SCL | Locomotives

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Seaboard Coast Line Railroad - SCL

Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Locomotive Roster

Below is a diesel locomotive roster for the Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) Railroad, organized by manufacturer and then by model. This roster includes the number of units the B&O owned for each model. There are numerous websites, books, and archived reference materials that include the details of each locomotive.

To display a complete diesel roster for the Seaboard Coast Line (SCL), it is necessary to combine the rosters of its predecessors, the Seaboard Air Line (SAL) and Atlantic Coast Line (ACL), with the new units the SCL acquired after their 1967 merger. The following list represents the comprehensive SCL diesel roster over two decades.

SCL | Locomotives

Photo: SCL GP40 on the Raleigh NC turntable in 1970, Warren Calloway, Donald J. Hensley Jr. Collection

Electro-Motive Division (EMD)

  • E4A: 14 locomotives. These were streamlined, sloped-nose passenger units built exclusively for the SAL.
  • E4B: 5 locomotives. Cabless booster units for the E4A locomotives.
  • E6A: 25 locomotives. An evolution of the E4, many from both SAL and ACL.
  • E6B: 5 locomotives. Booster units for the E6A locomotives.
  • E7A: 47 locomotives. A very common passenger locomotive on both the SAL and ACL, featuring the “bulldog nose”.
  • E7B: 13 locomotives. Cabless booster units for the E7A locomotives.
  • E8A: 24 locomotives. A more powerful variant of the E-series.
  • E8B: 2 locomotives. Cabless booster units for the E8A locomotives.
  • E9A: 1 locomotive. The final and most powerful E-unit built by EMD.
  • FTA: 52 locomotives. Early F-unit freight locomotives for both predecessor’s growing freight businesses.
  • FTB: 52 locomotives. Cabless booster units for the FTA locomotives.
  • F2A: 12 locomotives. A transitional freight-hauling model between the FT and F3.
  • F2B: 12 locomotives. Cabless booster units for the F2A locomotives.
  • F3A: 22 locomotives. A reliable, standardized freight cab unit.
  • F3B: 12 locomotives. Cabless booster units for the F3A locomotives.
  • F7A: 100 locomotives. A standard workhorse on many railroads for both freight and passenger service.
  • F7B: 27 locomotives. Cabless booster units for the F7A locomotives.
  • FP7: 44 locomotives. Passenger locomotives, essentially extended F7As to provide more water capacity for steam generators.
  • GP7: 252 locomotives. The “Geep” road switcher was used widely for both road freight and local service.
  • GP9: 36 locomotives. A successor to the GP7 and another common road switcher on the SAL.
  • GP16: 149 locomotives. These were rebuilds of older GP7, GP9, and GP18 units, a successful cost-saving project by the SCL.
  • SW1: 3 locomotives. An early, compact, and reliable yard switcher.
  • SW7: 15 locomotives. A more powerful switcher for heavier yard duties.
  • SW8: 10 locomotives. A standardized switcher model.
  • SW9: 26 locomotives. A common and reliable switcher model.
  • SW900: 5 locomotives. A smaller, but robust, switcher.
  • SW1200: 6 locomotives. A modernized switcher for improved efficiency.
  • SW1500: 15 locomotives. A powerful switcher capable of some road freight duties, with many ordered for the merged SCL.
  • SD7: 2 locomotives. An early EMD six-axle locomotive for heavy hauling.
  • SD9: 4 locomotives. An upgrade from the SD7 with a more reliable engine.
  • SD35: 35 locomotives. A higher-horsepower, six-axle freight unit.
  • SD45: 46 locomotives. High-horsepower units used for fast freight service.
  • SD45-2: 15 locomotives. An upgraded SD45 with improved internal electronics.
  • GP30: 9 locomotives. Versatile road switchers with a distinctive high-profile cab.
  • GP35: 6 locomotives. A follow-up to the GP30, also inherited by the SCL.
  • SDP35: 1 locomotive. A passenger version of the SD35 with a steam generator.
  • GP38-2: 79 locomotives. Acquired after the merger, these were reliable, mid-powered road switchers.
  • GP40: 31 locomotives. Used for priority through freights.
  • GP40-2: 78 locomotives. An updated version of the GP40 with more reliable modular electronics.
  • SD40-2: 116 locomotives. The most numerous single locomotive type for the SCL, valued for its reliability and tractive effort. 

