Portland and Western 1501

Portland and Western 1501 was constructed in November of 1952 and it was delivered to the Southern Pacific Transportation Company that same year in 1952.[2] It was the Southern Pacific’s second EMD SD7 unit that was ever built, it began its life as Southern Pacific SD7 #5280.

In 1965, it was renumbered to 2701 under the Southern Pacific's 1965 renumbering scheme, and then renumbered again to 1401.[2]

It was then rebuilt into an EMD SD7R and renumbered to #1530 and was updated with the addition of a huge mars barrel signal light being mounted on it.[2] After being rebuilt with some upgrades, Southern Pacific 1530 served mostly within the California area throughout most of its days with the Southern Pacific.[2]

Southern Pacific 1530 was later retired from active service in 1995 and was later donated to the Willamette and Pacific Railroad (W&P) and renumbered by the W&P as #1501.[2] When the Willamette and Pacific Railroad had become part of the Portland and Western Railroad (PNWR), #1501 retained its current number and was given some cosmetic work by painting the PNWR logo on the locomotive and re-lettering it with PNWR lettering before entering service on the Portland and Western Railroad specifically for yard use,[3] #1501 retained its scarlet and gray paint and functional oscillating gyralite during its service on the Portland and Western Railroad.[2]

The locomotive was officially retired from active service on the Portland and Western Railroad on July 19th, 2023.[4][5] After that, it was later sidelined along with PNWR locomotives #1801, #1803, #1852, #1854 due to Genesee and Wyoming's EPA scandal.[5][6] But surprisingly, #1501 was eventually acquired by Dieselmotive Company, Inc. (BUGX) in September 2023 and has been sold to the Oklahoma Railway Museum as of October 2023.[1]