The EMD SW1500 is a diesel-electric switcher locomotive 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 for road freight service.
It is similar in appearance to the EMD SW1000 model which had a different engine and had one exhaust stack while the SW1500 had two.
Original owners Domestic (US/Export) orders Railroad Quantity Road numbersAlton and Southern Railway181500–1517Alcoa Terminal Railroad19Apalachicola Northern Railroad8712–719Armco Steel5701–705Ashley, Drew and Northern Railroad1150Angelina and Neches River Railroad11500Belt Railway of Chicago3530–532Burlington Northern Railroad15310–324Cambria and Indiana Railroad215, 16Chattahoochee Valley Railway1100Chicago Short Line Railroad230, 31General Motors Electro-Motive Division9106–114Georgia Power51401–1402, 1405, 1503–1504W.R. Grace Chemical2101, 102Great Northern Railway10200–209Houston Belt and Terminal Railway650–55Howe Coal21, 2Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad279200–9221, 9223–9227Illinois Terminal Railroad71509–1515Indianapolis Union Railway524, 26, 30–32Inland Steel7119–125Kansas City Southern Railway421500–1541Kentucky and Indiana Terminal Railroad1667–68, 70–83Lake Erie, Franklin and Clarion Railroad223, 24Longview, Portland and Northern Railway1130Louisville and Nashville Railroad305000–5029Minneapolis, Northfield and Southern Railway236–37Minnesota Taconite US Steel6949–954Minnesota Transfer Railway7300–306Mississippi Export Railroad164Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad650–55Missouri Pacific Railroad41518–1521New Orleans Public Belt Railroad3151–153Patapsco and Back Rivers Railroad2160, 161Penn Central849500–9583Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad401534–1563, 9280–9289Reading Railroad212750–2770Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad91–8, 91Rock Island10940–949Roscoe, Snyder and Pacific Railway2500, 600St. Mary's Railroad1503Sandersville Railroad2100, 300St. Louis–San Francisco Railway46315–360Southern Railway482300–2347Southern Pacific Railroad2042450–2480, 2493–2510, 2523–2578, 2591–2689St. Louis Southwestern Railway362481–2492, 2511–2522, 2579–2590Tennessee Copper1108Tennessee Eastman Corporation(Eastman Kodak)11Terminal Railroad Alabama State Docks2681, 682Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis171501–1517Toledo, Peoria and Western Railroad4303–306Union Railroad91–9U S Pipe and Foundry451–54Vermont Railway1501Weyerhaeuser Timber Co.2306, 307Winifrede Railroad113Western Pacific Railroad31501–1503 Export ordersAmapá Railway, Brazil15Total 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. CSX #1103 (built 1970 as L&N #5003) is preserved and operational at the Kentucky Railway Museum in New Haven, Kentucky Western Pacific #1503 (built 1973) is preserved and operational at the Western Pacific Railroad Museum in Portola, California. 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.
See also List of GM-EMD locomotives
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