Cotton Belt Diesel Roster (All-Time)

Published: October 29, 2026

The Cotton Belt dieselized in the ordinary way, and then kept buying locomotives in its own numbers long after it was a Southern Pacific subsidiary. Baldwin switchers arrived in 1942. The FT was the first road diesel, in 1944. The last new power was a group of fifty GP60s, delivered from February through May 1990 and still lettered Cotton Belt. The list counts 660 locomotives, each frame once. A later Southern Pacific number on one of these frames is the same locomotive, and so is a rebuild. Units the Southern Pacific merely patched are not here.

St. Louis Southwestern PA-1 300 at the St. Louis shops on June 6, 1957, in the Daylight livery

PA-1 No. 300 at the St. Louis shops on June 6, 1957, in the Southern Pacific’s Daylight livery. Richard Wallin photo.

On this page: At a glance · Switchers · Cab units · Road switchers · General Electric and the GP60s · Roster

At a glance

Item	Detail
Railroad	St. Louis Southwestern. Company history
This table	New locomotives built for the Cotton Belt, or delivered new with SSW ownership and Cotton Belt lettering, through May 1990. Each frame once
American Locomotive	32. Seventeen RS-3s, three RSD-5s, ten RSD-15s, and two PA-1s
Baldwin	28. One transfer unit, 22 VO-1000s, and five DS-4-4-1000s
Electro-Motive	515. Switchers, the FT and F7 fleets, the GP and SD road power, and 95 GP60s
General Electric	85. Four B36-7s, 26 B30-7s, and 55 B40-8s
Quantity column	660
First diesel	VO-1000s 1000 and 1001, Baldwin, 1942
Last new locomotives	GP60s 9665–9714, February–May 1990, delivered with Cotton Belt lettering

Switchers

The yard fleet began with Baldwin. Twenty-two VO-1000s were built from July 1942 through December 1945 and numbered 1000–1010 and 1012–1022. No. 1011 was never built. One center-cab transfer unit, DT-6-6-2000 No. 260, arrived on May 28, 1948, and was scrapped in December 1963. Five DS-4-4-1000s, 1023–1027, followed at the turn of 1948 and closed out the Baldwin purchases.

Electro-Motive’s switchers were a longer list and a later one. Four NW2s, 1050–1053, came in 1949. Four SW7s and four SW9s filled 1054–1061 in 1950, 1951, and 1952. Seventeen SW1200s arrived in three orders between January 1964 and April 1966, twelve of them in the 1062–1073 series and five, 2289–2293, out in the 2200s. Thirty-six SW1500s followed from 1968 through 1971, with a last block of four, 2579–2582, built in January 1979. Alco’s contribution to the same work was seventeen RS-3s, delivered from May 1951 through October 1952, three RSD-5s in April 1953, and ten RSD-15s in March 1960. The second 311 replaced the first. Both were built new, and both are counted.

Cab units

The first road diesels were FTs, ten cabs and ten boosters, built in June and July 1944 and in June 1945. They were numbered in the 900s with a letter suffix, and several of those frames later carried plain numbers. The F7 was the freight cab unit that mattered. Twenty-six cabs and seventeen boosters were delivered from February 1950 through September 1952, odds for the cabs and evens for the boosters, 925 through 975. There is no 6440-order booster to match the last four cabs. One FP7, No. 330, came in April 1950 with the F7s of that month.

Passenger power was that FP7 and two PA-1s, 300 and 301, built in November 1949. The photograph above is 300 at the St. Louis shops on June 6, 1957, in the Daylight livery the parent had made famous. Passenger trains were in the hands of diesels by the end of 1952. The 4-8-4s were still around for freight, and the last of that work went to a Consolidation on October 28, 1953.

Road switchers

The early hood units were fully lettered Cotton Belt. GP7 No. 320, built in June 1950, carried a steam generator and no dynamic brake, a passenger-helper more than a freight engine. Twelve GP9s followed, six in October 1957 and six in February 1959. The builder’s photograph of 823 is the Black Widow scheme, Cotton Belt lettering on a Southern Pacific paint job. Twenty GP20s, ten GP30s, and twenty-two GP35s took the railroad through the early 1960s. From those orders on, the high-horsepower units came in Southern Pacific scarlet and gray, with Cotton Belt on the hood or small SSW initials, and they ran all over the Pacific system.

Electro-Motive builder photo of St. Louis Southwestern GP9 823 in October 1957, in the Black Widow livery

An Electro-Motive builder’s photo of GP9 No. 823 in October 1957, in the Black Widow livery.

The road numbers moved with the parent’s system. GP30s 750–759 became 5000–5009. GP35s 760–779 became 6500–6519, and 780 and 781 became 6680 and 6681. The photograph below is that generation at work: GP35 6513 and GP30 5006, southbound at West Point, Texas, about 1983, still Cotton Belt engines on Southern Pacific rails. Eight GP40s, 7600–7607, were built in the first months of 1966. Thirty GP40-2s, 7628–7657, followed in January and February 1979. Twenty-six more, 7248–7273, were built in October and November 1984 and delivered lettered Cotton Belt in the proposed Santa Fe–Southern Pacific paint.

