I noticed that the early SD40-2 units delivered on the first SP order had a small box step/cabinet in front of the larger/higher cabinet on the engineers side of the short hood. All the later units delivered (starting with at least #8428) lost the box and have a grab iron on the end of the larger cabinet. Is this the difference between the 81" and 88" nose, and if so, which is which? Also, where can I get, or kit bash, the proper size SP nose with the ratchet brake and SP lights to go on the Athearn shell? Thanks.
Are you sure you mean #8428? There weren't any SD40T-2s with that number; 8428 was occupied by an SD40, before it was rebuilt and renumbered into a
7300-series SD40R. Anyways, all of Espee's non-snoot SD40T-2s had 88" low short hoods. Cannon and Co. makes excellent kits for these (and many, many other EMD components) in HO.
Also, all of Espee's SD40T-2s (with the exception of their first order of SD40T-2s, 8300-8306, 8350-8356) were equipped with brakewheels, not ratchets (one of the many options covered in the Cannon kits). FWIW, the majority of the SP/SSW 2nd generation fleet were equipped with brakewheels.
For the Espee nose lights you're on your own, but it isn't too difficult to cut in one of the excellent castings from DW, Sunrise, or Utah Pacific into the Cannon nose. Also, I'm not sure what you mean by "cabinets" - are you referring to the battery boxes? If that's the case, they were all equipped with a grab iron to serve as a step on the front, engineer's side. If you haven't yet, take a look at the SP SD40T-2 page on the Espee Modeler's Homepage for pics and data:
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