Listen to that Sound! Rare & Old Conrail Switcher Locomotives in Action!
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 21 июл 2024
- Two rare end-cab switchers in Conrail paint make some noise taking six loaded cars up hill from the rail yard to a warehouse several miles down the mainline! While it was a thrill for a railbuff to see these switchers in action, the conductor had other opinions about them…
“They belong at the bottom of a river!” Switchers like these were built for light duty yard or industry switching, being advantageous where room and weight limits are tight. They are not often sent out on the mainline due to limited size and power, as we see NS 2107 in this video struggle with just 6 loaded cars on a ~1% grade.
/ centralpennrailproduct...
On Facebook:
/ centralpennrailproduct...
NS SW1001 2107 and SW1500 2221 were both built in 1973, still wearing blue paint 10 years after the split of Conrail. These SW1001’s were built for Reading Railroad, so it is neat to see them still in home territory over 40 years later.
Electro-Motive Diesel (previously General Motors Electro-motive corporation) built end-cab switchers as far back as World War II, the SW “Switcher” series ceased production by the mid-1970’s, with the exception of the SW1001 which was produced until 1986 alongside the more robust MP “Multi-Purpose” end-cab switchers. The number is simply the amount of horsepower; however, the “1” in SW1001 denotes this is an upgraded model to the SW1000, using an improved cab design with a 645 engine, instead of the earlier 567 series.
Today, SW series switchers are almost complete gone from Class I railroad rosters, only to be seen on tourist or shortline railroads. NS 2107 and NS 2221 were both retired in 2011 when Norfolk Southern purged most of their SW’s. 10 years later, 0 SW1500’s remain, and 5 SW1001’s are kept as shop engines at Juniata and Enola. GP “General Purpose” road switchers, like the GP38-2 and GP40-2, have replaced most end-cab switchers.
Recorded June 29, 2009 in 1080p with a Canon VIXIA HG20
Thanks for watching!
Central Penn Rail Productions 2019 
Авто/Мото
I would argue that #2107 was never struggling at any point in this video. It like most SW's have low horsepower, low gearing, and really only get much amperage out of what little power they have to give at higher RPM's. They are built for high RPM slow speed steady power. Having operated many SW's over the years they load fast but really only start to pull at higher throttle notches and even then it's a slow trip. Watch any of these units used in industrial operations. They can move far more weight then you think but they will be notched high the whole time. Also worth noting too is that when the #2107 was leading with #2221 trailing the #2221 was 124 tons of dead weight on top of 6 loads worth of tonnage.
As a child coming up in the sizties the SW was much more common,especially,my own company owns an SW, it is truly a worker engine that gets the job done.
I'd say the crew was never told about the operating characteristics of the SW series units then 😆.
@@SOU6900 IMHO I think they was use to GP38-2s and like you say didn't understand the operating characteristics.. I wonder if they would faint if they had to work with a Alco or Baldwin end cab switcher. As a former brakeman the 2107 wasn't even breaking a sweat. I seen PRR SW1200(9014) pull 25 cars during switching moves. I know.. I was one of the two brakeman. The engineer was a former steam engineer.. He loved the EMD switcher but, had little use for a Alco switcher.
That loco doesn't weigh more than 80k lbs 40 tons at most.
well over 100 tons
Beautiful engines! I've always loved switchers. It's just something about the way they look that gets my attention. I've got about 9 engines for Lionel set up and I always find myself wanting running the switcher engines. They are just so cool!
OneRoomShed .....agree
If I ever start a railroad I’m using switchers
I agree with you 100% about loving the switchers!
Years ago I was the agent dispatcher for the Chesapeake Western Railway in Harrisonburg Virginia and we had to T6 alco's number 10 and 11 which number 10 wound up in the museum in Roanoke but enough for the rambling on. I would never get tired of hearing those on the rails they have a unique sound and I don't care who made them or what make they were, they're just all the same they're wonderful engines!
@@theluth9046 🍻
Conrail and conrail quality.
Cool man 👌😎👍
I have not seen an engine like that since I was a kid.
