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Caption: Three EMD switchers in Guilford Rail System colours were in the locomotive area of CP's Quebec St yard, could be in transit to the new owner. Apparently RETX = R.E.Thorpe Co - could not find anything about them.
The other switchers RETX 1431 and RETX 1420 have two-stacks and AAR-A trucks, could be EMD SW9.
RETX 1402 is the interesting rarity - looks to me like an EMD SW1, ex-Boston & Maine who had 24 of them.
EMD produced 661 SW1's between Dec 1938 and Nov 1953, powered by a 6 cylinder 567 diesel of 600 HP. Spotting details indicate this one was built after WW2.
None sold to a Canadian Railway AFAIK - does anyone know if another SW1 came to / through Canada ?
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Didn’t C&O, or an affiliate, station an SW1 in southwestern Ontario?
Last I saw of these switchers they were done up in Springfield Terminal markings. Many Guilford locomotives were assigned ST marks,even though the railroad was only 8 miles long. Something to do with getting around labour or tax rules.
Thanks for that insight Mr. Mooney. RETX 1402 seems to have been Guilford’s Springfield Terminal ST 1402, originally BM 1122. An EMD SW1 built July 1953, last year of production. I’ve only seen those raised front numberboards on B&M switchers.
Pere Marquette 11 was stationed at Erieau at the ship-to-rail coal transload operation. It became C&O 8401, spent another 10/12 years around the Division, and it now restored to PM 11 at the Baltimore museum.
RETX 1420 is an SW9 built for B&M as 1220; the 1431 is an SW7 built for MEC as 332. Both of these went to RETX ( Rail Equipment & Transportation div of Rail Maintenance Service) at the Cargill, Fargo ND elevator. The 1431 remained there, becoming CAGX 1431 before transferring to Sioux CitY IA.
The 1420 went to Central States Warehouse, Waterloo IA. That is now known as Midwest Bulk Services Inc.
The 1402 went to an elevator, I just haven’t found which location.
Thank you for that information, the name you have for RETX is a lot more convincing than what I found in somebody’s reporting mark list.
So there was another SW1 in Canada, but they are pretty rare here !
The SW1, RETX 1402, became Independent Locomotive Service/ ILSX 1378. It could be anywhere these days, leased ( or perhaps sold) to an elevator or some other customer. ILS is based in Bethel MN.
No SW1′s were built new for Canadian owners. True the PM 11 would be borderline as a “Canadian owner” but we don’t know where it spent the first 15/18 years of it’s life. It only seems to have turned up at Erieau in the early 1960s. It was repainted C&O in about 1970, give or take.
Wabash used 3 or 4 different US-built SW1′s in their early days of dieselizing the St Thomas Division. They were used at Windsor to load/unload the ferries; and on the Jarvis wayfreight.
Other industry have purchased 2nd -hand SW1′s, again from the USA.
So probably in the vicinity of 10 SW1 over the decades, in use north of the 49th.
More and more SW1′s – very interesting Bruce. At the risk of coming across as an annoying nit-picker, I will point out that the well- populated parts of Canada north of the 49th are mainly west of the Ontario border. Even Thunder Bay ON and Saguenay QC are south of the 49th, as is all of southern Ontario. I know, it’s just an expression …