I agree Jeff; it is most definetly not the EMD of the -2 era. In regards to the loading on the 9043's, the few times, (and it wasn't often) everything worked right nothing could come close to their ability to pull, doing drag tests nothing could really slow one down, and nothing could really drag it around in braking.
HiA comment earlier noted that SD stood for switcher. In EMD terms SW doesn't even stand for switcher. We know GP stands for General Purpose and SD stands for Special Duty. When EMD started building switchers, they were normally either six hundred or nine hundred horsepower, and came with either cast or welded frames. The term SW originally meant a six hundred HP unit built on a welded frame. The equivalent cast frame unit was called an SC. The higher horsepower units with nine hundred horsepower were called either NC or NW. Hence we end up with models such as SC, NC, SW-1, NW-1 etc. Things got a little more confusing later on when the horsepower increased. SW-8 had 800hp, but SW-9 had 1200hp, as did the SW-7! Horsepower based model names became more common and we ended up with SW-1200, SW-1500 and MP-15 etc.
Sorry, I seem to have grossly drifted off topic. For the record, I am a die hard Alco fan.
CheersSteveNZ
E = 1800 HP, and the designation stuck even though later models developed up to 2400 HP.
Does FT stand for 1400 HP or Freight, 1300 HP?
Greetings from Alberta
-an Articulate Malcontent
Thanks SD70Dude, that helps to complete the "off topic" picture. BL for Branch Line and MP for Multi Purpose. Have we missed anything?Cheers From the hot summer in Central Otago, NZ
Steve
Not complete yet, we have forgotten the TA units built for Rock Island's original Rocket trainsets. T = 1200 HP, from a single V16 Winton 201-A.
Or the one of a kind EMC Model T (Illinois Central 9202), a twin-engined 8-axle 1800 HP transfer unit.
Great stuff, and maybe not as off topic as I thought. One thing in EMD's favour is the history. GE may have been there longer, but EMD's history is a great story. Still love Alcos.
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