The EMD SW1200 was the final model the builder would produce using its model 567 prime mover (all future models used the model 645). The switcher was also the last model utilizing the traditional carbody and rounded-cab roof-line. Beginning with the SW900, EMD featured the model's number designation to refer to its horsepower rating rather than simply using it to list its sequential order in the series. Once again, the model proved railroads tended to like a small switcher with a bit more horsepower as the SW1500 went to become Electro-Motive's most successful in the SW series. By the time production had ended more than 1,000 of these locomotives rolled out of EMD. Today, just as with virtually every other model in the series, SW1200's can continue to be found hauling freight for short lines and used in industrial settings, along with also pulling excursion trains.
There are currently three units that are officially known to be preserved; Canadian Pacific #1229 at the Alberta Central Railway Museum, CP #8120 at the Lake of the Woods Railroaders Museum, and Lake Superior Terminal & Transportation #105 at the Minnesota Transportation Museum.
The EMD SW1200 began production in January, 1954 around the same time as its less powerful counterpart, the SW900. The model used EMD's 567C prime mover (some late model designs in the 1960s used the builder's final version of the 567, the 567E). The 12-cylinder engine could produce a hefty 1,200 horsepower, which apparently is something many very much liked as EMD's higher-horsepower small switchers tended to sell much better (similar higher horsepower models offered by Baldwin, the American Locomotive Company, and Fairbanks Morse also tended to sell much better). Using General Motors' newer model D37B traction motor the SW1200 could produce a respectable 36,000 pounds of continuous tractive effort (its starting tractive effort was the most offered of any EMD switcher up to that time, 74,000 pounds) and overall weighed just over 122-tons (a bit heavier than the SW900).
A History Of The Electro-Motive Division (EMD)
EMD's General Motors Diesel
Early Switchers: SW, SC, NW, NC
SW9
SW900
SW1000
SW1001 Variant
SW1500
F2
F3
F7
FP7
F9n
New Haven's FL9
F40PH Series
F45 Series
GP7
GP9
GP15 Series
GP18
RS1325
GP20
GP30
GP35
GP38 Series
GP40 Series
GP50
SD35
SD38 Series
SD40/SD40-2 Series
SD45 Series
SD50
SD60 Series
SD70 Series
SD75M/I Variant
Conrail's SD80MAC
SD90MAC
SD70ACe
Sales for the EMD SW1200 quickly took off and with the builder's reputation at the time for being the best manufacturer of diesel locomotives sales remained steady through the 1950s and into the 1960s. Just as with other SW series models, numerous Class Is, shortlines, and private industries purchased the switcher since they could be used in all types of applications from light branch line work to industrial duties. However, what allowed the model to sell so well was its 1,200 horsepower rating, giving many railroads the versatility to use it pulling heavier freight trains. Unfortunately, for EMD it would change the carbody of its SW1000 model for the worse in the late 1960s, much to the chagrin of industries who found it incapable of fitting within the tight quarters on their property.
As such, the SW1001 variant was designed using the frame of the SW1200. After EMD released the SW9 it abandoned cataloging its cow/calf TR series although it contemplated doing so with the SW900 of 1953 but ultimately decided against doing so. In any event, the SW1200 would also not be offered in a cow/calf variant mostly because interest in the setup had waned following the SW9. Production on the switcher continued through May, 1966 and when the last unit was outshopped some 1,056 units in total had been produced, which included 287 models built by General Motors Diesel of London, Ontario.
Buyers of the GMD SW1200 included Roberval & Quebec Iron & Titanium, Saguenay Railway, Essex Terminal Railway, Dominion Foundries & Steel, Canadian Forest Products, and the two largest buyers Canadian Pacific (72 units) and Canadian National (208 units). Some of the industries to pick up the SW1200 included Wheeling Steel, Weyerhaeuser Timber, Woodward Iron, Simpson Logging, Republic Steel, Oliver Iron Mining, Midland Electric Coal Company, Great Lakes Steel, Commonwealth Edison, and Coos Bay Lumber Company. Among all of them these companies purchased more than 100 examples of the locomotive. It was the most purchased EMD switcher for industries as its power and agility made it ideal in such settings.
