Beginners Ask Trains Difference between an SW7 and a SW1500

Difference between an SW7 and a SW1500

By Sammi DiVito | October 14, 2021

| Last updated on December 2, 2022


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Walt Hughes from Cincinnati, Ohio, always used the side rails (or lack of them) to tell the difference between an SW7 and an SW1500. Now he’s not sure if that’s the best method, and wants to know is SW7s and SW1500s come both ways. Cody Grivno is here to help!

3 thoughts on “Difference between an SW7 and a SW1500

  1. This is off the subject but I was wondering refrigerated TOFC or refrigerated containers, who is responsible for fueling these?

  2. And you can tell a SW7 from a SW9 by the louvers on the hoods. The SW7’s louvers were split in two by a letterboard, the SW9 has a solid bank of louvers. The real difference is internal. The SW7 had a 1200hp Model 567 engine, while the SW9 had a 1200hp Model 567C. The major difference was the B was prone to coolant leaks, which was fixed in the C (EMD offered a kit that railroads could apply to fix the problem, upgrading dash B engines to dash BC’s). The SW1500 employed a descendent of the 567, the 1500hp Model 645 (EMD had realized that the Model 567 – introduced in 1939 – had reached the end of its potential and introduced the Model 645 across its line in 1966. By the way, 567 and 645 was the cubic inch displacement per CYLINDER – at a time when an eight cylinder 427 cubic inch automobile engine was thought of as hairy chested, fire-breathing monster!

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