EMD SW1

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EMD SW1

Southern Pacific Railroad SW1 #1000, photographed when brand new in 1939.
Power type	Diesel-electric
Builder	Electro-Motive Corporation (EMC) later General Motors Electro-Motive Division (EMD)
Model	SW1
Build date	December 1938 – November 1953
Total production	661
Gauge	4 ft 8½ in (1,435 mm)
Prime mover	EMD 567 or 567A
Engine type	Two-stroke diesel
Aspiration	Roots-type supercharger
Cylinders	V6
Power output	600 hp (450 kW)

The EMD SW1 was a 600-horsepower (450 kW) diesel-electric switcher locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between December 1938 and November 1953. Final assembly was at EMD's plant at La Grange, Illinois. The SW1 was the second generation of lightweight switcher from EMD, succeeding the SW and SC. The most significant change from those earlier models was the use of an engine of EMD's own design, the EMD 567 engine, here in 600 hp (450 kW) V6 form. 661 locomotives of this design were built, even though diesel switcher production was suspended between 1942 and 1945 by the War Production Board.

Contents 1 Production changes 2 Identification 3 Original owners 4 Preservation 5 References

[edit] Production changes

Like most long-running locomotive models, a number of changes were made to the SW1 over its production life. Internally, the post-1945 locomotives were somewhat improved, and used an updated 567A engine.

One easily spotted change is the shape of the two center cab windows over the hood, which were curved to follow the roofline originally, but became flat-topped after mid-1950. Another easily seen is the taper of the hood to the cab, which was a two-stage taper in earlier units but became a single taper in later production. Very early locomotives were delivered with a stubby exhaust stack, but this did not lift the diesel exhaust sufficiently clear of crew visibility. All later units were delivered with EMD's standard conical switcher stack, while early units were generally modified with taller stacks too. Early locomotives had a single large headlight, while later had twin sealed-beam headlights.

[edit] Identification

The SW1 appears very similar to its SW and SC predecessors, but has only a single stack instead of two, a significantly shorter hood and a larger rear platform, no small louvres on the front top hood sides, and a large grille instead of lifting vents on top of the hood front. The sandbox in front of the radiator is somewhat smaller on the SW1.

Compared to later EMD switchers, the SW1 has a much shorter hood, large platforms at each end, a single exhaust stack, and a large 'satchel' type sandbox.

[edit] Original owners

Railroad	Quantity	Road numbers	Notes
Allegheny and South Side Railway	1	101
Allis-Chalmers	1	8
Angelina and Neches River Railroad	1	10
Atlantic and East Carolina Railway	1	9
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad	1	1901	Rejected, to Richmond Terminal Railroad #1
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad	22	200–221
Boston and Maine Railroad	24	1109–1132
Broward County Port Authority	1	400
Buffalo Creek Railroad	1	42
Canton Railroad	5	21–25
Central Indiana Railroad	1	1
Central of Georgia Railroad	3	2, 3, 7
Central of New Jersey	4	1109–1112
Chattanooga Traction Company	1	4
Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad	5	95–99
Chicago and North Western Railway	20	1207–1212, 1214, 1215, 1268–1270, 1272–1278, 1271, 1279
Chicago District Electric Generating	2	3, 4
Chicago Short Line Railway	2	200–201
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad	20	9136–9153
Chicago, Indianapolis and Louisville Railroad	3	50, 5, 6
Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway	1	55
Cleveland Quarries	1	2
Commonwealth Edison	6	10–15
Conemaugh and Black Lick Railroad	6	60–65
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad	11	427–437
Detroit Edison	3	210–212
Detroit, Toledo and Ironton Railroad	2	900–901
Donner-Hanna Coke	1	1
Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railroad	27	220–246
EMD (demonstrator units)*	7	755, 804, 905, 906, 911, 700, 152
Erie Railroad	1	360
Fort Worth and Denver City Railroad	2	602, 604
Fort Worth Belt	1	1
Galveston Wharves	5	201–205
Garden City Western Railway	1	201
Georgia and Florida Railroad	3	70–72
Georgia Marble Company	1	1
Granite City Steel	2	600–601
Great Lakes Steel	14	12, 14–18, 22, 30, 31, 33–36, 38
Great Northern Railway	9	5101–5105, 80–83	5101–5105 renumbered
Great Western Railway	1	61
Hanna Furnace Company	3	14–16
Houston Belt and Terminal Railway	1	10
Illinois Central Railroad	19	9014–9032
Inland Steel Company	12	54, 57, 70–73, 76–81
Lehigh Portland Cement Company	1	5
Lehigh Valley Railroad	6	112–119
Louisiana Midland Railway	1	11
Louisville and Nashville Railroad	5	11–15
Manufacturers Junction Railway	1	6
Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad	1	70
Mathieson Chemical	2	1–2
McLouth Steel	3	3–5
Memphis Union Station	1	10
Metropolitan Sanitary District of Greater Chicago	3	1–3
Milwaukee Road	25	1610–1634	renumbered
Missouri Pacific Railroad	10	9004–9006, 9011, 9200–9205
Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway	1	15
New York Central Railroad	81	600–621 (first), 622–654, 580–599, 600–621 (second)
Nickel Plate Railroad	2	105–106
Pennsylvania Railroad	81	5910, 5944–5953, 5987–5999, 9104, 9137–9154, 9200–9203, 9205, 9396–9428
Pere Marquette Railroad	2	10–11
Phelps Dodge Corporation	1	A
Philadelphia, Bethlehem and New England Railroad	9	212–218, 220, 221
Public Service Company of Northern Illinois	3	9–11
Portland Traction Company (Oregon)	2	100, 200
Reading Railroad	9	16–23
Republic Steel	22	50–54, 300–306, 340–341, 352, 370–372, 890–891, 893–894
Rock Island Railroad	18	529–546
Roscoe, Snyder and Pacific Railway	1	100
Sahara Coal Company	2	(no numbers)
Seaboard Air Line Railroad	1	1200
Soo Line Railroad	1	320
Southern Railway	9	2002–2004, 2007–2011, 8565
Southern Pacific Railroad	14	1004–1016
St. Joseph Belt Railroad	1	11
St. Joseph Terminal Railroad	2	1–2
Tennessee Coal and Iron Railroad	4	1000–1003
Terminal Railroad Association of St Louis	8	501–508
Union Railroad	22	455–476
US Department of Defense (US Army)	4	7001–7004
Wabash Railroad	11	101–111
Warner Sand and Gravel Company	1	15
Western Pacific Railroad	2	502–503
Wheeling Steel Company	4	1001–1004
North Western Railway of Mexico	1	500