Owner | Road Number(s) | Quantity | Date Built |
---|---|---|---|
Aliquippa & Southern Railroad | 1201-1213 | 13 | 1954-1957 |
Ashley, Drew & Northern Railway | 176, 178 | 2 | 1955, 1963 |
Baltimore & Ohio | 9614-9621 | 8 | 1957 |
Bauxite & Northern Railway | 11 | 1 | 1954 |
Bellefonte Central Railroad | 5624 | 1 | 1956 |
Belt Railway Of Chicago | 524-526 | 3 | 1963 |
Birmingham Southern Railroad | 200-201 | 2 | 1957 |
Burlington | 9271-9292 | 22 | 1955-1965 |
Chicago & Illinois Midland | 18-23 | 6 | 1955 |
Chicago & North Western | 310-321 | 12 | 1960-1962 |
Colorado & Southern Railway (CB&Q) | 156-160 | 5 | 1959 |
Commonwealth Edison | 16 | 1 | 1964 |
Conemaugh & Black Lick Railroad | 120-121 | 2 | 1956 |
Coos Bay Lumber Company | 1201-1203 | 3 | 1954 |
Cuyahoga Valley Railway | 1280-1286 | 7 | 1956-1965 |
De Queen & Eastern Railroad | D-5 | 1 | 1960 |
Denver & Rio Grande Western | 130-139 | 10 | 1965 |
Elgin, Joliet & Eastern | 300-307 | 8 | 1960 |
Florida East Coast Railway | 229-235 | 7 | 1954 |
Fort Worth & Denver Railway (CB&Q) | 607-610 | 4 | 1959 |
Grand Trunk Western | 1505-1508, 1511-1519, 1269-1270, 7017-7019 | 18 | 1955-1960 |
Great Lakes Steel Corporation | 16, 39-53 | 16 | 1956-1965 |
Great Northern | 29-33, 100 | 6 | 1955-1957 |
Houston Belt & Terminal Railway | 33-37 | 5 | 1966 |
Illinois Terminal | 775-786 | 12 | 1955 |
Inland Steel Corporation | 88-98, 103-114 | 23 | 1956-1965 |
Kansas City Terminal Railway | 70-79 | 10 | 1964 |
Lackawanna | 561-568 | 8 | 1957 |
Lake Superior Terminal & Transfer (GN) | 105 | 1 | 1957 |
Louisville & Nashville | 2297-2300 | 4 | 1957 |
Midland Electric Coal Company | 1201 | 1 | 1957 |
Milwaukee Road | 1637-1642, 2020-2061 | 48 | 1954 |
Minneapolis, Northfield & Southern | 30-35 | 6 | 1962-1965 |
Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad (Katy) | 1-6, 43-44 | 8 | 1957-1962 |
Missouri Pacific | 1100-1166, 1175-1201, 1255-1259, 1263-1279 | 116 | 1963-1966 |
New Haven | 640-659 | 20 | 1956 |
New Orleans Public Belt Railroad | 71-72 | 2 | 1957 |
Norfolk & Portsmouth Belt Line Railroad | 101-115 | 15 | 1956 |
Northern Pacific | 119-177 | 59 | 1955-1958 |
Oliver Iron Mining Company | 940-948 | 9 | 1954 |
Pacific Power & Light Company | 10 | 1 | 1965 |
Patapsco & Back Rivers Railroad | 125-134 | 10 | 1956-1957 |
Pennsylvania | 7900-7934 | 35 | 1958 |
Peoria & Pekin Union Railway | 500 | 1 | 1965 |
Philadelphia, Bethlehem & New England Railroad | 39-43 | 5 | 1956-1957 |
Point Comfort & Northern Railway | 4 | 1 | 1955 |
River Terminal Railway | 63-64 | 2 | 1959 |
Reading | 2715-2719 | 5 | 1963 |
Republic Steel Corporation | 362, 895 | 2 | 1956-1959 |
Reserve Mining Company | 1212 | 1 | 1962 |
Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac | 81-85 | 5 | 1965 |
Rock Island | 920-936 | 17 | 1964-1965 |
Rockdale, Sandow & Southern Railroad | 8 | 1 | 1955 |
Sandersville Railroad | 200 | 1 | 1964 |
Santa Fe | 2439-2441 | 3 | 1959 |
Simpson Logging Company | 1200-1201 | 2 | 1956 |
Soo Line | 321-328 | 8 | 1954-1955 |
Southern Pacific | 1597-1623 | 27 | 1964-1965 |
St. Louis Southwestern Railway (Cotton Belt/SP) | 1062-1073, 2289-2293 | 17 | 1964-1966 |
Steelton & Highspire Railroad | 44 | 1 | 1956 |
Terminal Railroad Association Of St. Louis (TRRA) | 1219-1243 | 25 | 1955-1965 |
Texas & New Orleans (SP) | 113-118, 123-128 | 12 | 1954-1957 |
Texas & Pacific (MP) | 1290-1299 | 10 | 1966 |
Tooele Valley Railway | 100 | 1 | 1955 |
U.S. Steel Corporation | SX-1, SX-2 | 2 | 1957 |
Wabash Railroad | 375-379 | 5 | 1954-1957 |
West Virginia Northern | 52 | 1 | 1960 |
Weyerhaeuser Timber Company | 304 | 1 | 1955 |
Wheeling Steel Corporation | 1250, 1254-1259 | 7 | 1954-1955 |
Wisconsin Central Railway (Soo) | 2120-2127 | 8 | 1955 |
Woodward Iron Company | 52 | 1 | 1955 |
Today's this powerful and versatile switcher is still quite common in industrial settings and hauling freight on shortlines. Places you can still find in regular service include Simpson Lumber (which still owns its original two units), Nimishillen & Tuscarawas Railway, BNSF Railway, Lancaster & Chester, St. Maries River Railroad, Eastside Freight Rail, Port Jersey Railroad, United States Steel, ArcelorMittal, Patriot Renewable Fuels, Crab Orchard & Egyptian, Meridian & Bigbee, Indiana Harbor Belt, Ray-Carroll Co-op, Watco, Cedar Rapids & Iowa City Railway (Crandic), CHS Northwest Grain, Canadian National (through ownership of the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern), DTE Transportation Services, and the Black River & Western.
Header Photo: Drew Jacksich
Wes Barris's SteamLocomotive.com is simply the best web resource in the study of steam locomotives.
The amount of information found there is quite staggering; historical backgrounds of wheel arrangements, types used by virtually every railroad, preserved and operational examples, and even those used in other countries (North America and beyond).
It is difficult to truly articulate just how much material can be found at this website. It is a must visit!
A popular pastime for many is studying and/or exploring abandoned rights-of-way.
Today, there are tens of thousands of miles scattered throughout the country. Many were pulled up in the 1970's and 1980's although others were removed long before that.
If you are researching active or abandoned corridors you might want to check out the United States Geological Survey's (USGS) Historical Topographic Map Explorer.
It is an excellent resource with thousands of historic maps on file throughout the country. Just type in a town or city and click on the timeline of maps at the bottom of the page!