MTH - RailKing Scale Diesel Locomotives - O Scale 3 Rail

SW1500  

EMD, famous for its successful production of quality locomotives, hit the target once again when the company introduced the SW1500 and its cousin the SW1000 on January 1, 1966. These locomotives were the latest in the SW line of switchers that had been tremendously popular since the mid-1930s. Under their hoods throbbed EMD's new 645E prime mover; the SW1500 sported a 12-cylinder version that developed 1500 hp. The list of optional equipment for the SW1500 - which included a larger fuel tank, smoother-riding trucks, and ballasting to add weight - suggests that EMD expected the locomotive to be used as a true road switcher. Many railroads did just that.

Returning to the RailKing Scale line for 2016, our SW1500 has everything you'd want in a yard switcher or road switcher: front and rear remote Proto- Couplers, smooth performance at any speed down to 3 scale miles per hour, dual-motor power, and authentic EMD sounds.

GP-20 

In the late `50s, railroads were looking for units with high-horsepower output. General Electric and Alco obliged by releasing units with 2,400 and 2,500-h.p. capability. General Motor's Electro-Motive Division, at first, was reluctant to chime in. They figured that turbocharging their 567 engine would drive up maintenance costs, and that was to be avoided. Yet, in 1959, EMD outshopped the GP20, a 16-cylinder, 2,000-h.p. road switcher, with its turbocharged 567D2 engine.

FM H10-44 

Fairbanks Morse got into the locomotive business through submarine engines. FM's unique opposed-piston diesel engine powered about half the U.S. Navy's World War II submarine fleet and developed a great reputation for reliability; the adaptation to railroad equipment during and after the war seemed like a natural transition.

Dash-8 

In the late 1980s, as General Electric and General Motors' Electro-Motive Division engaged in heated competition (that continues today) for market share in the high horsepower category, GE announced its Dash 8 line of diesel locomotives. Although the first demonstrator version had only 3,200 hp, most of the Dash 8s had 4,000 hp when delivered and were therefore designated Dash 8-40. Because GE builds its diesel locomotives in five modules, it was able to customize its Dash 8s for each buyer to an unusual degree.

F-3 ABA 

When the prototype railroads began to dieselize in the 1940s, model train manufacturers soon followed, recognizing that boys wanted models of the newest trains they were seeing on real railroads. One of the initial toy train forays into dieseldom was a Lionel replica of the best-selling diesel of the day, the F3 "covered wagon" made by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors.