N Kato Norfolk Southern #7300 SD70ACu w/Pre-Installed DCC 176-8560-D

Prototype Information:

In many ways, the SD70ACU is a modified SD90MAC. The SD90MAC struggled to find a place on US and Canadian Railroads in the 90s. While Union Pacific and Canadian Pacific purchased many of these engines – smaller railroads felt alienated from the gigantic prime movers which limited the SD90MAC’s operational use.  In 2016 Norfolk Southern decided to convert several SD90MACs to SD70ACUs, the Siemens tech was swapped with Mitsubishi components, and the cab was replaced with the SD70ACe’s cab.

Canadian Pacific decided to rebuild their collection of SD90MACs as well. However instead of going to Norfolk Southern to rebuild these engines, they reached out to Progress Rail instead. 60 ACUs were delivered in 2019, and this order contained several heritage units. These special heritage units were used to commemorate different branches of the US and Canadian Army.

Model Information:

Kato’s new SD70ACu model accurately represents the six-axle diesel locomotives operated by Canadian Pacific and Norfolk Southern. Designed with road-specific details, these models feature appropriate headlight placements—nose-mounted headlights for Canadian Pacific and cab-mounted headlights for Norfolk Southern. Each locomotive showcases the distinctive paint schemes of the Canadian Pacific Heritage Fleet, meticulously reproduced in N scale. Developed from the ground up with all-new tooling, this release marks the most modern N scale diesel locomotive in Kato’s lineup.