Westvaco SW1 4800

This EMC SW1 is the oldest member of our collection, built in December 1939 as Illinois Central 9014. This switcher would’ve worked anonymously in switching yards across the IC’s vast system, eventually being renumbered to 600 in 1951. Retired and sold off in May 1969, the elderly switcher would be picked up by the Rock Island Line less than a year later, and switched cars for them until the company’s bankruptcy in 1980. A new home would be found however at the West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company (or Westvaco), switching cars containing paper products at any one of their facilities.

4800 has been stored at TCRM since at least 2004.