Union Railroad SW1 #475 is a newly-released MTH Railking model with PS3. Both my layouts are small, so I prefer to run small locomotives – which this one certainly is. It is the first SW1 model that I have ever acquired. The MTH manufacturing quality is excellent. I couldn’t find any defects. Running conventionally with a Z-4000 transformer, I timed it at speeds down to nine miles per hour on my layout, but it also runs smoothly at a crawl.
EMD built 661 SW1s between 1938 and 1953. They had 600 horsepower and tractive effort of 49,000 pounds. They were capable of tracking through a curve radius of about 105 feet, which translates to O gauge O-52.5. The model is listed for O-27.
The Union Railroad is a switching railroad that serves the steel industry around Pittsburgh. It owned 22 SW1s. My interest is in the Union Railroad that became part of the Grand Junction branch of the Boston & Albany Railroad.
MELGAR
