54 examples of this locomotive model were built for American railroads,[1] and 60 for export, including fifteen for Korail (order numbers 700735–700749, serial numbers 28373–28387).
The SD18 was the third model in EMD's SD (special duty) line of locomotives. It was designed as a modified GP18 which had six axles instead of four. The additional axles allowed for more tractive effort and a more even distribution of weight compared to the GP18.[1]
Chop-nosed Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range 193 is now an operating member of the Lake Superior Railroad Museum collection. They also previously had DM&IR 316 in their collection, which is an "SDM"; an EMD SD18 given EMD 645 power assemblies by the Missabe, though still labeled as an SD18.[2] In 2019 #316 was traded for Northern Pacific #245 and left the museum for the Dakota Quality Grain Corporation in Parshall, N.D.
As of March 2022, grain terminal operator AgRail LLC of Bloomington, Illinois has acquired Western Rail Inc. SD18M No. 1229 through a lease-to-purchase agreement. The unit began service with Minnesota's Reserve Mining in May 1961 and was last used by the Western Milling plant in Goshen, CA. It was rewired in the 1980s.[3]
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Media related to EMD SD18 locomotives at Wikimedia Commons
Rolling stock of Korail