History & Back Ground:

The Northwestern Vermont Railway, a.k.a. NWV, is a fictitious freelance railroad envisioned to be operating on a north-south mainline through Western Vermont between Champlain Yard (Montreal, PQ) and Mechanicville, NY. The NWV interchanges traffic with the Canadian National and Canadian Pacific / CP Rail at Champlain Yard. Mechanicville is the major traffic interchange point with the D&H and B&M.

Set in the mid 1970's, the NWV operates an all diesel locomotive roster made up primarily of various EMD and ALCO models. Note passenger service is provided by Amtrak so the earliest correct date would be 1971.

Passenger Locomotives:

The NWV first diesel passenger locomotives arrived in May 1946 with the arrival of a pair of EMD E7A's. The last passenger steam locomotives were retired three months after that date. The NWV also used F7A's in passenger service since the 1512 to 1519 series were equipped with steam generators. The NWV ceased passenger operations and turned over their passenger car equipment to Amtrak in 1971. Today, the two scheduled passenger trains operating over the NWV tracks are handled by Amtrak E-8's.

AMTRAK Loco Roster on the NWV

Freight Locomotives:

Like many New England Railroads, the NWV began their transition to diesel locomotives with the purchase of yard switches. They received six Alco S-2 models in the summer of

1942. Throughout World War II, new diesel locomotives were scarce so the NWV had to rely on their steamer roster to move freight and passengers over the line. The first freight road diesel locomotives arrived in September 1947. They were twelve EMD F-3A's in

the early phase II body style. A year later, when the NWV went back to EMD for an additional eight locomotives, production had switched to F-3A's in the Phase IV body style. Business was very good throughout New England during the late 1940's and the NWV was no exception. They retired their last freight steam locomotives with the May 1949 arrival of ten EMD F-7A's.

As the 1950's arrived, the NWV followed the same strategy as other railroads and began purchasing road switcher style locomotives for better visibility and improved personnel safety. Six EMD GP-7's arrived in the late summer of 1951. These units worked out very

well for the NWV so they ordered additional road switchers. Six GP-9's arrived in June 1958 and four GP-18's arrived in February 1960.

As the 1960's rolled on, the NWV decided to purchase higher horsepower second generation locomotives. They had been a steady EMD customer but found that the EMD order list had a very long wait period. They placed an order with American Locomotive Works and received six C-425's late in 1964. To reduce the cost of this purchase, Alco

accepted six F-3A's as trade in. While their 1942 Alco S-2 purchase had provided many years of dependable service, the C-425's required more maintenance attention.

The NWV would return to EMD and stay with them for future locomotive orders. In April 1967, they received their first second generation EMD road switchers with the delivery of 10 EMD GP-38's. Again, older F-3A's were used as trade ins to lower the purchase price.

The Alco S-2's had been hard at work since 1942 so with over 25 years of service it was time to secure replacement yard engines. Six EMD SW-1000's arrived in late 1968 and four SW-1500's arrived in October 1970.

NWV Loco Roster - All-Time