Difference in switchers, SW7/9? and SW1200/1500?

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NYSW F45

NYSW F45

Active Member
What are the main differences between the SW7 and SW9 and also the SW1200 and SW1500? Looking to do 2 projects for a prototype meet in October. I need 2 SW9's and possibly 4 SW1500's, but see more SW7's and SW1200's on ebay.
 
jbaakko said:
SW7's and 1200's are more similar then a 1200/1500. The 1000 & 1500 share similarities.

The basic differnce between the models is the Prime Mover used to power them...

Here's a great page:
http://yardlimit.railfan.net/emd/index.html
Click to expand...

Steve,

Josh's advice isn't bad to start, but there is a little more difference than the prime mover. For the 1000 vs the 1500: one stack vs two; smaller radiator on the 1000, some heigth difference, and more subtle things like louver count and placement, handrailing types from road to road, step configrations and so forth. The SW-9 vs 1200: same 1 vs 2 stack "sometimes" and even subtler differences externally. What railroad? You should probably get a book if you can find one. You won't be able to get all the information online for a project worthy of a prototype modelers meet. That's definitely a place where people will look for these spotting features. Which prototype modeler's meet? Will I see you in Naperville in October?
 


Alan the meet is the Fallan Flags Prototype meet here in NJ. It is the second year of the show and hopefully my first meet.

The SW's I want to do are painted in second or third owner colors. The SW9's I am almost certain started life out as Erie Lackawanna SW9's. Now whether they even came from the Erie or DLW side pre merger is a different story. The SW1500's were former P&LE units. Those I have no idea where they came from before then if they did.

The 1500's I've seen have the single large headlight on the long nose aswell as the newer horizontal dual beam heads with red markers on either end, which I need.

Here are 2 pics of the SW9 i want to model.
BBT08JAN83.png

ERIE16JAN8801m.png


Here is the SW1500
P1010456.png

HBPUPS31OCT06.png

pup04JUN07.png


NJT hasn't had those SW9's in probably 20+ years, the SW1500's they got rid of about 2 years ago to LTEX and had custom Motive Power switchers made.
 
Looks like you have all the photos you need then! Are you starting with old Bluebox models, or the newer improved models? Bluebox make great starting points. Check you shells against the photos to be sure. Athearn BB models didn't have that dual sealed beam light, it was added later by some railroads and maybe on later models from the factory. I'm doing some switcher products myself in between work done for other folks :) The folks at Details West and Detail Associates love it when we do these! Good Luck!
 
Get a Proto 2000 model. It has the light beam. It also has better detail than the Athearn.

Also, NCE makes a decoder specifically designed to fit the Proto 2000 model if you run DCC.
 
The SW9 and SW1200 are virtually identical - Proto 2000 used the same tooling for both. The name change at EMD seems to reflect the change from the single digit to a number representing the horsepower.

The SW8 and SW900 are also identical. They are the single stack versions of the SW9 and SW1200 respectively.

The SW7 is actually a much older machine, although superficially it appears very much like the SW9/1200. One spotting feature of the SW7 are the side louvers with the "letterboard gap" for a road name to go between them horizontally - although not all railroads made use of it.

The SW1000 and SW1500 represent a redesign of the EMD switcher look. A taller profile, I-beam frame, narrower hood and a different style to the cab - taller, with a flatter roof profile. Again the 1000 is a single stack and the 1500 is the dual stack.

Andy
 
I was thinking BB units only cause money is extremely extremely tight right now. Was hoping to get a few cheap on ebay. But all i've seen are the newer RTR or PP2K ones. Trust me i'de love a P2K one just so I could run it DCC when I get to that point or at a club. But even having a dummy would sufice right now as i could have the shell and then maybe get a powered unit later on.

And I did email Jerome already, lol.
 
Wavy Handrails on Proto Switchers

What do you guys do about the wavy handrails on the Proto switchers??
 


they aren't wavy... Unless they have warped or have bent.

I don't like how Proto 2000 has all plastic parts that break easily, are hard to install because they are flimsy, and are very fragile.

If your handrails are bust, I'd reccomend bending your own from brass wire.
 
diburning said:
they aren't wavy... Unless they have warped or have bent.
Click to expand...
For lack of a better description I termed them 'wavy'. Point is MANY of these Proto switchers develop this wavy warp in the handrails along the body of the loco. And the grab irons on the Proto engines tend to warp as well.

So I was hopiung to find an aftermarket replacement 'kit' of rails for these Proto engines rather than going back and custom bending hundreds of rails of various sizes, and filling in the old holes, and drilling new holes, etc, etc
 
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railandsail said:
For lack of a better description I termed them 'wavy'. Point is MANY of these Proto switchers develop this wavy warp in the handrails along the body of the loco. And the grap irons on the Proto engines tend to warp as well.
Click to expand...

This happened on early runs, and examples turn up at swap meets/train shows to this day, but the newer runs are OK. I have several more recent Proto switchers, and the railings are fine.
 
I've had several "wavy" body handrails on my early P2K switchers. They are wavy because they had a manufacturing defect and L-L just stuck them in the holes and shipped them out, even though they were obviously not straight. This is another case where I called Walthers, explained the issue, and had several sets of new handrails with no arguments.
 
Espeefan said:
This happened on early runs, and examples turn up at swap meets/train shows to this day, but the newer runs are OK. I have several more recent Proto switchers, and the railings are fine.
Click to expand...
Is this true, the new railings are OK? I thought it was a heat thing with that particular plastic that LL was using?
 
I own three Proto 2000 sw's and none have railing issues, nor do any of the other Proto locomotives I own. This was always evident in the box. It does not happen to the models after you buy them. It may have been the plastic, or a tooling issue, but they're over that hump, whatever it was
 
The new railings I got from Walthers have been in service for a few years and still look nice and straight. When you get one of the new ones and compare it to a "wavy" one, it's clear the defective handrail simply wasnt molded right and L-L just stuck them in the mounting holes, resulting in the wavy look. The strange thing is I have four of the early L-L/P2K switchers and each one had one wavy hadrail and one good one. It wasn't a heat warpage problem, just poor quality control in manufacturing, assembly, and final inspection.
 
Yes, they did, believe it or not, but they weren't wavy when they went out the door. I can remember them sitting on a hobby shop shelf when they first came out and the hobby shop owner said that's exactly how hey looked in the carton. He contacted his distributor and he stated that they had a batch of plastic that was bad...from what, I don't know...that was straight originally and some chemical reaction caused progressive warping. I have an original L-L SW-8/9 that has been sitting on a shelf in my air conditioned office for the last two years, waiting to get worked on. The side handrails started out as slightly wavy and now look like a rough day on the Atlantic. :) The really weird part of this is that it only seemed to affect the straight side handrails of EMD switchers.
 
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UP2CSX said:
I have an original L-L SW-8/9 that has been sitting on a shelf in my air conditioned office for the last two years, waiting to get worked on. The side handrails started out as slightly wavy and now look like a rough day on the Atlantic. :) The really weird part of this is that it only seemed to affect the straight side handrails of EMD switchers.
Click to expand...

Espeefan said:
It does not happen to the models after you buy them. It may have been the plastic, or a tooling issue, but they're over that hump, whatever it was
Click to expand...
This appears to be two conflicting statements :confused:
How does one know if their rails are going to warp if it acts progressively?

I sent an email to Dennis at Walthers (with a reference to this discussion), and have not had this answered yet. Did they produce two different runs of plastic rails...one faulty, and one corrected??
 
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