Cotton Belt GP35 6513 and GP30 5006 southbound over Route 543 at West Point, Texas, circa 1983

GP35 No. 6513 and GP30 No. 5006 lead a southbound freight over the Route 543 overpass at West Point, Texas, on the Southern Pacific, circa 1983. Mike Bledsoe photo. American-Rails.com collection.

The six-axle freight engines were the SD45 and the tunnel motors. Thirty-nine SD45s were built from February 1968 through January 1970. No. 8971 was later rebuilt, after a wreck, as Southern Pacific 9156, which is the same frame and is not counted again. The tunnel motors were a Cotton Belt purchase as well as a Southern Pacific one. Ten SD40T-2s, 8322–8326 and 8372–8376, were built in January and February 1978. One hundred thirteen SD45T-2s were built from July 1972 through July 1975, in four blocks beginning at 9157. A rebuild of one of these frames is the same locomotive. SD45T-2s built for the Southern Pacific and later assigned SSW numbers stay with the parent’s fleet.

General Electric and the GP60s

General Electric power has to be counted with the rest, because it was delivered new as Cotton Belt. Four B36-7s, 7770–7773, were built in January 1980, and twenty-six B30-7s, 7774–7799, followed in March and April on the next construction numbers. No. 7771 later lost its cab in a wreck and was rebuilt that way. It is still the locomotive it was. Fifty-five B40-8s came in two orders: 8040–8074 from July through November 1988, and 8075–8094 in May 1989.

The GP60 closed the roster. Fifteen, 9620–9634, were built in September and October 1988. Thirty, 9635–9664, were built from August through October 1989. Fifty, 9665–9714, were built from February through May 1990. Ninety-five engines, all of them delivered with SSW numbers and Cotton Belt lettering or sublettering. They are the last new locomotives to leave a builder in those marks. The company page carries 9663 and 9664 at Bensenville on October 22, 1989, a month into the second order. Paper ownership and the letters on the cab had parted company years earlier. The letters held on until these engines.