American Locomotive Company (ALCO)

  • S-2: 18 locomotives. Older switcher units inherited from predecessors.
  • S-4: 21 locomotives. An upgraded and more successful ALCO switcher model.
  • RS-2: 29 locomotives. An early and successful ALCO road switcher design.
  • RS-3: 66 locomotives. This versatile road switcher was common on many railroads.
  • RS-11: 15 locomotives. A medium-horsepower road switcher inherited from the ACL.
  • C420: 27 locomotives. Versatile four-axle road switchers.
  • C628: 18 locomotives. Powerful six-axle freight units inherited from the ACL.
  • RSC-3: 19 locomotives. Six-axle road switchers with unpowered center axles, designed for lighter trackage.
  • RSC-4: 4 locomotives. Another road switcher with C-C trucks.
  • RSC-5: 3 locomotives. A final variant of ALCO’s C-C road switchers for SAL.
  • FA-1: 3 locomotives. ALCO’s cab unit competitor to EMD’s F-units.
  • FB-1: 3 locomotives. Cabless booster units for the FA-1 locomotives. 

General Electric (GE)

  • U25B: 12 locomotives. Part of GE’s first “U-boat” generation.
  • U30B: 12 locomotives. A more powerful successor to the U25B.
  • U33B: 38 locomotives. High-horsepower units used for expedited freight service.
  • U36B: 108 locomotives. A large order of GE’s most powerful four-axle U-boat.
  • U18B: 15 locomotives. A smaller, less-powerful unit, mainly used on branch lines.
  • B23-7: 73 locomotives. Reliable units ordered in the late 1970s and 1980s.
  • BQ23-7: 10 locomotives. A unique variant with a larger cab for the train crew, designed to help phase out cabooses.
  • C30-7: 105 locomotives. Six-axle freight units purchased in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
  • U36C: 4 locomotives. Inherited from the ACL, these were six-axle U-boats.
  • 44-ton: 2 locomotives. Small industrial switchers.
  • 70-ton: 2 locomotives. Early switchers.
  • B36-7: 2 locomotives. Delivered just before the merger, representing GE’s late-model technology. 

Baldwin Locomotive Works (BLW)

  • VO-1000: 4 locomotives. Switchers inherited from the ACL, later re-engined.
  • DS-4-4-1000: 35 locomotives. A large fleet of Baldwin switchers for yard work.
  • S-12: 55 locomotives. A powerful, modern Baldwin switcher.
  • AS-416: 2 locomotives. Road switchers inherited from the ACL.
  • AS-616: 63 locomotives. Powerful road switchers, the SAL was a large customer.
  • RS-12: 4 locomotives. A later Baldwin road switcher.
  • DRS-6-4-1500: 3 locomotives. Baldwin’s distinctive “Babyface” road switchers.
  • DR-12-8-3000 (“Centipede”): 14 locomotives. These unusual, large, and powerful units were used for passenger service. 

Fairbanks-Morse (FM)

  • H16-44: 15 locomotives. Hood-unit road switchers.
  • C-Liner: 4 locomotives. Cab unit passenger locomotives that competed with EMD and ALCO.
  • Train Master: 2 locomotives. These were Fairbanks-Morse’s large and powerful road switchers. 

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For More Information – Sources and Resources

The following are excellent resources for those of you wanting to explore and learn more about the history and operation of the Appalachian Railroads. These sources of information also serve as reference and historical materials for Appalachian-Railroads.org. Much of the collective railroad history data points on this website are verified across multiple sources.

