EMD SD18

This article needs more citations. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "EMD SD18" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (July 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

EMD SD18
Chicago and Illinois Midland Railway 60 coupled to two SD9 locomotives at Springfield, Illinois, May 7, 1966
Type and origin Power type Diesel-electric Builder General Motors Electro-Motive Division (EMD) Model SD18 Build date April 1960 – March 1963 Total produced 114[citation needed]
Specifications Configuration: ​  • AAR C-C Gauge 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm), Brazil Prime mover EMD 567 Engine type V16 diesel Cylinders 16
Performance figures Power output 1,800 hp (1.3 MW)
Career Disposition 3 preserved[citation needed]

The EMD SD18 is a 6-axle diesel locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between April 1960 and March 1963. Power was provided by an EMD 567D1 16-cylinder engine which generated 1,800 hp (1.3 MW).

54 examples of this locomotive model were built for American railroads.

Design and production

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.

Original owners

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (September 2026)

Photograph	Owner	Quantity	Numbers
	Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad	7	851–857
	Chesapeake and Ohio Railway	19	1800–1818
	Chicago and Illinois Midland Railway	2	60–61
	Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway	19	175–193
	Reserve Mining Co.	7	1226–1232
	RFFSA (export to Brazil)	45	3401–3445
	Korea National Railroad	15	6001–6015
	Totals	114[citation needed]

Preservation

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.

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.

References

• Pinkepank, Jerry A. (1973). The Second Diesel Spotter's Guide. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Kalmbach Publishing. ISBN 978-0-89024-026-7.

External links

• Media related to EMD SD18 locomotives at Wikimedia Commons