The EMD SW1000 is a model of 4 axle diesel

switcher A switcher, shunter, yard pilot, switch engine, yard goat, or shifter is a small railroad locomotive used for manoeuvring railroad cars inside a rail yard in a process known as ''switching'' (US) or ''shunting'' (UK). Switchers are not inten ...

locomotives A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, motor coach, railcar or power car; the u ...

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 sub ...

between June 1966 and October 1972. Power was provided by an

EMD 645E The EMD 645 is a family of diesel engines that was designed and manufactured by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors. While the 645 series was intended primarily for locomotive, marine and stationary engine use, one 16-cylinder ve ...

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 generated . This locomotive was built on the same common frame as the

EMD SW1500 The EMD SW1500 is a Diesel-electric locomotive intended for switching service and built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division from 1966 to 1974. The SW1500 replaced the SW1200 in the EMD product line. Many railroads regularly used SW1500s ...

, giving it an overall length of . Over one-third of SW1000 production went to the

Burlington Northern Railroad The Burlington Northern Railroad was a United States-based railroad company formed from a Mergers and acquisitions, merger of four major U.S. railroads. Burlington Northern operated between 1970 and 1996. Its historical lineage begins in the e ...

History

The SW1000 was taller than previous EMD switchers, which posed a problem for industrial customers: at many facilities, tight clearances existed, and the SW1000 exceeded them. As a result, most production went to railroads, not industries. EMD corrected this problem with the SW1001, which was an SW1000 with its height and walkways lowered for better clearance. 114 EMD SW1000 units were built for railroads and industrial operations in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. One unit was exported to

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

for a mining operation and 4 units were exported to industrial operators in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. Currently, 2 EMD SW1000 units are owned and operated by

VIA Rail Canada Via Rail Canada Inc. (), operating as Via Rail or Via, is a Canadian Crown corporation that is mandated to operate intercity passenger rail service in Canada. It receives an annual subsidy from Transport Canada to offset the cost of operating ...

in the Montreal Maintenance Centre.

Preservation

Around August 2022, Oregon Rail Heritage Center acquired former BNSF SW1000 #3613 (former BN #388).

SW1000 Locomotives as built by EMD

External links

References

* * * Diesel Era Volume 3 Number 1 January/February 1992 pp37–49 SW1000 B-B locomotives Diesel-electric locomotives of the United States Railway locomotives introduced in 1966 Standard gauge locomotives of the United States Standard gauge locomotives of Mexico Standard gauge locomotives of Jamaica Standard gauge locomotives of South Korea Diesel-electric locomotives of Mexico Diesel-electric locomotives of Jamaica Diesel-electric locomotives of South Korea {{diesel-loco-stub Shunting locomotives

History

Preservation

SW1000 Locomotives as built by EMD

External links

See also

References