EMD built the SW900 and the SW1200 concurrently with each other. The SW900 was built between December 1953 and March 1969. The SW1200 was built between January 1954 and May 1966, stopping production a few years prior to the SW900. Both switchers were powered with an EMD 567C prime mover. The SW900 had an 8-cylinder, single-exhaust-stack version that provided 900hp , whereas the SW1200 had a larger 12-cylinder dual-exhaust-stack version that generated 1,200hp. The difference in exhaust stacks between the two models is an easy spotting feature.Another easy spotting difference comes underneath with the SW1200 having Flexicoil trucks, which gave a smoother and more reliable ride along the rails and through switches. Finally, the SW1200 featured an "extended-range" fuel tank, front and rear pilot handrails, and Multiple Unit (MU) capability allowing it to run with other MU-capable units.
Conrail
All of Conrail's 68 SW1200's came from predecessor railroads: Reading Company, Erie Lackawanna, and Penn Central. By the early 1990's, the SW1200 represented the second-largest group of switchers on Conrail. In 1995, however, Conrail reduced and consolidated their rail yards, allowing the railroad to remove all their 567-powered switchers from the roster. This included the SW9, SW900, and SW1200. Most were purged in May and August of that year. Only a handful of SW1001's soldiered on until 1999, along with Conrail's fleet of SW1500's.
Reading Company
The Reading Company contributed a total of 19 SW1200's to Conrail. 14 of these were rebuilt Baldwin VO1000 switchers, which the Reading classed as VO1000M's. Conrail did not class these rebuilt switchers as SW1200's. Instead, Conrail classed them as SW1200M's and placed them in a separate series of numbers. (These former RDG SW1200M's have their own dedicated section here at the CRCyc.) Five of the 19 were classed as SW1200's, which the Reading took delivery of in November 1963 in series RDG 2715-2719. The Reading SW1200's were built using the trucks and batteries from Reading's Baldwin DS4-4-1000 switchers, which had been built in 1948. Reading's SW1200's were the first switchers to be delivered in the green-and-yellow paint scheme. In 1972, RDG 2716 (CR 9316) was the only Reading SW1200 to be repainted into the solid green paint scheme. Like their rebuilt RDG VO1000M switchers, these new SW1200's have handrails running the full length along both sides of the long hood. They also had the distinctive RDG rain gutters on the cab roof. These five switchers passed onto Conrail and took series CR 9315-9319, beginning Conrail's SW1200 numbering. All five remained in service until October 1991, when CR 9315 (RDG 2715) and CR 9319 (RDG 2719) were placed into storage on October 27 of that year. The remaining three units remained in service until the switcher purge of 1995.
Erie Lackawanna
In 1957, The Delaware, Lackawanna, & Western ordered 8 units, placing them in series DLW 651-568. These eight units eventually went to the Erie Lackawanna when the DL&W and the Erie merged in 1960. They were renumbered as EL 456-463. In 1976, the eight units then went to Conrail, where they became CR 9320-9327 and worked until August 1995, except for CR 9320 (EL 456) and CR 9324 (EL 460) which were retired in May 1995. CR 9327 (EL 463) left the roster on April 6, 1990. It supposedly was sold to DOT Rail Services but there is no record of that. The CRHS has a photo of CR 9327 taken on June 7, 1997 with the entire long hood and its contents stripped away, leaving only the frame, trucks, and cab intact.
Penn Central
Penn Central contributed the remaining 55 SW1200's to the roster. 35 of these came from the Pennsylvania Railroad, which took an order of SW1200's in late 1957 and another in April 1958. These were placed in series PRR 7900-7934, renumbered in 1968 into PC 9009-9033 and PC 9050-9058. In 1976, Conrail placed them in CR 9328-9362. The second group, which consisted of 20 SW1200's, came from the New Haven, which purchased their SW1200's in the first three months of 1956. These were NH 640-659, which became PC 9180-9189, and then CR 9393-9381. Except for a handful, most of the former Penn Central SW1200's survived on Conrail's roster until the switcher purge of 1995.
Comprehensive EMD SW1200 Roster
The roster below is comprehensive for these units between April 1976 and August 1995, by which time all SW1200's had been retired. It contains all predecessor units of the locomotive class that Conrail inherited in 1976. If numbers are missing from the roster, Conrail intentionally left them open. This roster does contain retirement dates when known but does not include a unit's disposition yet. If a retirement date is blank, I do not have that unit's retirement date, but I'm confident it occurred prior to 1986. Keep in mind that these are the official dates that Conrail removed units from their roster. A unit might have been stored or salvaged for parts many years before being taken off the roster officially. Special thanks to Withers Publishing and The Conrail Historical Society for help with this roster.
