operate on all popular brands of track
• Heavy die-cast frame for greater traction and more pulling power
• Scaled from prototype resources including drawings, field
measurements, photographs, and more
• Accurately –painted and –printed paint schemes
• Packaging securely holds model for safe storage
• Fully-assembled and ready-to-run
• Minimum radius: 18” Recommended radius 22”

PROTOTYPE SPECIFIC INFORMATION
The SD40-2 was introduced in January 1972 as part of EMD’s Dash
2 series, responding to competing products from GE and ALCO.
Reliability and versatility of the 3,000-horsepower SD40-2 made it the
best-selling model in EMD’s history and the standard of the industry for
several decades after its introduction. The SD40-2 was an improvement
over the SD40, with modular electronic control systems similar to those
of the experimental SD45X and DDA40X. The last SD40-2 delivered
to a United States railroad was built in July 1984, with production
continuing for railroads in Canada until 1988.