EMD SW1500

The EMD SW1500 was a 1,500 hp (1,119 kW) diesel-electric switcher locomotive built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division from 1966 to 1974.^[2] The SW1500 replaced the SW1200 in the EMD product line. Many railroads regularly used SW1500s for road freight service.^[2]

EMD SW1500
NIRC 4 performs switching duties near Chicago Union Station
Type and origin Power type Diesel Builder General Motors Electro-Motive Division (EMD) Model SW1500 Build date June 1966 – January 1974 Total produced 808
Specifications Configuration: ​  • AAR B-B Gauge 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge Length 44 ft 8 in (13.61 m) Loco weight 248,000 lb (112,491 kg) Prime mover EMD 645 Engine type V12 2-stroke diesel Aspiration Roots blower Displacement 9,072 in3 (149 L) Generator Main: D32 Traction motors D77/78DC Transmission Diesel-electric Loco brake Straight air Train brakes Air
Performance figures Power output 1,500 hp (1,119 kW) Tractive effort: ​  • Continuous 42,250 lbf (187.94 kN)[1]
Career Locale North America South America

It was similar in appearance to the EMD SW1000 model which had a different engine and had one exhaust stack while the SW1500 had two.^[2][3]

Original owners

Domestic (US/Export) orders
Railroad	Quantity	Road numbers
Alton and Southern Railway	18	1500–1517
Alcoa Terminal Railroad	1	9
Apalachicola Northern Railroad	8	712–719
Armco Steel	5	701–705
Ashley, Drew and Northern Railroad	1	150
Angelina and Neches River Railroad	1	1500
Belt Railway of Chicago	3	530–532
Burlington Northern Railroad	15	310–324
Cambria and Indiana Railroad	2	15, 16
Chattahoochee Valley Railway	1	100
Chicago Short Line Railroad	2	30, 31
General Motors Electro-Motive Division	9	106–114
Georgia Power	5	1401–1402, 1405, 1503–1504
W.R. Grace Chemical	2	101, 102
Great Northern Railway	10	200–209
Houston Belt and Terminal Railway	6	50–55
Howe Coal	2	1, 2
Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad	27	9200–9221, 9223–9227
Illinois Terminal Railroad	7	1509–1515
Indianapolis Union Railway	5	24, 26, 30–32
Inland Steel	7	119–125
Kansas City Southern Railway	42	1500–1541
Kentucky and Indiana Terminal Railroad	16	67–68, 70–83
Lake Erie, Franklin and Clarion Railroad	2	23, 24
Longview, Portland and Northern Railway	1	130
Louisville and Nashville Railroad	30	5000–5029
Minneapolis, Northfield and Southern Railway	2	36–37
Minnesota Taconite US Steel	6	949–954
Minnesota Transfer Railway	7	300–306
Mississippi Export Railroad	1	64
Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad	6	50–55
Missouri Pacific Railroad	4	1518–1521
New Orleans Public Belt Railroad	3	151–153
Patapsco and Back Rivers Railroad	2	160, 161
Penn Central	84	9500–9583
Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad	40	1534–1563, 9280–9289
Reading Railroad	21	2750–2770
Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad	9	1–8, 91
Rock Island	10	940–949
Roscoe, Snyder and Pacific Railway	2	500, 600
St. Mary's Railroad	1	503
Sandersville Railroad	2	100, 300
St. Louis–San Francisco Railway	46	315–360
Southern Railway	48	2300–2347
Southern Pacific Railroad	204	2450–2480, 2493–2510, 2523–2578, 2591–2689
St. Louis Southwestern Railway	36	2481–2492, 2511–2522, 2579–2590
Tennessee Copper	1	108
Tennessee Eastman Corporation (Eastman Kodak)	1	1
Terminal Railroad Alabama State Docks	2	681, 682
Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis	17	1501–1517
Toledo, Peoria and Western Railroad	4	303–306
Union Railroad	9	1–9
U S Pipe and Foundry	4	51–54
Vermont Railway	1	501
Weyerhaeuser Timber Co.	2	306, 307
Winifrede Railroad	1	13
Western Pacific Railroad	3	1501–1503
Export orders
Amapá Railway, Brazil	1	5
Total	808

Preservation

Many SW1500s remain in active service, used mostly by shortlines, switching and terminal railroads, and railroad equipment leasing companies such as GATX. However, several examples of this popular model have been preserved:

• CSX #1100 (built 1970 as L&N #5000) is preserved and operational at the Kentucky Steam Heritage Corporation in Irvine, Kentucky.^[4]
• CSX #1103 (built 1970 as L&N #5003) is preserved and operational at the Kentucky Railway Museum in New Haven, Kentucky^[4]
• Western Pacific #1503 (built 1970) is preserved and operational at the Western Pacific Railroad Museum in Portola, California.^[5] It was donated to the museum by Union Pacific in 2011, and restored to its original paint scheme in 2019.
• Wisconsin Central #1563 (built 1971) is preserved and operational at the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin. It was donated to the museum by Canadian National in 2019.^[6]

See also

• List of GM-EMD locomotives