Hey all,
recently purchased a nice Conrail EMD SW7 switcher at a train show this past weekend (It was a steal! :) I model CSX in the late 90's/early 2000's. I'm wondering if this model was still in operation at that time and even if any are still in operation on bigger lines (CSX, NS, W&LE, etc)? Anyone have much info beyond what wikipedia gives me? Maybe I could try and convert it into a SW1200 if not...
-Jon
BN retired their last SW7's in 1986.
Ed
Gidday, According to this site the SW7s were retired in the early 90s.
http://thecrhs.org/ConrailSurvivors/Locomotives/EMD
Cheers, the Bear.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Kalmbach makes a "Diesel Spotter's Guide" that it updates every couple of years. A good idea is to pick up an old one (ebay, railroad flea market etc.) from the time you model. I have one from 1986 that has a lot of good info on what was still running then.
Best way to see if any SW7 are operating would be to check short line rosters.Other then that I think not because EMD produce the SW7 between 10/1949 to 1/1951 for a total of 493 units.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
Easy to convert to a SW1200. The only exterior differences are a diffferent number of louvers on the battery box, and a second set of louvers above a gap. This may not be noticable on a model. Otherwise, just change the lettering.
Not of your prototype but too cool not to mention, Southern Pacific ordered SW7's with barrel signal lights, dynamic brake and MU capability for use on the North Western Pacific, they proved not up to this task so were reassigned to road/local service. Considered canidates for GRIP rebuilding program just one prototype was completed at the Houston Shops before the program was terminated due to very little need for any locomotive of less the 1500hp and a young fleet of SW1500's. They were off the roster by 1983 having seen very little use in the previous decade.
Dave
[quote user="wjstix"]
Stix, I think the Diesel Spotter's Guide is no longer updated by Kalmbach, but is now a Withers Publishing product (they do a lot of roster books) and the most recent one I know of is 2008. I think Kalmbach began using the name Contemporary Diesel Spotter's Guide and Withers has continued that. I agree that the older ones are very much worth holding on to.
Does James Kerr still publish the Locomotive Roster and News booklets? Those have or had the virtue of fitting nicely into camera bags. You search by railroad which makes it cumbersome to look for a particular loco model. I looked in my 2003 edition (I don't buy it every year) under CSX -- no SW7s or 1200s. Indeed not many endcab switchers at all.
Dave Nelson
This site "http://www.railpictures.net/index.php" lists 43 photos of SW7 taken after 2010.
I use that site quite frequently to query for specific engines in a specific time frame and / or state.
This site "http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/default.aspx" has usually more photos but selection by time and state is more complicated.
Reinhard
Try this, scroll down to EMD and then SW7.
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/modelList.aspx
NorthWest Try this, scroll down to EMD and then SW7. http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/modelList.aspx
That's a excellent reseach tool but,one must be mindful of the photos dates..
I clicked on 4 or 5 SW7 photos and found a answer to a question I been wondering about.
rrpicturearchives.net is a neat and useful site. But I have found a whole lot of misdatings on photos. Most of the time, it appears that the submitter used the date of submission for the date of photography. Other times, it looks like it was done with a random number generator.
I try to put the dates in a timeline and compare same with other dates that I know--for example, repaint dates for BNSF locos.
Grain of salt, folks.