I am looking to find out the diffeences between a, SW1000, SW1200, SW1500, COW, CALF, SW-7, SW-9. Beyond horsepower what were the differences????? Cosmetics, ERAS, etc. Lastly for the Athearn faithful, what are the differences, for the proto. Can i put a sw1500, body, on a sw-7 chassis. I don't have either to compare, but the knowledge would help at the next train show. ROCK on [ 29. December 2002, 18:07: Message edited by: rock island railroader ]
this is what I know : the SW9 and the SW1200 were the same, except for the engine. A "COW" is an engine with a cab and a "CALF" is sort of like a slug, no cab. I have never seen an actually "CALF" unit, though. A lot of SW1200 were converted to Road Switcher status. As far as the other models go, I don't know much, but besides the engine I doubt there are very major differences. hope that helps
GM's SW 7, 9 and 1200 were very similar in appearance with only some minor differences in the number and positions of louvers on the carbody and all were 1200 hp, while the SW 8 and SW 900 were 800 and 900hp variants, identified, mainly by having only one exaust stack instead of two. All were the same length. The SW 1000 and SW 1500 appear to be similar in length although I don't think that the Athern SW 1500 body will fit on the SW 7 chassies (however I could be wrong) . the difference between the SW 1000 and SW 1500 is that the 1000 has only one exaust stack while the 1500 has two. Also, All the pictures I have seen of the 1000 and 1500 show them with a much larger fuel tank and many were equipped with flexicoil trucks instead of the older AAR Type A, whereas on the earlier classes this was done mainly on those units used in Canada and built for light road service. Hope this helps and Happy modeling! Cheers! and Happy new year to all! Terry
Calf units (Properly TR2Bs and TR6Bs) were cabless switchers with a prime mover as opposed to a slug which does not have a prime mover and gets it's power from another locomotive. The only place I've seen a calf unit was on the Belt Railway of Chicage back in 99 and I think they're all gone now. THere were never all tham many made and the few remaining ones are pretty spread out.
The B&O had a few sets of TR3's and TR-4's, which consisted of a NW-2 and a calf! I think their were 4 or 5 sets of TR-3's and 6 or 7 sets of TR-4's and most lasted untill the Chessie era, and wore the Chessie colors in their last years!
