EMD SW900

The EMD SW900 is a diesel switcher locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division and General Motors Diesel (GMD) between December 1953 and March 1969.[1] Power was provided by an EMD 567C 8-cylinder engine that generated 900 horsepower (670 kW). Built concurrently with the SW1200, the eight-cylinder units had a single exhaust stack. The last two SW900s built by GMD for British Columbia Hydro were built with 8 cylinder 645E engines rated at 1,000 horsepower (750 kW).

EMD SW900
Rock Island 907 at Seneca, Illinois on January 28, 1967
Type and origin
Power typeDiesel-electric
Builder
ModelSW900
Build dateDecember 1953 – March 1969
Total producedEMD: 274; GMD: 97
Specifications
Prime moverEMD 8-567C
Engine typeTwo-stroke diesel
AspirationRoots-type supercharger
Cylinders8
Performance figures
Power output900 hp (670 kW)
Career
Locale

260 examples of this locomotive model were built for American railroads and 97 were built for Canadian railroads. Canadian production of the SW900 lasted three and a half years past EMD production. Seven units were exported to Orinoco Mining Co (Venezuela); two units were exported to Southern Peru Copper Co; and five units were exported to the Liberian American-Swedish Minerals Company. Total production is 371 units.

Some SW900s were built with the generators from traded in EMC Winton-engined switchers and were classified as SW900M by EMD. Units rebuilt from SW or SC model locomotives developed 600 or 660 horsepower with the older generators instead of the full 900 horsepower of the SW900.

In the early 1960s, the Reading Company sent 14 of their Baldwin VO 1000 model switchers to EMD to have them rebuilt to SW900 specifications. The Reading units retained the Baldwin switcher carbody and were rated at 1000 horsepower by EMD.

A Cow-calf variation, the TR9, was cataloged, but none were built.

Original buyers

Built by Electro-Motive Division, USA
RailroadQuantityRoad numbersNotes
Electro-Motive Division demonstrator16534to River Terminal 99
16535to Waterloo Railway 4
Alabama By-Products Corporation1900
American Steel and Wire43–6
Armco Steel Corporation13B80, 1203–1214
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway4650–653
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad29625–653
Birmingham Southern Railroad591–95
General Motors-Buick Motor Division2792, 818
Canton Railroad544–48
Cedar Rapids and Iowa City Railway194
Champion Papers Inc13
Chicago and North Western Railway2144–145
Chicago Great Western Railway15
Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad29550–563, 900–914550-563 are 600 h.p. SW900M
Colorado and Wyoming Railway1214
Texas Construction Material Company (Colorado River and Western Railroad)1201
Corinth and Counce Railroad2901–902
Cuyahoga Valley Railway2960–961
DeQueen and Eastern Railroad1D-4
Detroit Edison Company1214
Hammond Lumber Company (Feather River Railway)1102
Fernwood, Columbia and Gulf Railroad1900
Grand Trunk Railroad (of Maine)27225-7226
Grand Trunk Western Railroad137227–7232, 7262–7268
Granite City Steel Company2900–901
Great Lakes Steel Corporation26-7
Hanna Furnace Company117
Hercules Powder Company161
Inland Lime and Stone Company110
Jacksonville Terminal Company337–39
Lancaster and Chester Railway290–91L&C 91 was the last EMD built SW900 in 11/65
Lehigh Valley Railroad12106-107, 110, 120–127, 130107,110 are 600 h.p. SW900M, 106 is 660 h.p. SW900M
Liberian American-Swedish Minerals Company5201-205Liberia, Africa
McLouth Steel Corporation26–7
Missouri Portland Cement Company11
Monessen Southwestern Railway328–30
New York Central Railroad169631–9646
New York Central System (Cleveland Union Terminal Company)39628–9630
Northern Pacific Railway1100NW 100 was rebuilt as an SW900m
Orinoco Mining Company71090–1096Venezuela, South America
Philadelphia Bethlehem and New England Railroad251-52
Pickering Lumber Company4101–104
Raritan River Railroad61–6
Reading Company2110-15, 1501–151510-15 are 660 h.p. SW900M
Republic Steel Corporation12345, 347–349, 354–359, 373–374
River Terminal Railway1090–98, 10099 was EMD demo
Sand Springs Railway3100–102
Simpson Logging Company1900Built with dynamic brakes.
South Peru Copper Company29-10Peru, South America
Southern Pacific Transportation Company104624–4633
Steelton and Highspire Railroad221, 27
U.S. Steel Corporation1157
U.S. Sugar Corporation3154–156
Valdosta Southern Railroad1955
Virginia-Carolina Chemical Company11
Waterloo Railroad31–3Waterloo 4 was EMD demo 6535
Woodward Iron Company162
Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company5900–904
Total274

Built by General Motors Diesel, Canada
RailroadQuantityRoad numbersNotes
Algoma Steel151
Aluminum Company of Canada ("Alcan")11003
British Columbia Electric Railway / BC Hydro12900–911to Southern Railway of British Columbia BC Hydro 911 was the last SW900 built in 3/69, all twelve built with road trucks and M.U. and sometimes referred to as SW900RS
Canadian National Railways547233–7261, 8535–8559CN group 8535-8542 production started 12/53 first built
Canadian Pacific Railway116710–6720
McKinnon Industries147074
Midland Railway Company of Manitoba11
Steel Company of Canada ("Stelco")1678–93
Total97

See also

References
  1. Foster, Gerald L. (1996). A field guide to trains of North America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. pp. 10, 14. ISBN 0-395-70112-0.
  • Pinkepank, Jerry A. (1973). The Second Diesel Spotter's Guide. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Kalmbach Publishing. ISBN 978-0-89024-026-7.
  • Extra 2200 South Volume 7 No.3 August September 1968 page 3
  • Northern Pacific Railway Diesel Era 1945-1970


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