Comments on: Green and gold was my favourite paint scheme for CN. Three out of four of the SW1200RS units here are painted that way. It is interesting to think that there is 4800 combined horsepower on the head end and today, a single AC4400 comes close to replacing these four locomotives.

By: NiagaraMike11

NiagaraMike11 — Sun, 19 Oct 2025 15:20:49 +0000

Rare shot !

By: bruce

bruce — Fri, 09 Jul 2021 04:15:39 +0000

The nickname was Pisscutters.When you could call the tower at Hamilton yard to check on power. The comment was; Just a couple of Pisscutters.

By: jakirkman

jakirkman — Sun, 08 Nov 2020 18:10:07 +0000

The angled style like in the Juneco kit appears to have only been used on 4 units in the GR-12L class: 1290, 1292-94. Pictures of those units on cnrphotos.com show that style of winterization hatch.

By: Stuart Streit

Stuart Streit — Wed, 24 Oct 2018 16:37:27 +0000

Meant to mention, the Juneco kit detail was a very different shape compared to the prototype.

By: Dave Burroughs

Dave Burroughs — Wed, 24 Oct 2018 16:29:53 +0000

Well, there you go Stuart, you now have a picture to prove that the hatches were prototypical and you can number your model accordingly.

By: Stuart Streit

Stuart Streit — Wed, 24 Oct 2018 16:24:31 +0000

Of interest, I have never seen a prototype photo of the style of winterization hatch that was included in the Juneco SW1200RS conversion kit.

By: Dave Burroughs

Dave Burroughs — Tue, 23 Oct 2018 03:20:27 +0000

Presume these were CN additions. I have pictures of 1243, 1233 and 1229 posted on this site which also have these same hatches. The rest of them seem to have the vents that seem to blow open as on the third unit in this consist.

By: Stuart Streit

Stuart Streit — Tue, 23 Oct 2018 03:12:36 +0000

Is that a winterization hatch on the top front of the hood? Factory or home made?

By: jp4pix

jp4pix — Tue, 16 Oct 2018 21:09:17 +0000

CN 1397 was the last built of CN’s SW1200RS series that began with CN 1204. It was in CN class GR-12y, units CN 1358-1397 built in 1960, frame#s A1843-A1882. Info source Cdn Trackside Guide 1988. My understanding is that Black/Red CN noodle scheme was adopted in 1961, so must have been among the last units delivered in olive green.

By: ngineered4u

ngineered4u — Tue, 16 Oct 2018 18:32:50 +0000

These li’l guys were awesome for switching but not so great for heavy trains going uphill as they had a tendency to overheat and shut down. Still i remember having 4 or 5 of these units running up from Oshawa to Mac Yrd on 495 or 403 Oshawa to Aldershot and back. Spark arrestors? Forget it. LOL these guys put on quite the light show when under load and man it was awesome to see the arrestors glow a red colour. One actually caught on fire on arrival at Mac Yrd. Great memories. Great photo!!