Speaking of Early Conrail

[Green_Elite_Cab]

Are there important "external" differences between the CR SW9 and SW1200? To me it looks like there are more small details depending of the original owner of a specific engine within the SW9s and SW1200s than between the two series.

I too am considering "retyping" my SW1200 to an SW9.

JWB is right. According to the book , the only major spotting differences between the SW7, SW9, and SW1200 are as follows-

These Three are indistinguishable but for some louver placements. Hood louvers vary, but SW7 originally had full height louvers with a horizontal strip left out for lettering. The SW9 and SW1200 had louvers only belt high. Some determined spotters will count battery box louvers; the SW1200 went to 5 after SW9's six, but this is unreliable especially after 40 years.

In our case, these units were built at least 20 years before the start of Conrail. Even so, many of these units were rebuilt. In this case, I think sticking to a prototype unit is worth it. As we've established, these locomotives were nearly identical to eachother and there were alot of them. Picking a particular locomotive and doing its specific details will help set it apart from the other clones.