my ESPEE MODELERS ARCHIVE

California's Railroad to the U.S. 1861 - 1996

Southern Pacific SW900E

SP #1190-1199

10 units rebuilt

1 unit made it into Kodachrome paint 1192

Late 1974 saw these being cycled through Houston Shops, emerging as SW900E's.

• External changes include:
  • equipment access door cut into the bottom of the cabside,
  • a different style of numberboard, moved slightly forward and higher,
  • a lighting package similar to the SW1500's,
  • Houston's trademark 'stacked' roadname, as in the above photo.

Upon rebuilt as SW900E's, they returned to northern California, with 2 sent to the Northwestern Pacific, and the rest to the Western Division. Photos from the late 1970's to the early 1980's show them mostly around the Bay Area, where they perhaps ended their days.

References:

• Trains, August 1986 page 14 - #1192 in Kodachrome paint.
• SP Dieselization by John Bonds Garmany page 278 - photo of 4628 in Road-switcher Tiger Stripe paint dated 1959.
• Southern Pacific Motive Power Annual 1974-76 - pages 15-17.
• SP 1987/88 Motive Power Pictorial by Joe.W.Shine, Page 22 - photo of 1192 in Kodachrome.