  • Personal Maps & Memorabilia: Documents, maps, timetables, and track charts
  • Associations, Historical Societies and their Archives
  • Archives of Appalachia: ETSU, Johnson City TN
  • Newspaper Articles: Newspapers.com
  • Magazines/Online: ‘Trains‘, ‘Classic Trains‘
  • Books
    • Drury: The Historical Guide to North American Railroads
    • Appalachian Region
      • Grant: ‘The Louisville, Cincinnati & Charleston Rail Road’
      • Graybeal: ‘The Railroads of Johnson City
      • Huddleston: ‘Appalachian Crossings – The Pocahontas Roads‘ and ‘Appalachian Conquest‘
      • Poole: ‘A History of Railroading in Western North Carolina‘
      • Timko and Young: ‘Appalchian Coal Mines and Railroads, Vol. 1, 2, & 3‘
      • Roberts: ‘Sand Patch, Clash of the Titans‘
      • Yanosey: ‘Tidewater Triangle’
    • Atlantic Coast Line Railroad
      • Calloway: ‘Atlantic Coast Line, The Diesel Years‘
      • Griffin: ‘Atlantic Coast Line, The Standard Railroad of the South‘
      • Goolsby: ‘Atlantic Coast Line Passenger Service, The Postwar Years‘
    • Baltimore & Ohio Railway
      • Jacobs: ‘The History of the Baltimore & Ohio’
      • McGuirk: ‘Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in the Potomac Valley‘
      • Ori, Salamon and Oroszi: Baltimore & Ohio/Reflections of the Capitol Dome‘ and ‘Baltimore & Ohio/Sunburst Trail to Chicago’
    • C&O Railway/Chessie System
      • Dixon: ‘Chesapeake & Ohio, Superpower to Diesels‘, Chesapeake & Ohio in the Coalfields, ‘C&O Allegheny Subdivision‘, and ‘Chesapeake & Ohio Railway – A Concise History and Fact Book‘, and ‘The Chessie Era’
      • Dorin: ‘The Chesapeake & Ohio Railway’
      • Huddleston: ‘Riding the New River Train‘
      • Ori – ‘Chessie System‘
      • Paton: ‘Allegheny with an A’
      • Turner: ‘Chessie’s Road‘
    • Clinchfield Railroad
      • Beach: ‘The Black Mountain Railway’
      • Goforth: ‘Building the Clinchfield‘ and ‘When Steam Ran the Clinchfield‘
      • Helm: ‘The Clinchfield Railroad in the Coal Fields‘
      • Irwin & Stahl: ‘The Last Empire Builder: The Life of George L. Carter‘
      • King: ‘Clinchfield Country‘
      • Marsh: ‘Clinchfield in Color‘
      • Poteat & Taylor: ‘The CSX Clinchfield Route in the 21st Century‘
      • Stevens & Peoples: ‘The Clinchfield No. 1 – Tennessee’s Legendary Steam Engine‘
      • Way: ‘The Clinchfield Railroad, the Story of a Trade Route Across the Blue Ridge Mountains‘
    • CSX Railroad
      • Springirth: ‘CSX Transportation Heritage‘
    • ET&WNC: Listed on the website’s ET&WNC pages
    • Interstate Railroad
      • Wolfe & Wolfe: ‘Appalachian Coal Hauler’
      • Wolfe: ‘The Interstate Railroad‘
    • L&N Railroad
      • Castner, Flanary & Dorin: Louisville & Nashville Railroad The Old Reliable‘
      • Flanary: The Louisville & Nashville Cumberland Valley Division
      • Flanary, Oroszi & McKee: ‘The Louisville & Nashville in the Appalachians‘
      • Oroszi & Flanary: ‘Dixie Lines, The Louisville & Nashville Railroad‘
    • NC&StL Railway
      • Prince: ‘Nashville Chattanooga & St Louis Railway‘
    • Norfolk Southern
      • Esposito: ‘Norfolk Southern Railroad’
      • Lindsey: ‘Norfolk Southern 1995 Review‘
    • Norfolk & Western Railway
      • Newton: ‘Rails Remembered, Volumes 1-6
      • Warden: ‘Norfolk & Western: Diesel’s Last Conquest‘ and ‘Norfolk & Western’s Passenger Service’
      • Wolfe, Wilson & Mandelkern: ‘Norfolk & Western’s Clinch Valley Line‘
    • Pennsylvania Railroad
      • Jacobs: ‘The History of the Pennsylvania Railroad‘
    • Seaboard Air Line, Seaboard Coast Line, Seaboard System
      • Calloway and Withers: ‘Seaboard Motive Power‘
      • Carleton: ‘Locomotives of the Seaboard System‘
      • Griffin: ‘Seaboard Coast Line and Family Lines Railroad‘ and ‘All Lines North of Raleigh‘
      • Johnson: ‘Through the Heart of the South‘
    • Southern Railway
      • Davis: The Southern Railway, Road of the Innovators‘
      • Flanary, Lindsey & Oroszi. The Southern Railway‘
      • Webb: ‘The Southern Railway System: An Illustrated History‘
      • Wolfe: ‘Southern Railway Appalachia Division‘
    • Virginian Railway
      • Reisweber: ‘Virginian Rails’
      • Wiley & Wallace: ‘The Virginian Railway Handbook‘
  • Online Article: Flanary: ‘The Quick Service Route, The Clinchfield Railroad‘; Scientific American: ‘The Costliest Railroad in America‘
  • Online Videos: Ken Marsh on Kingsport area railroads and region’s history Video #1 | Video #2:
  • Websites:

3Cs Websites

Appalachian-Railroads.org | Clinchfield.org | Southern-Railroads.org