Southern Pacific SD9R #4418

Photo by Cliff West

Southern Pacific SD9R #4418 is wearing the “Kodachrome” paint scheme of the Southern Pacific’s aborted merger with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe. It was originally built by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors in May 1955 as Southern Pacific #5432. In 1965 it was renumbered to #3910. On November 5, 1976, it was upgraded at Southern Pacific's Sacramento General Shops as SD9R #4418. It was painted in SPSF's "Kodachrome" colors in 1986, and continued to wear them despite the merger being denied by the Interstate Commerce Commission on June 30, 1987, and would continue to wear them to its retirement on September 18, 1995.