I am not a big eBay’er but you can’t beat it when you are looking for out of production MRR stuff. Last week I found, bid on and won an Atlas locomotive PT#9539 F-M H15-44 AC&Y #200. New in the box. And at an attractive price. This part number is nowhere to be found at retailers, internet or brick-n-mortar. It sold out long ago. According to the ACYHS web site, #200 was the lone H15-44 on the AC&Y roster. And now I have it in HO!
| Number | Builder | Model | Year Blt. | Year Acquired |
Year Retired |
| Class D-1 1600 HP Fairbanks-Morse (except No. 200 at 1500 HP) | ||||||
| 200 | F-M | H15-44 | 1949 | 1949 | 1969 | |
| 201 | F-M | H16-44 | 1951 | 1951 | 1969 | |
| 202 | F-M | H16-44 | 1951 | 1951 | 1969 | |
| 203 | F-M | H16-44 | 1951 | 1951 | 1968 | |
| 204 | F-M | H16-44 | 1954 | 1954 | 1970 | |
| 205 | F-M | H16-44 | 1954 | 1954 | 1970 | |
| 206 | F-M | H16-44 | 1954 | 1954 | 1970 | |
| 207 | F-M | H16-44 | 1955 | 1955 | 1970 | |
| 208 | F-M | H16-44 | 1957 | 1957 | 1969 | |
Excerpt from ACYHS.org diesel roster listing. Complete list here.
All of the other 20_ numbered F-M locomotives were the higher horsepower H16-44’s. I have collected almost enough Atlas H16-44’s to have locomotive numbers 201-208. They are supplied from Atlas in road numbers 201 & 202 only but that isn’t a problem. After a little cosmetic renumbering and the appropriate CV set on the program track everything will be fine. The number boards are small but they will be changed too if I can hold my hand steady enough. Here is a review of the Atlas H15/16-44 models written when they were released in 2003.
Now if only one of the model companies offered F-M H20-44 locomotives. I can’t seem to find a trace of these ever being made. As units 500-508 they were the most powerful diesels in the AC&Y fleet. Their absence from the layout will be blatantly obvious to those familiar with the prototype. Who knows, when the time comes I may try my hand at scratch building one! For now I am happy as can be that I have going quite a collection of yellow locomotives.
