Nickel Plate Road ordered twenty SD9 units in 1957, for use in the coalfields of the Nickel Plate's Wheeling District. These units were built without dynamic brakes, an unusual feature for the original service for which they were intended. After the NW merger, they continued to toil in the coalfields until the first of many new assigns took place. The first was to switching service at Bellevue, Ohio. Then they headed south to the coal piers of Norfolk, VA. After retired from service, the SD9s were eventially reassigned to yard service or in storage at Bellevue, Ohio.
