2022 RailKing O Gauge MP15 Diesel Locomotives Announced

April 12, 2022 - M.T.H. Electric Trains will be releasing the RailKing O Gauge MP15 diesel locomotive in five select liveries in 2022. Each of these unique schemes will be available in limited production quantities and will begin shipping to M.T.H. Authorized Retailers in September 2022.

Check out each of the schemes in the list on the left.

CUSTOM RUN MP15 DIESEL LOCOMOTIVE OFFERINGS

In addition to the M.T.H. releases, you can find all the 2022 Custom Run models of the RailKing MP15 Diesel Locomotives that M.T.H. is producing for M.T.H. Authorized Retailers by going HERE.

PROTOTYPE HISTORY

The MP15 was the last in a line of EMD end-cab switchers that stretched back to the prewar SW1. By the time the MP15 debuted in 1974, the multipurpose road switcher, descended from the Alco RS-series and the EMD GP7, had become the universal locomotive. The cab unit was already a dinosaur and the single-purpose yard engine was rapidly headed for extinction. To create a more versatile switcher, EMD gave the MP15 a longer frame than its predecessor, the SW1500, in order to fit it with the same Blomberg trucks as a road engine. Those better-riding trucks, along with more weight, a larger fuel capacity, and bigger sandboxes, made the MP15 suitable for road duty as well as switching, and allowed EMD to sell more than 500 units before the last MP15 was delivered in 1987.

The MP15 came in two flavors, traditional and modern. The MP15DC used traditional electrical gear and shared the front-mounted radiator and air intakes that had characterized all previous EMD end-cab switchers. It was basically a beefed-up SW1500. The MP15AC, however, incorporated EMD's Dash 2 technology, with solid-state transistors and circuit boards replacing the wiring, switches, and relays found in earlier diesels. Its cooling system was borrowed from the "Tunnel Motors" EMD had created for the Southern Pacific.

The front of the hood was plain, like the rear of a Tunnel Motor, and the radiator air intakes were moved to the sides of the hood, low and at the front of the engine. Not surprisingly, the Southern Pacific was the first customer to order an MP15AC. Because the Dash 2 technology was relatively new and some railroads found it unnecessarily expensive for a lowly switcher, EMD continued to make both the DC and AC versions of the MP15 for most of its production run, and sales for the two models were about equal.

Check out each of the schemes in the list on the left.