Because That’s rare
i think that was the first time i could understand someone over a walkie talkie
BrooklynPerson30000 your right. It's usually just a fuzzy garbled mess. I don't know how anyone gets their job done using radios
@@brantleyhester6641 code words, lots of code words
@@doucettealexander98 sure but usually i can't even hear words haha
BrooklynPerson30000 I use radios sometimes at my job but ours are really clear
I bet you they are using Motorolas. Those walkie talkies are superior, but the railroads are swapping them out for Kenwoods.
Thank you for the nostalgic look back at Conrail and switchers - really great!
Wow!! Sweet! Found this video by accident. Now I know what it was like for my late father who worked for Conrail and Winchester & Western! My father was a locomotive engineer also for Penns. Railroad back in the 50's. Thank you! I'm so glad I stumbled upon your video! ✌ 🚂❤
Hi - do you know if your father ever ran any locomotives that were built by Baldwin Lima Hamilton? My dad was an electronic crankshaft balancer for Baldwin in the fifties until he was laid off in 1955. He worked out of the Baldwin plant in Eddystone, PA.
Hi! I wish I could ask. Unfortunately there is not a person who would know whi is still alive. I'm going on memory. One of those situations where you wished you asked more questions when they were alive 😢
If that was "struggling" it looked and sounded good. And that's one clean running diesel; almost no visible emission which is shocking to not see from these older units.
If they're cleaned out and maintained then you won't see much.
I'd hate to know in a lifetime of those how many times they rebuild them over the years. They just keep going and going.
Yup and meanwhile we see nearly new Tier 4 GEVOs blowing black smoke at notch 2 or 3... they just don't build them like that anymore!
What an awesome video, nicely shot. LOVE seeing old switchers getting work. The train radio chatter was cool also. I really like your added captions too! Adding your channel to my subscriptions.
Thanks for watching and commenting, AND subscribing!
I always loved conrail to this day
Railfan Chase Me too!
I’m an Erie Lackawanna guy but I love conrail
It's so cool to see those switchers work even so they are old because that's all I seen an Knew where I grew up at in Fitchburg Massachusetts back in the late 60s and early 70s
Great watch! I recently spent a morning watching RBMN 803 work at Penobscot, very neat experience both visually and audibly!
I do love those old switchers!
Awesome video,,,,love conrail,,thanks for sharing,,
Pretty cool video of this Conrail Switcher.
Love those old end cab units. Remember them well working around the Reading area. Always at full notch it seemed.
Nice! 💖
Very cool seeing those old girls still going is sweet
Great video! Loved watching those old switchers in action!!
Great trains and great crew. Thanks for the awesome nostalgia. Conrail 4 Life!!
There was a Conrail Quality Switcher on CSX Q455-05 in folkston and I hope they keep those engines
Great to find a videographer working in my neighborhood. I live in Lebanon, well Cornwall, to be exact. I well remember ore jennies on the Cornwall, and the Lebanon and Cornwall railroads, two lines which served the iron mine there, one of which lasted up to until around 1972, those bright green Reading locos running through the woods near Mt. Gretna. Thanks for triggering those memories. Subscribed. CAS
Thanks for sharing your memories about the ore trains. Every time I drive through Cornwall I think about those trains and how I wish to see that rail line still in use. Anyway, thanks for watching and subscribing!
The sw1000 also used a 645 great vid this model the sw1001 was born due to un satisfactory results from the emd sw1000 not selling well due to it being taller than earlier sw series and railroads with lines to accommodate earlier sw series
Excellent video! What a couple classics.
Nice to see the pups running lite at the end. Nice vid!
Take a moment, shut your eyes and listen to that engine. Those massive pistons running up and down the bores like..., some great mechanical lover on speed, just doing the bizz.
I know the world is just fine when I hear that.
Conductor may not have liked them, but they are classics. Used to be every small town in Georgia had a Southern Railway or Seaboard Coast Line switcher on a siding near the old depots.
Something about cab end switchers always attracts me.
