Southern Pacific No. 7551

Southern Pacific No. 7551 was an SD45R diesel locomotive built by EMD (Electro Motive Division) in 1968, originally built as SD45 #8985. It was used primarily for freight service for the Southern Pacific Railroad. Around the 1980's the unit would be rebuilt into an SD45R, renumbered to 7551.
7551's career ended tragically in San Bernardino, CA on May 12, 1989 when the 69-car freight train loaded with trona ran away and derailed into a small neighborhood near Duffy street, destroying seven houses and killing four people in the wreck (with an additional 2 deaths from the subsequent gas pipeline explosion during cleanup). The unit and the head-end locomotives involved in the incident (SP 8278, 7549, and 9340) as well as a mixture of 69 D&RGW and SP open hoppers were all damaged beyond repair and scrapped at the site. 
==Trivia==
*SP 7551 was the first unit from the SP portion of the SPSF to retain the SPSF's "Kodachrome" livery.
== Gallery==
* Gallery
Category:Six-axled diesel locomotives
Category:Locomotives
Category:EMD SD45
Category:EMD SD45R
Category:Standard gauge locomotives
Category:Southern Pacific locomotives
Category:American locomotives
Category:Diesel locomotives
Category:Scrapped locomotives
Category:Diesel-electric locomotives
Category:Wrecked trains
Category:EMD locomotives
Category:C-C locomotives
Category:Freight locomotives
Category:Scrapped in 1989
Category:Locomotives Involved in Rail Disasters
Category:Built in 1968
Category:Scrapped diesel locomotives