The New York Central Railroad started providing service on March 17, 1853, between Buffalo and Albany. In 1869, Cornelius Vanderbilt took over management of the railway and merged it with the Hudson River Railroad. In 1968, the railroad merged with the Pennsylvania Railroad to form the Penn Central Railroad. The railroad eventually went bankrupt and was taken over by the federal government and merged with Conrail in 1976.
The New York Central utilized a diverse mix of locomotive engines, including the EMD SW-8. The SW-8 featured a tapered hood and one centralized exhaust hood and an 8-cylinder engine. The engine's main purpose was to service train yards, light branch work and shuffling cars through industrial settings.
Manufactured by General Motors, the EMD SW-8 was sold to large and small railways. GM produced 374 models between the years 1950 and 1954. With 800 horsepower, the SW-8 remained in production through the 1970s.