Down here in NZ only our very small shunters have cabs at the end. Our larger and more modern shunters are centre cabbed.
Anthony.
We had a DSG in the Mount Maunganui yard also from time to time a DH shunt engine which sounded awesome it was a V12.
Used to see these all the time at the yard in Harrisburg as a kid..
Man this is a awesome video! I just miss the old SW1500s and other switchers Conrail had. So compact, little and cute!
What ever happened to Conrails SW1500's?
@@paulm.gilbert1096 Retired by NS and CSX after the split. Most went to leasers like Larrys Truck and Electric.
Back in the early 90s Conrail had a couple SW1001s assigned to the Bel-Del. Used to watch them drill the now-gone paper mill in Milford. One had its blue paint flaking and you could see Reading green.
Well done, excellent quality video. The entire time I couldn't help but think LIONEL!!! Ahhhh, the 'ole days.
Its not really struggling, its just not really designed for speeds that high
you are right on the money sir.
They are designed to run at 30MPH and that is about how fast it looked like it was going.
Excellent! Deserves two thumbs up.
SW1001 locomotives are still common in steel mills.
mjarail .......yep. There is a local scrap yard (coincidentally next to a steel mill) locally and they have 2
Great operation, and great video!
they sound so good
Miss the SW1001's very much as used to see them alot around the Camden area of South Jersey. I am making an HO scale model of one using a Shapeways.com shell and I hope to build plenty more of these little Conrail gems. They had a lot of history coming from the Reading, sad to hear they are mostly retired by CSX with just a few left on NS. Thanks Central Penn, these videos of pups working are my favorite. I always loved end cab switchers as they are the very first train I saw when I was very young, probably around 3 years old, working on the Bordentown Secondary in New Jersey.
I saw them hustling every day when they were brand new, over by state line station at 101st and Indianapolis-
8 secs in and like it already! Thanks for putting up this oldie and goodie.
Used to see NS 2107 working between Abrams, Falls, and South Philly.
Cool video mate. I have never seen an SW1001 in person.
The Cleveland Works Railroad uses several at the ArcelorMittal steel mill, because they're low enough to get into the blast furnaces to spot and remove bottle cars.
This is a truly great record of cargo trains at work. And seeing classic switchers still at work is getting back to basics. However, I do want to correct you on two points: 1. ElectroMotive Diesel was known as ElectroMotive Corporation when it was an independent corporation in the 1920s. When it was purchased by General Motors in 1930, the corporate entity was dissolved and the operation was continued as part of GM, known as ElectroMotive Division or EMD. In 2005, EMD was spun off into being a separate corporation known as ElectoMotive Diesel. 2. EMDs MP15 isn't really a switcher. It's a low end road engine with a switcher body.
Very nice! I wish Conrail was still around. Along with Santa Fe and MKT.
And BN
BN was cool, but nothing could ever replace the Milwaukee Road!
@@bradley.reim22 BN is a combination of Burlington Route, and Great Northern.
@@johncotter1600 I Know
BN Is My Favorite Fallen Flag Railroad Infact My Favorite Of All Time
Great video really enjoyed watching the engines, sounds fantastic.. uk rail fan.👍
I have a friend of the family that used to deliver powdered lead to them at that very plant.
I grew up in reading and my grandfather was head welder @ Conrail for many years.
Great catch!
Great video! Nice work!
If any engine is worn out it won’t produce as effectively as its capable. However, these engines were more than capable of pulling a lot more than 6 cars on a grade. Conrail used these types of locos solo for switching out coal cars and it wasn’t uncommon for them to be pulling 15-20 empty or loaded coal cars where I live.
Definitely worn out...Class I railroads didn't seem to take good care of these (you can hear the clunkiness of the square wheel syndrome on most NS switchers). Nearby Reading & Northern takes good care of their former Lehigh Valley (and one DLW) SW8's and they pull 80-100 with just 2 or 3 together all of the time.
The 2107 was really worn out. It worked the H25 for a while around 2002-2003 after it was brought out of storage. Those guys hated it. The 2101 and 2107 were the dogs of the bunch that hung around Abrams back then.
