An EMD SW1200 is a 4 axle diesel switcher locomotive built by

General Motors Electro-Motive Division Progress Rail Locomotives, doing business as Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD), is an American manufacturer of diesel-electric locomotives, locomotive products and diesel engines for the rail industry. The company is owned by Caterpillar through its su ...

between January 1954 and May 1966. Power is provided by an EMD 567C 12-

cylinder A cylinder (from ) has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base. A cylinder may also be defined as an infin ...

engine which generates . Additional SW1200 production was completed by General Motors Diesel in Ontario, Canada, between September 1955 and June 1964. 737 examples of this locomotive model were built for U.S. railroads, 287 were built for Canadian railroads, 4 were built for

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian railroads, 25 were built for a

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

an industrial firm, and 3 were built for the

Panama Canal Railway The Panama Canal Railway ( es, Ferrocarril de Panamá) is a railway line linking the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean in Central America. The route stretches across the Isthmus of Panama from Colón (Atlantic) to Balboa (Pacific, near P ...

Design and production

The SW1200 was the third model of 1,200 hp SW series switchers built by EMD. It was a successor to the SW7 and SW9. Compared to its direct predecessor, the SW9, the SW1200 differed in that it used the improved and more reliable 567C engine, compared to the SW9's 567B engine. Late SW1200s built in 1966 were instead built with the 567E 12-cylinder engine. Most of the locomotive's external features were unchanged from the SW9, making distinguishing between the two models difficult. SW1200 production began in January 1954, immediately after SW9 production came to an end the previous month. Production continued for 12 years until the last SW1200 left EMD's manufacturing facility in May 1966. Like many EMD products, customers could customize their SW1200 orders. Several types of trucks were available, including Flexicoil trucks and the standard Blomberg B trucks. A few units were built with dynamic brakes, featuring a large square box with a fan on top of the hood, right in front of the cab.

Variants

cow-calf In rail transport, a cow-calf (also cow and calf) locomotive is a set of switcher-type diesel locomotives. The set usually is a pair; some 3-unit sets (with two calves, also known as herds) were built, but this was rare. A cow is equipped with a ...

variation, the TR12, was cataloged, but none were built. An SW1200RS (RS for Road Switcher) is a variation of the standard SW1200 that features large front and rear (on some units) numberboard housings, EMD Flexicoil B-B trucks, and larger fuel tanks for road switcher service. The majority of the

Canadian National The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN ...

and

Canadian Pacific The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...

SW1200 fleets were purchased as SW1200RS units. SW1200RS units were produced near the end of SW1200 production in the mid 1960s.

Original buyers

Units built by Electro-Motive Division, USA

Units built by General Motors Diesel, Canada

Surviving and preserved units

Fremont and Elkhorn Valley Railroad The Fremont and Elkhorn Valley Railroad was a 17-mile (27 km) heritage railroad headquartered in Dodge County, Nebraska and, offered excursion services on the line. Its equipment is now owned by the Nebraska Railroad Museum. The FEVR lin ...

1219 built in March 1962 for

Chicago & North Western The Chicago and North Western was a Class I railroad in the Midwestern United States. It was also known as the "North Western". The railroad operated more than of track at the turn of the 20th century, and over of track in seven states befor ...

is utilized for their excursion trains as well as the Fremont Dinner Train and currently pulls 1920s-era passenger cars for their non-profit excursion operations and the for-profit dinner train cars.

References

* * * * {{Diesel_Switchers SW1200 SW1200 B-B locomotives Diesel-electric locomotives of the United States Railway locomotives introduced in 1954 Standard gauge locomotives of the United States Standard gauge locomotives of Canada Standard gauge locomotives of Brazil 5 ft gauge locomotives Metre gauge diesel locomotives Diesel-electric locomotives of Canada Diesel-electric locomotives of Brazil Shunting locomotives