Roster

Model	Road numbers	Qty	Builder	Serial	Order	Built	Notes
RS-3	308–310	3	Alco	—	—	April 1952
RS-3	311 (1st)	1	Alco	—	—	May 1951	Replaced by 311 (2nd)
RS-3	311 (2nd)	1	Alco	80223	—	October 1952	Replaced 311 (1st). Both were built new
RS-3	312	1	Alco	—	—	1951
RS-3	313–314	2	Alco	78890–78891	—	June 1951
RS-3	315–318	4	Alco	79415–79418	—	December 1951
RS-3	356	1	Alco	79848	—	March 1952
RS-3	357–360	4	Alco	80219–80222	—	October 1952
RSD-5	270–272	3	Alco	80415–80417	—	April 1953
RSD-15	850	1	Alco	83486	—	March 1960
RSD-15	851–859	9	Alco	83524–83532	—	March 1960
PA-1	300–301	2	Alco	77511–77512	—	November 1949
DT-6-6-2000	260	1	Baldwin	73532	—	May 28, 1948	Retired December 1963. Scrapped
VO-1000	1000–1001	2	Baldwin	64410, 64427	—	July and October 1942
VO-1000	1002–1003	2	Baldwin	64435, 64750	—	November 1942 and April 1943
VO-1000	1004–1005	2	Baldwin	69658, 69673	—	September and October 1943
VO-1000	1006	1	Baldwin	70158	—	March 1944
VO-1000	1007–1010	4	Baldwin	—	—	1944
VO-1000	1012–1015	4	Baldwin	—	—	May–July 1945	No. 1011 was not built
VO-1000	1016–1017	2	Baldwin	72038–72039	—	August 1945
VO-1000	1018–1022	5	Baldwin	71555–71559	—	November–December 1945
DS-4-4-1000	1023–1027	5	Baldwin	73482–73486	—	December 13, 1947–January 4, 1948
NW2	1050–1051	2	EMD	7374–7375	E1047	May 1949
NW2	1052–1053	2	EMD	8751–8752	E1217	November 1949
SW7	1054–1057	4	EMD	—	—	April 1950
SW9	1058–1061	4	EMD	—	—	December 1951–January 1952
SW1200	1062–1069	8	EMD	28895–28902	7696	January 1964
SW1200	1070–1073	4	EMD	29634–29637	7757	December 1964–February 1965
SW1200	2289–2293	5	EMD	31570–31574	7867	January–April 1966
SW1500	2481–2492	12	EMD	33612–33623	7087	April–June 1968
SW1500	2511–2522	12	EMD	34428–34439	7141	March 1969
SW1500	2579–2582	4	EMD	35757–35760	7216	January 1979
SW1500	2583–2590	8	EMD	7367-1 to 7367-8	7367	December 1971
FTA	900A, 900D, 905A, 905D, 910A, 910D	6	EMD	2306–2311	E581A	June–July 1944	Later numbered 901, 903, 907, 909, 911, and 913. Same frames
FTA	915A, 915D, 920A, 920D	4	EMD	3227–3230	E663A	June 1945
FTB	900B, 900C, 905B, 905C, 910B, 910C	6	EMD	2312–2317	E582B	June–July 1944
FTB	915B, 915C, 920B, 920C	4	EMD	3231–3234	E663B	June 1945
F7A	925–937 (odds)	7	EMD	8755–8761	3001A	February 1950
F7A	939	1	EMD	11626	3055A	April 1950
F7A	941–947 (odds)	4	EMD	14673–14676	3081A	July 1951
F7A	949–959 (odds)	6	EMD	14817–14822	6319A	October 1951
F7A	961–967 (odds)	4	EMD	16812–16815	6396A	May 1952
F7A	969–975 (odds)	4	EMD	17424–17427	6440A	September 1952
F7B	926–932 (evens)	4	EMD	8762–8765	3001B	February 1950
F7B	934	1	EMD	11627	3055B	April 1950
F7B	936, 938	2	EMD	14677–14678	3081B	July 1951
F7B	940–950 (evens)	6	EMD	14823–14828	6319B	October 1951
F7B	952–958 (evens)	4	EMD	16816–16819	6396B	May 1952
FP7	330	1	EMD	11628	3056A	April 1950
GP7	320	1	EMD	10736	6038	June 1950	Steam generator. No dynamic brake
GP9	820–825	6	EMD	24075–24080	5563	October 1957	823 is serial 24078
GP9	826–831	6	EMD	25016–25021	5590	February 1959
GP20	800–809	10	EMD	26304–26313	7595	December 1960–January 1961
GP20	810–819	10	EMD	26943–26952	7611	December 1961–January 1962	No. 819 in this series is a GP20. The 4-8-4 of that number is a different locomotive
GP30	750–759	10	EMD	28172–28181	5650	February 1963	Later 5000–5009
GP35	760–762	3	EMD	28892–28894	7703	January 1964
GP35	763	1	EMD	28907	7703	January 1964
GP35	764–771	8	EMD	29730–29737	5680	December 1964
GP35	772–779	8	EMD	29738–29745	7762	February–March 1965	760–779 later 6500–6519
GP35	780–781	2	EMD	30169–30170	7835	July 1965	Later 6680–6681
GP40	7600–7607	8	EMD	31483–31490	7860	January–March 1966
GP40-2	7248–7273	26	EMD	847046-1 to 847046-26	847046	October–November 1984	Delivered lettered Cotton Belt, in the proposed Santa Fe–Southern Pacific paint
GP40-2	7628–7657	30	EMD	785179-1 to 785179-30	785179	January–February 1979
SD45	8964–8971	8	EMD	33624–33631	—	February–April 1968	8971 was rebuilt as Southern Pacific 9156 after a wreck. Same frame
SD45	8972–8981	10	EMD	33661–33670	—	May–June 1968
SD45	9052–9059	8	EMD	34420–34427	—	January–March 1969
SD45	9060–9062	3	EMD	34726–34728	—	December 1968
SD45	9063–9065	3	EMD	34729–34731	—	December 1968
SD45	9066–9068	3	EMD	34732–34734	—	December 1968
SD45	9152–9153	2	EMD	35753–35754	—	January 1970
SD45	9154–9155	2	EMD	35755–35756	—	January 1970
SD40T-2	8322–8326	5	EMD	776075-1 to 776075-5	776075	January 1978
SD40T-2	8372–8376	5	EMD	776076-1 to 776076-5	776076	January–February 1978
SD45T-2	9157–9165	9	EMD	7348-1 to 7348-9	7348	July–August 1972
SD45T-2	9261–9301	41	EMD	—	72625	February–March 1973
SD45T-2	9315–9343	29	EMD	—	—	January–February 1974
SD45T-2	9371–9404	34	EMD	—	74696	March–July 1975
GP60	9620–9634	15	EMD	876054-1 to 876054-15	876054	September–October 1988
GP60	9635–9664	30	EMD	886024-1 to 886024-30	886024	August–October 1989
GP60	9665–9714	50	EMD	896003-1 to 896003-50	896003	February–May 1990	Last new locomotives delivered with Cotton Belt lettering
B36-7	7770–7773	4	General Electric	42784–42787	—	January 1980	7771 was later rebuilt without a cab. Same frame
B30-7	7774–7799	26	General Electric	42788–42813	—	March–April 1980
B40-8	8040–8074	35	General Electric	45688–45722	1414	July–November 1988
B40-8	8075–8094	20	General Electric	45971–45990	1418	May 1989

Sources

Andre Kristopans, Electro-Motive order list, TrainWeb. Serials and order numbers for the Electro-Motive locomotives.
John F. Kirkland, The Diesel Builders: Volume Three, Baldwin Locomotive Works. The Baldwin models, and the day dates for No. 260 and the DS-4-4-1000s.
The Diesel Shop, St. Louis Southwestern diesel roster, for the Alco and Baldwin construction numbers printed above.
General Electric B40-8 orders 1414 and 1418, serials 45688–45722 and 45971–45990.

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