The Fairbanks-Morse H15-44 loco is a 1500 h.p. loco that was produced from 1947 to 1950. In 1950 it changed to a 1600 h.p loco and was produced as the H16-44 until 1954. In both cases, an 8-cylinder opposed-piston engine was used. Two pistons faced each other in the same cylinder, pushing two crankshafts: one at the bottom of the engine, the other at the top. The pre-1950 H15s all had Westinghouse electrical equipment. With the H16s, the customer had a choice between Westinghouse or GE electrical equipment.

This Atlas N-scale model was designed with a decoder in mind. This model has the normal front and rear lighting, and also has front and rear markers that change between green and red depending on loco direction of travel. To do this, the headlights are mounted on the underside of the PC board, and two bi-color LEDs are mounted on top of the PC board. Black plastic inserts keep the two lights from mixing.

There is no decoder made for this loco at the time of this writing. However, Atlas is supposed to release a decoder for it (P/N 520099) sometime around the middle of April, 2003. There is no word on pricing at this time.

Digitrax has a decoder (DN163A0) that can be made to work with some modification.

Shipping & Handling is $3.50 for the first decoder, 50¢ for each additional decoder up to a $7.50 maximum. When ordered with other items, S&H is 10% with a $3.50 minimum and $7.50 maximum.

Shipping & Handling is $5.00 for a sound decoder and speaker alone. If ordered with other items S&H is $7.50 for everything.