Atlas N 40005551 DCC Sound Southern Railway FM H16-44 Diesel Locomotive Freight

In the late 1940s, the design team at Fairbanks-Morse set out to develop an 8-cylinder 1,500 horsepower all-purpose road switcher using their opposed-piston diesel engine design. By September 1947, FM had produced the first H15-44 locomotive in the form of Demonstrator FM 1500. The heed-unit style body included distinctive features such as slightly sloped ends, rounded corners, oval cab-side windows and a raised, rounded headlight base on each end. The first purchaser of the H15-44 was Monon, who quickly bought both the demonstrator and the second unit built in December 1947. Three units were then built for Rio Grande before additional demonstrators were produced later in 1948.

Before production ended in mid-1949, a total of 35 units had been built with Jersey Central owning the most units at 14 total. Dual mode DC and DCC operation. Decoder follows all NMRA DCC standards and recommended practices. Decoder supports all DCC programming modes. Flexible mapping of unction keys F0 to F31. Over 20 sound effects available including engine start-up and shutdown, prime mover sounds through all eight notches, bell, air horn, compressor and more.