Nostalgia & History > DRGW SW-1000's: Order Variations or Rebuild Program?

Doing a little research on these units for a modeling project and have noticed in photos that some units have 4 stepwell steps while others have 5, some have straight sills while others have an end bevel, and some have ladder grabs near the cab while others have them farther out on the hood. It would appear that this may have occurred during some type of rebuilding program rather than as-delivered variations...but I'm not certain. Does anyone have info on these variations or the rebuild program? Were there any more variations than what I listed, such as hood door changes? I see that uncoupling levers changed over time as did the removal of footboards.

Thanks!

T-fan

T-fan,
I never noticed the change in the steps!  There were a lot of small detail changes spread over these units lives.  A modeler really needs to work form a photo from the time period being modeled.  The Grande was a pretty maintenance forward road with a very capable workforce of craftsman and was continuously upgrading their equipment, often with their own designs.

Some SW1000 details I've noticed include;

#140 - 146 were delivered in 1966, #147 - 149 delivered in 1968.
 
Pilots plating changed over the years such as removal of foot boards, adding lifting cut-outs, and reshaping corners for cut bar access.

1st order delivered with solid bearings, all changed to roller bearings in the early 80s.

All had spark arrestors at one time, but most were eventually removed. 

All had a "baffle" mounted in front of the horn at some point.

1st order had a small taper at he corners of the side sills.
 
At some point the side ladder on the hood was moved farther to the rear.

At some point the piping for the air horn was moved

All D&RGW locomotives used for switching have automotive style red reflectors along their side sills.

I don't believe any of the 1000s were ever fully repainted.

At some point the front windows lost their green shade painted on the tops of the glass.

The engine compartment drain pipe was extended down the side of the right front truck side frame.
  
A couple modeling notes: The blue box Athearn SW1000 shell is actually a SW1500 with only one smoke stack and a shorter radiator section.  The hood side doors and hood top doors are not correct for a 1000.  I believe The newer RTR release has the same door issues, but the radiator screens and fan grill is much nicer as well as the cab interior.  Attached is a model I build way before the new Athearn offerings.  I replaced the hood doors using modified  Cannon & Co doors.  I moved the ladder, scratch built the horn baffle,  added modified etched steps, modernized the pilots, removed the molded on radiator and fan screens, scratch built a radiator, and fan/shroud, replaced the screens with etched screens, and replaced the factory windows with flush mounted windows.  I upgraded to brass stanchions and hand rails all around.  The frame is milled for a Kato motor mounted in line with the transmission towers.  The truck side frames were swapped out with Smokey Valley roller bearing side frames.  The old sinttered wheels were replaced with NWSL plated wheels.  All of the normal "extras" added like wire grabs, cut levers, piping, vents, antenna, lift rings, fuel filters, sunshades, MV lenses, and spark arrestor.

I now model in O scale and have gathered some material with a future plan to scratch build an O scale proto 48 model.

 

Rick Bacon
Windsor, CO

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I forgot...the side sill reflectors.  Micro scale offers way over sized decals, some people just use red paint dots.  I decided to make mine true to scale and shape.  I shaved the reflectors off several Athearn trailers.  These were carefully sanded down to thin them out and glued to the sill.  During final painting, I painted the entire detail silver followed by a dot of Tamiya (X27) clear red paint in the middle.  If you shine a flash light at them, they actually reflect! 

Rick Bacon
Windsor, CO

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Great info and great modeling!

Thanks!

T-fan

NWSL wheels are turned nickel silver, there is no plating.

They should never need replacement unless you run them so hard you wear grooves in the tread.

fbe Wrote:
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> NWSL wheels are turned nickel silver, there is no
> plating.
>
> They should never need replacement unless you run
> them so hard you wear grooves in the tread.

Well, actually...when I built this model 20 years ago, I in fact used NWSL part #7141-4 which the packaging states are "nickel plated brass". I built several models in those days using Athearn trucks upgraded with these wheels.  Our traveling layout managed to wear the plating off a few of these wheels over the decade we toured with it!  

Rick Bacon
Windsor, CO



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/21/19 20:14 by rnb3.

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Thanks for the information Rick..................................great old school modeling as well.

                             Dave Dane