#3170
EMD SW600
🇺🇸 United States ·built by Electro-Motive Diesel· from 1954· model of 600 hp American diesel switcher
1 photo from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. Engine passing us - Three Rivers Rambler No. 9 - May 2008: Joel Kramer· CC BY 2.0
what is it?
The EMD SW600 is a diesel switcher locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between February 1954 and January 1962. It shared the same carbody design as EMD's more powerful SW900 and SW1200 models but only generated 600 horsepower, and replaced the SW1 in EMD's catalogue. Power was provided by an EMD 567C 6-cylinder engine, which generated 600 horsepower (450 kW).
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 72 years ago, in 1954.
- 447 kW is about 5 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
diesel locomotive: A diesel engine on board drives the wheels, usually through a generator (diesel-electric).
spec sheet
- built
- 1954–1962
- number built
- 15
- kind
- Diesel-electric
- traction
- diesel
- origin
- 🇺🇸 United States
- builders
- Electro-Motive Diesel
- top speed
- —
- power
- 447 kW
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q5323486, Wikipedia: EMD SW600 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.