Love the sound...
This is an absolutely beautiful depiction of the value that switch units had in the Conrail days. This brings back memories of seeing similar units moving cars between South Worcester yard and East Worcester yard in Massachusetts. Thank you for sharing. When was this tape recorded?
It says 2009 in beginning of video. You guys must have to pull some grade out in western mass?! I lived, literally 30 feet from NECR, when i lived in Amherst. That freight train would blast through town at 3 am, with some gusto, going south, towards Palmer.
Class 🎩🎩Nicely Done ✅ keep them coming C&OGuy
Way. Too. Cool. I'll admit I foamed a lil' the other day when I caught a MP15DC riding on a road freight :-P
Nice! Thanks Lewis!
If you ever have a chance to visit dupo ill I'm pretty sure the up yard there uses a mp15 for switching duty.
Southern Railway of British Columbia ( Canada) uses 3 MP15DC s on a regular basis. Also 8 SW900RS also. Got some on my Channel
I really enjoyed this!
Great video. Nice locomotives. Cool channel just subscribed
Still wish Conrail was a active railroad.
Same here. They were something else. I used to see SW1001's all the time in south jersey with GP38s and SW1500's too. I remember going down to the Bordentown Secondary in Palmyra and waving at the crews as a kid and getting horn shows. It was great. Not the same anymore with CSAO.
Heritage Unit 1943
They are, but they obviously just use CSX/NS power now.
Never mind Conrail - even as a 40-something Xer from West of the Mississippi, Rockies, and even the Cascades, I wish that both the Pennsy and the NYC were still around... and the Great Northern, NP, Milwaukee, etc.
Technically still is
On the New Haven, just outside Cedar Hill Yard and to the south, I frequently saw Yard Switchers doing their "Duty", switching and spotting the spurs along Peck Street in Fair Haven and this one oil tanker drag from the New Haven Harbor Terminal every Wednesday with 15-30 tank cars, I assume fuel for around the system. Although completely flat and maybe a slight down grade into Cedar Hill Yard, one Switcher usually mustered enough mite to haul the drag. I said "usually" because one time it hit a switch frog from the NEC SB to the yard lead and stalled. But that's a story for another time. The 1950's era SW1001 the Branford Steam Railroad used at Tilcon N Bfd hauled 11 100 ton cars of stone to the loadout facility ran mightliy until around two years ago when she was uodated with two genset prime movers to meet tier 4 emissions requirements. A push was required by the 70's GM 80 Tonner to climb the ramp into the loadout shed. That 80 tonner marshalled the yard for Amtrak and P&W in the meantime. A 2nd GM Steeple Cab 80 Tonner shifted the train of 11 cars into position to be filled by dumping CAT 773 and 777 Haul Trucks at a bulkhead. It was #58 and although 7357 and 7359 are still on the roster, 7358 isn't. It's been 10 years since I retired from there and moved away so I'm not in tune with what today's operations are. The New Haven had more than 100 Yard switchers from several manufacturers so apparently they served well. I don't understand the Conductor's remark since the two units could be deployed simultaneously for a combined 2700+HP. Maybe there was a two man crew and no MU communication?
I enjoyed this video so much ..I watched it twice.
2107 has seen better days. it's struggling just to get itself moving, much less when it's under load...but damn it's nice to see switchers doing what switchers were meant to do. Watching old sd40's trumble down an industrial spur just...aint right.
I like those switcher engines. 🚂👍
Love those old horns.
Awesome video
Super video freind !!!😉👍
another excellent video
Thanks a lot!
I remember this type of engine from when I was a kid.
Cool video!
2009 was when I last saw a locomotive in Conrail blue in person (I haven't seen 8098 yet) and those were probably
SD70MACs or C40-8Ws
I like the shot at 7:22
I just saw one about a week ago in Altoona, PA. You can see the video on my channel
Sounds sweet
Like the last shot where the train crew throttles up for the filmer.
