Switcher Hood Dimensions

[fcollingwood]

Hi All

I am building an HO scale model of an SW1002 (Before you ask, it IS an EMD switcher! Spoornet class 36). I'm looking around for a suitable mechanism and parts donor from a US style switcher from the EMD switcher range, and have hit a snag - I have a LifeLike SW9/1200, and an Athearn (SW1000? SW1500? I have no idea), and the hood widths are very different. The LifeLike model has a much wider hood than the Athearn model.

Can anyone point me in the direction of a website that shows the principal dimensions of the EMD SW range?

regards

Frank

[Allen Hazen]

I think the SW1002 was a derivative of the domestic SW1000/SW1001 models: 8-cylinder 645 engine, rated 1000 hp by U.S. conventions(*).

I don't have exact dimensions for the real thing, but I take it you are modeling in HO scale, so...
"Railroad Model Craftsman" had an article on these models in their May 1996 issue. (I don't have a scanner, but I could snailmail you a photocopy if you want: e-mail me
[email protected]
with your mailing address.) The drawings in the article are labeled "Full size for HO scale: 3.5mm=1'0" (1:87.1)".
In both models the hood width is 2.1cm. Hood height (walkway to top of sheetmetal on the hood) is 2.6cm on the SW1001 and 2.5cm on the SW1000. Hood length (from front sheet of cab to metal face of the front of the hood below the headlight/numberboard assembly-- this assembly, and the radiator grill, both project beyond this)is between 9.6 and 9.7cm on the SW1000 and about 9.85cm on the SW1001. (All done by eye with a ruler.) (And I just noticed tht "RMC" switched the captions in the drawings of the two locomotives!)

The SW1000 was introduced in 1966, with a carbody design very similar to that of an SW1500: walkway 5'4.5" and top of cab roof 15'0" above the rail. The SW1001 was introduced a few years later, designed for closer clearances: walkay 4'8" and cab roof 14'6" above the rail. Most obvius spotting difference is that the SW1001 has a roof curved to a smaller radius, more like that on earlier EMD switchers. (I **think** its external dimensions may have been close to those of 567-engined switchers, but I don't have HO drawings here that I can easily compare.)
---
(*) US convention is to rate locomotives by the power delivered to the traction generator. Convention in most other places is to rate a bit higher, including power used by engine auxiliaries. Locomotives built with the same engine as the SW1000 for Ireland and Australia are rated at 1100 hp and 700 kw.

[fcollingwood]

Hi Allen

Thanks for that. I already have the (full size) dimensions for the SW1002, I'm really after some idea of the dimensions of the US outline switchers, so I can select which one to use to kitbash.

there are photos of the SW1002 here:
http://emdexport.railfan.net/africa/safrica8.html
http://emdexport.railfan.net/africa/safrica18.html

GE also did a small switcher for South Africa, the SG10B, and I'd like to find a suitable donor to kitbash into that - photos are here:
http://www.geocities.com/satrains/diesel36.html

regards

Frank

[Allen Hazen]

Frank--
Well, I've learned ONE thing already: South African Railways class 36 includes both EMD and GE types!
First the GE: the hood is unlike any domestic (North American) GE. If there's a model that could be kitbashed, it would be of some GE export design, and I don't know where to start lookingfor them. (I think there may be some South American body castings.... If I can remember where on the WWWeb I saw a reference to them I'll post again.)
As to the EMD: the hood is not exactly like any domestic model. The grid over the radiator wraps around and is visible at the top of the hood in side view: that is a feature unique to the 1966 and later switchers (Sw1000, SW1500 etc). The sloped section of the hood roof seems to be sloped fairly steeply: more like the SW1001 than the SW1000. But there is a horizontal section BETWEEN the slope and the cab: this is a feature eleiminated from domestic switchers in the late 1940s. At a guess, it means that the hood is a bit longer than on a SW1001. There are rectangular openings in the side of the hood that I take to be steps giving access to the roof of the hood: this is not something I have seen on domestic US EMD types, though I have seen it on Australian Clyde-EMD types. (I know there are plastic body castings for Australian diesels marketed to modelrailroaders in Australia; I don't know how much of-- say-- the Victorian Railways T-class would be useful in modeling a SW1002.
I have scale drawings of a variety of older and newer EMD switchers, and could send you a packet of photocopies, but (as my measurement-from-drawing in yesterday's post showed) they have only limited dimensional markings.

[fcollingwood]

Hi Allen

Most of the SAR/Spoornet diesel classes include locos from both EMD and GE.

There is ONE orphan hower, the class 91, which is a GE UM6B (Similar in dimensions to the U6B which it is based on), which runs on 2' gauge metals

They look like they're about to fall over.

Anyway, I think I may have figured out why the hood widths on my LiefeLike and Athearn models are different - the engine series are different, I need an 8-645 engined model to kitbash, and the SW1001 looks the most likely candidate, if I can find one somewhere in HO

regards

Frank

[mp15ac]

What I'd like to build is an SW1003C.

http://emdexport.railfan.net/africa/safrica19.html

I was reminded of them by your SW1002. Extra2200 South magazine had a photo of one of them printed back in the early 1980's.

The biggest problem is the mechanism. With so much platform over the trucks it'll be a challenge to build.

Stuart