SW-1

[Stew Winstandley]

Monon #5 is shown at the North Wye at New Albany in 1952.

Pete, I was 12 when I took these photos.

[George Lortz]

Gary,

In your book, "The Hoosier Line", you wrote "DS-50 was Monon's first diesel.  Renumbered No. 1 (as second unit to carry that number) in 1947".

I've never seen a photo of a Monon SW-1 unit numbered #1.  I know the unit was #1 when it was owned by United Electric Coal.  It's now at ITM as #DS-50.

Can you give some additional information about these units?  Or better yet, does anyone have a photo of #1?

George L. 

[Tim T Swan]

George, I don't believe there ever was a #1 either (just like there never was a #99 as in Monon Bell lore).

The history of the SW1's is rather strange, too.  Though #DS-50 was indeed MONON's first diesel, by 1947 it had been apparently been deemed unsuitable (while stationed at Monon?) and so was traded in during the purchase of the second batch of NW2's.  But then just two years later, in 1949, MONON purchased two new SW1's, #'s 5 and 6, stationing them at Bedford and New Albany.  They were also seen at Indy's Belt Junction later.  Go figure.

I sure would love to see documentation on how these kind of decisions were made and why.  Never seen such a thng, though.

[Pete Pedigo]

Tim, this example is off topic but may apply to the purchasing of later SW-1's.    When Caterpillar first built the Cat 225 excavator they had a lot of issues.  Later models with the same 225 model number had been upgraded to fix the earlier issues.  Those in the know can look at a machine serial  number and tell if it is a good Cat 225 or one of the earlier ones with problems.  Yep,  I owned a Cat 225 with a serial number of 134, nothing but trouble.
Pete

[Steve Dolzall]

The Monon received the final new 1000 horsepower NW-2's in 1/47. The NW-2's weighed 248,000 lbs.  At this point Monon management decided the the sole 600 horsepower SW-1 weighing 198,000 was "too light" for effective service on the Monon. Following considerable Board Room discussion, it was decided to sell the SW-1 which became fact on 1/15/48.

In October, 1948 EMD presented the Monon with thier plan to complete dieselization of the railroad. Included in that proposal was a pair of 600 horsepower SW-1's. Obviously the Monon accepted the proposal. It would be great if a copy of the EMD document would appear someday so then we would know what the intended use for the new SW-1's actually was.

The new SW-1's arrived in 8/49 affording them the honor of being the newest first generation diesel locomotives on the Monon. The new SW-1's weighed 198,000 lbs exactly the same as the "too light" SW-1 of 1942. The main difference was that the two new SW-1's were equipped for MU operation ( the only Monon switchers so equipped).There are indications that the orginal intent was to utilize the two units in mu in the Bedford Stone District.

Regardless of the intentions it appears for the most part one of the SW-1's was used at Bedford  while the second was most often used at New Albany. I have never seen a photo of the pair coupled together in mu operation.