• There were 7 units built as EMD demonstrators: #152 (to Scullin Steel #6), 700 (to Manufacturers Junction Railway #7), 755 (to Inland Steel #51), 804 (to Southern Pacific Railroad #1000, pictured above), 905 (to Central of Georgia #1), 906 (to Western Pacific Railroad #501), 911 (to Great Lakes Steel #11)

[edit] Preservation

• The first SW1 built by EMC in 1939 is now preserved at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento, California. The locomotive worked for Holly Sugar in Santa Ana and Tracy as the company's number 1. The museum donation was a coordinated effort between the museum, the Pacific Coast Chapter of the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society and Spreckels Sugar (the locomotive's last owner).

• Sahara Coal SW1 #6 was purchased in the 1990s by the Crab Orchard & Egyptian Railroad in Marion, Illinois and is still in operation.

• EMC demonstrator 906, sold to the Western Pacific Railroad as their 501, is preserved at the Western Pacific Railroad Museum at Portola, CA. It has been restored back to its original WP image. This locomotive was the Western Pacific's first diesel-electric engine.

• Another former Western Pacific SW1 is also preserved at the California State Railroad Museum. Later sold to WP subsidiary Sacramento Northern, this engine is preserved as SN 402, painted in the famous silver and orange "Zephyr" colors that the WP roads used through the 1950s and 1960s.

• The Zanesville & Western Scenic Railroad Operates a preserved SW1 on its scenic line in Fultonham, Ohio.

• Metra commuter rail inherited two SW1s from the Rock Island. The two engines are used for Yard Service and power on work trains on the Metra Electric and Rock Island lines. Built in 1939, they are rumored to be two of the oldest operating diesels in Illinois.

• The Wilmington and Western Railroad owns and operates two SW1s in tourist passenger service. One is from the Baltimore and Ohio, and the other is from the Lehigh Valley.

• The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum, Baltimore, MD has former SW1 Pere Marquette Railway #11 in operating condition at last report.

[edit] References

• Pinkepank, Jerry A. (1973). The Second Diesel Spotter's Guide. Kalmbach Publishing Co., Milwaukee, WI. ISBN 0-89024-026-4. 
• (July 2005), "Preservation Briefs", Trains Magazine, p. 71.
• TrainWeb.com. The Unofficial EMD homepage. Retrieved on January 7, 2005. Contains fairly complete builders' records for early EMD production.
• Electro-Motive Division. (1949). EMD Operating Manual: 600 & 1,000 hp (750 kW) Switching Locomotives. General Motors Electro-Motive Division, La Grange, Illinois.

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