Another EMD Switcher Saved: D&RGW SW1200 133!

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Sun Jan 21, 2024 9:29 pm

https://www.facebook.com/PromontoryNRHS ... hgfYyxvNCl

Quote:

The Promontory Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society is excited to announce we are now the proud new owners of former Rio Grande SW1200 #133!
A special thank you to Southeast Farmers Coop for their generous donation of this historic locomotive. Also, a big thank you to the D&I Railroad for their support and continued assistance to help make this acquisition possible.
Rio Grande 133 was built new for the Rio Grande in Jan. 1965. It was acquired by UP during the merger, and retired in 1998. It found its way to South Dakota shortly after, and has been in that same area ever since. It spent much of its career on the Rio Grande working locals out of Roper Yard, as well as some time switching Rio Grande's Ogden Yard.
Now that we have ownership, we will explore options for a permanent home for it, or possibly look to partner with an industry (preferably in former Rio Grande territory) to return it to operation and allow it to continue to switch railcars around.... while still wearing its original Rio Grande paint! We are open to ideas and suggestions. For now, it is safely stored in Iowa, until we figure out where it's heading to.
Thank you to James Belmont for sharing the photos of 133 working around the Salt Lake area. Thank you to Tim Smith for the photo of how it currently looks.

Info online says it was one of ten SW1200s built for the D&RGW in Dec. 1964 and January 1965. It was sold to a broker in July 1998, then to Farmers Elevator in Beresford, South Dakota in Oct 1998. My understanding is that the line that now ends at Beresford, run by the D&I Railroad, is now used by them for car storage only, and the loco was taken down somewhere to the Sioux City area pending disposition. The current reporting marks are for Diesel Supply, Inc. a lessor in Wisconsin.

PMC · **Joined:** Sat Oct 17, 2015 5:55 pm **Posts:** 2305

I'm sure my late uncle, who was a Rio Grande operator who transitioned into train service in the late 1970s, was on this unit at least once.

The first thing I noticed in the below Chuck Zeller photo from 1965 is the then-ubiquitous trust plate that almost every unit had on its sideframe up through the 1980s, I believe to prevent railroads from claiming they owned equipment for credit purposes that they had actually mortgaged. Note it has roller bearings now, and I believe as delivered it lacked full handrails along the hood, which must have been fun on bad track, trying to get in the cab to get warm while moving. Top photo from 2016, Matt Peterson.

Gham55* · **Joined:** Wed Aug 31, 2022 8:56 am **Posts:** 65

PMC wrote:

I believe as delivered it lacked full handrails along the hood, which must have been fun on bad track, trying to get in the cab to get warm while moving.

These are one of the more potentially dangerous features on old locos that may be historically accurate but kind of ghastly to have to use at times.

I actually have heard retired guys vent about hanging on to those hood rails for dear life, along with hearing some express their "love" of using covered wagons as road switchers after having their RS-1s taken away.

PMC · **Joined:** Sat Oct 17, 2015 5:55 pm **Posts:** 2305

https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews ... -switcher/

Another EMD Switcher Saved: D&RGW SW1200 133!

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