CR Former Prior Previous Built Retired
========================================================
9315 RDG 2715 --- ---- --- ---- 11/63 05/30/95
9316 RDG 2716 --- ---- --- ---- 11/63 05/30/95
9317 RDG 2717 --- ---- --- ---- 11/63 08/01/95
9318 RDG 2718 --- ---- --- ---- 11/63 05/30/95
9319 RDG 2719 --- ---- --- ---- 11/63 05/30/95
9320 EL 456 DLW 561 --- ---- 05/57 05/30/95
9321 EL 457 DLW 562 --- ---- 05/57 08/01/95
9322 EL 458 DLW 563 --- ---- 05/57 08/01/95
9323 EL 459 DLW 564 --- ---- 05/57 08/01/95
9324 EL 460 DLW 565 --- ---- 06/57 05/30/95
9325 EL 461 DLW 566 --- ---- 06/57 08/01/95
9326 EL 462 DLW 567 --- ---- 06/57 08/01/95
9327 EL 463 DLW 568 --- ---- 06/57 04/06/90
9328 PC 9009 PRR 9009 PRR 7909 11/57 08/01/95
9329 PC 9010 PRR 9010 PRR 7910 11/57 12/12/88
9330 PC 9011 PRR 9011 PRR 7911 11/57 08/01/95
9331 PC 9012 PRR 9012 PRR 7912 11/57 08/01/95
9332 PC 9013 PRR 9013 PRR 7913 11/57 08/01/95
9333 PC 9014 PRR 9014 PRR 7914 11/57
9334 PC 9015 PRR 9015 PRR 7915 11/57
9335 PC 9016 PRR 9016 PRR 7916 11/57 05/30/95
9336 PC 9017 PRR 9017 PRR 7917 11/57 08/01/95
9337 PC 9018 PRR 9018 PRR 7918 11/57 08/01/95
9338 PC 9019 PRR 9019 PRR 7919 11/57 05/30/95
9339 PC 9020 PRR 9020 PRR 7920 11/57 12/12/88
9340 PC 9021 PRR 9021 PRR 7921 11/57 08/01/95
9341 PC 9022 PRR 9022 PRR 7922 11/57 05/30/95
9342 PC 9023 PRR 9023 PRR 7923 11/57 05/30/95
9343 PC 9024 PRR 9024 PRR 7924 11/57 08/01/95
9344 PC 9025 PRR 9025 PRR 7925 12/57 08/01/95
9345 PC 9026 PRR 9026 PRR 7926 04/58 07/21/93
9346 PC 9027 PRR 9027 PRR 7927 04/58 08/05/94
9347 PC 9028 PRR 9028 PRR 7928 04/58 08/01/95
9348 PC 9029 PRR 9029 PRR 7929 04/58 04/06/90
9349 PC 9030 PRR 9030 PRR 7930 04/58 08/01/95
9350 PC 9031 PRR 9031 PRR 7931 04/58 05/30/95
9351 PC 9032 PRR 9032 PRR 7932 04/58 09/25/90
9352 PC 9033 PRR 9033 PRR 7933 04/58 05/30/95
9353 PC 9034 PRR 9034 PRR 7934 04/58
9354 PC 9050 PRR 9035 PRR 7935 11/57 08/01/95
9355 PC 9051 PRR 9036 PRR 7936 11/57 05/30/95
9356 PC 9052 PRR 9037 PRR 7937 11/57 12/12/88
9357 PC 9053 PRR 9038 PRR 7938 11/57 05/30/95
9358 PC 9054 PRR 9039 PRR 7939 11/57 08/01/95
9359 PC 9055 PRR 9040 PRR 7940 11/57 08/01/95
9360 PC 9056 PRR 9041 PRR 7941 11/57 05/30/95
9361 PC 9057 PRR 9042 PRR 7942 11/57 12/12/88
9362 PC 9058 PRR 9043 PRR 7943 11/57 08/01/95
9363 PC 9180 NH 640 --- ---- 01/56 08/01/95
9364 PC 9181 NH 641 --- ---- 01/56 12/12/88
9365 PC 9182 NH 642 --- ---- 01/56 08/01/95
9366 PC 9183 NH 643 --- ---- 01/56 08/01/95
9367 PC 9184 NH 644 --- ---- 01/56 12/12/88
9368 PC 9185 NH 645 --- ---- 02/56 12/12/88
9369 PC 9186 NH 646 --- ---- 02/56 05/30/95
9370 PC 9187 NH 647 --- ---- 02/56 08/01/95
9371 PC 9188 NH 648 --- ---- 02/56 08/04/86
9372 PC 9189 NH 649 --- ---- 02/56 08/01/95
9373 PC 9190 NH 650 --- ---- 02/56 08/01/95
9374 PC 9191 NH 651 --- ---- 02/56 08/04/86
9375 PC 9192 NH 652 --- ---- 02/56 08/01/95
9376 PC 9193 NH 653 --- ---- 02/56 08/01/95
9377 PC 9194 NH 654 --- ---- 02/56 07/21/93
9378 PC 9195 NH 655 --- ---- 02/56 08/01/95
9379 PC 9196 NH 656 --- ---- 02/56 08/04/86
9380 PC 9197 NH 657 --- ---- 03/56 05/30/95
9381 PC 9198 NH 658 --- ---- 03/56 05/30/95
9382 PC 9199 NH 659 --- ---- 03/56