#2959
EMD SW8
🇨🇦 Canada ·built by General Motors Diesel· from 1950· model of 800 hp North American diesel switcher
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10 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. Strasburg's Diesel: O484· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 2. EMDSW8: Fl295 at English Wikipedia· Public domain
- 3. Korail Class 2000 Diesel Locomotive: Subway06· CC BY 3.0
- 4. EMD SW8 engine: Jud McCranie· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 5. Coors Brewing Company - C988 diesel locomotive (General Motors Electro-Motive Division SW8) 1 (22745771711): James St. John· CC BY 2.0
- 6. Coors Brewing Company - C988 diesel locomotive (General Motors Electro-Motive Division SW8) 3 (49499230268): James St. John· CC BY 2.0
- 7. Coors Brewing Company - C988 diesel locomotive (General Motors Electro-Motive Division SW8) 4 (49499729361): James St. John· CC BY 2.0
- 8. NRE Holcim No. 129 EMD SW8 locomotive - March 2020: Joseph Gage· CC BY-SA 2.0
- 9. Virginia Farmlands Rwy 2 SW8 @ Doorstown 6-17-2007: William Grimes at en.wikipedia· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 10. Misc. Power at the Norfolk and Western Engine House in Decatur, IL, May 7, 1966 - 4 Photos (27028881696): railfan 44· Public domain
what is it?
The EMD SW8 is a diesel switcher locomotive manufactured by General Motors Electro-Motive Division and General Motors Diesel between September 1950 and February 1954. Power is supplied by an EMD 567B 8-cylinder engine, for a total of 800 hp (600 kW). A total of 310 of this model were built for United States railroads and 65 for Canadian railroads.
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 76 years ago, in 1950.
- 597 kW is about 7 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- Weighs about as much as 17 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 13.4 m long: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.
diesel locomotive: A diesel engine on board drives the wheels, usually through a generator (diesel-electric).
spec sheet
- built
- 1950–1954
- number built
- 374
- kind
- Diesel–electric
- traction
- diesel
- origin
- 🇨🇦 Canada
- builders
- General Motors Diesel, Electro-Motive Diesel
- top speed
- 105 km/h
- power
- 597 kW
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- wheel arrangement
- Bo’Bo’
- length
- 13.4 m
- weight
- 104 t
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q483606, Wikipedia: EMD SW8 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.