The EMD SD7 is a six axle 1,500hp diesel-electric road switcher built by the Electro-Motive Division company from 1951 - 1953. These engines were the first of EMDs Special Duty line, hence the SD, and were based on the GP7. The six axle SD7 was useful in heavy but low speed freight service. Today SD7s can be seen primarily on shortline railroads or industrial operations, but some remain in service as rebuilt switchers for Class 1 railroads. Southern Pacific owned the first SD7, Southern Pacific 1518, and also owned the largest fleet of these engines. 1518 is preserved at the Illinois Railway Museum.

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A rather small build in my railroad fleet, I built this engine a few years ago. It recently received an overhaul as the design was pretty outdated and I am much happier with this new model. I particularly like the Southern Pacific paint scheme which is why I decided to showcase it but I have done a few other variations of the SD7 as well.

If you're interested in seeing this, or more of my builds, you can visit them on The Realism Society! Just enter the IP mc.realismsociety.com