Central Of Georgia LEGACY H-15-44 #102

Fairbanks Morse introduced their 1500horsepower road switcher in 1947,contracting Raymond Loewy to designthe carbody. The locomotives balanceda functional design with a little bit ofstyle and flair. Befitting their style, manywere equipped for passenger service,although most were quickly relegated tofreights. After just a few years of productionand some improvements in the primemover, the locomotive was upgraded to1600 horses. There were no major changesin the overall body of the locomotivebetween the H-15-44 and early H-16-44s,though the majority of the latter were builtwith FM’s C-Liner style truck as opposed toAAR trucks on the original model.Over the years ahead, railroadswould make modifications and smallerdifferences in screen and vent styles andlocations appeared in both models. Themost common change, during or afterconstruction in later years included movingthe safety railings from the hood bodyto the outside of the frame. It did little tohelp Loewy’s look, but safety came first.Some railroads experimented with reenginingthe locomotives as well, but mostwere in scrap lines by the early 1960s.Based on our H-16-44, we have madesome tooling and truck modifications tobackdate our models. Why? Some ofthese paint schemes were just too goodto resist! In these striking liveries, theH-15-44 will look great on the point of asmall passenger or freight consist. Perfectpower for smaller roads or just adding atouch of style to your fleet of “look-alike”GP7s, an H-15-44 will be a standout on anyroster.