Found 2 photos of SL-144 center cab switcher on www.railpictures.net , taken in Ohio [2004] and Indiana [2010], respectively. Loco resembles very large, modern, heavy duty version [ on steroids,LOL ] of GE44 ton, with really heavy duty trucks. Can anyone furnish more information on this locomotive? Was there ever an HO model of this loco made; even in brass OR did any resourcefulmodeler ever build or kitbash one? TTFN…papasmurf
P.S. With a little effort on my part, learned this WAS GE product, an Industrial locomotive. 18 versions/classes were built, from SL 65 thru 144 [ many, but not all, for export ] and the last were evidently built in late '70s. Very Interesting, as I’d never heard of them before and am very surprised others have never mentioned them anywhere in the mrr magazines and books I’ve read over the yrs.
Not a whole lot to add, I gather they were not very popular in North America, possibly due to a decline of heavy industrial (in-plant) railroading in the 1970s-1980s (when it hit it’s nadir in the US), possibly due to the rise of Trackmobiles/Railcar movers and the like. I first learned about them way back in the late 1980s, from the Contemporary Diesel’s Spotter Guide from that period - IIRC, they were kinda of dismissed in one page of that guide.
And, recently I have read of the GE SL series industiral switcher’s replacement, in last months Railpace article about Allegheny Ludlum Steel replacing their SL switchers with brand new Republic RX-500 industrial switchers - the future is (sort of) here.