Nice video!
these diesels arent struggling. I assure you that. Non turbocharged emds are well known for lugging power. The emd sw1000 will pull 100 loads. Not very fast, but it will pull rest assured.
I lived in Galion Ohio for along time and this RR company was commin to see
Iike this little engine
Yet still in Finland we have over 60 year old diesel locomotives in everyday use for switching cars and transporting cargo. It's quite impressing.
Classic horns. You very rarely hear those horns anymore. They all sound the freaking same nowadays.
Thank you for sharing. Im just more of a steam locomotive fan though.
very nice vid!
Wow, this is awesome. And the line in Blandon is due to get major signal and ATCS improvements this year. Should be a lot of great video of the work as it progresses.
Such pretty farm country. Reminds me why I moved back here. I love this area and seeing these Conrail switchers is a real treat.
I miss the old signals from the Conrail days but it is nice having both tracks signaled for bi-directional movement. It amazes me they still install ATCS antennas, but that's nice for us!
Awesome Video so glad they were saved. Thanks for sharing it with us take care my friend
The conductor probably wouldn't want to trade down to an SW1 but I know one in "heritage" paint (Painted and restored to "As Delivered" to Portland Traction Co. including trolley poles for signaling on the then electric tracks). This SW1 is in revenue service on the Oregon Pacific RR West Portland Branch as a helper and on weekends as tourist train power. Also often seen at the Adjacent Oregon Rail Heritage Center.
The 2107 was a dog. My friends had it pretty regularly on the H25 and hated switching the Falls with it because it was pretty worn out. Out of the pups at Abrams, the 2110 was one of the better ones.
I love the horn, also were the two units saved after retirement or were they scrapped
@Kabuki Kitsune I don't think I've ever heard so many she/her comments about a inanimate object in my life. I've worked for UP for coming up on 17 years now and yeah I get it you foamers are passionate. But for crying out loud some of you have more emotional boners towards multi-ton inanimate objects then you do towards a f*cking human being.
Henry You sound like the life of the party...
@@Henry5623 god damn man, let people enjoy their hobbies. you ever heard of sailors? i sure have, and they use it a whole hell of a lot more than these people. there’s no need to be an old grumpy sourpuss, now is there
NS 2107 is now at the Hobo & Winnipesaukee Scenic Railroads in New Hampshire, painted in a red/silver stripe paint scheme. The locomotive is used on special excursions
i miss conrail!
Excellent video 10:55
So in this push/pull configuration, where only one engine at a time is providing power, is the engine on the end dead weight?
It is dead weight, only at the end of the video you can see they are MU'd together with all of the hoses connected. Putting a locomotive on each end is common in this area for local trains that have frequent travel in both directions because most industries around here do not have run-around sidings.
We have this type of locomotive that works for the company of progressive rail in Minnesota
Nice video!
Love the loco and sound.
Love the Conrail paint.
Do you know what horn model it has?
It has a leslie single chime horn on the SW1001, probably a Leslie A200 or similar but it could be an RS44 as the sound kinda similar.
@@Zach_Bloomquist Never Knew Leslie Made Single Chime Horns Like The A200 Or The RS44
@@bradley.reim22 Yup. You should hear a single chime horn thats fouled. Its rather comical. I remember the look some of the crews would get when they would blast for crossings. Good times.
Very cool video! What horn is that on 2221 at 0:48?
I love trains
Great video. Please leave captions up, a little longer.
That old double door boxcar was a Western Pacific.
Power
NS 2107 aka CR 9418 aka RDG 2618 is now living life as CEFX 1590
Those horns are cool, why have these locomotives not been repainted?
Ohh this video is pretty old, these locomotives are long gone now.
Oh
3:22 you don't see too many of the 'no right turn' single light crossing lights anymore...
That's Lyons station, or just Lyons to us locals.
Any idea on the horns these locomotives have?
That horn tho
That horn sounds like one of those United Kingdom Diesel locomotives in uk that one has like the same thing as the class 40 diesel locomotive in uk
Those 2 switchers belonged to Cambria and indiana railroad before they became conrails, then norfolk southerns
Did you get any still photos