Athearn #ATHG74530 HO EMD MP15AC, Standard DC, CSX #1161

Athearn #ATHG74530 HO EMD MP15AC, Standard DC, CSX #1161

Product Details
CSX FEATURES: 
Early YN3 repaints
Operating front and rear ditch lights
Timken bearing caps
Horn style per road number
CSX operates a large group of MP15ACs of L&N and SCL heritage. Many have been repainted into the "YN3" scheme of dark blue and yellow.

ROAD NUMBER SPECIFIC FEATURES: 
#1161
RV style air conditioner
#1179
Strobe lights
spare coupler knuckles on rear pilot
#1180
CSX angled-style ditch lights on rear
spare coupler knuckles on rear pilot 
LOCOMOTIVE FEATURES: 
Full cab interior
Wire grab irons
Coupler cut levers
See-through cab windows
Flexible rubber trainline hose
Flexible rubber MU hoses
Windshield wipers
Lift rings
Blomberg-B trucks
Sander lines
Directional constant lighting
Walkway Tread
Fine-scale Celcon handrails for scale appearance
Headlight brightness remains constant
Separately applied photo-etched metal and injection molded detail parts
Detailed fuel tank with fuel fillers, fuel gauges, breather pipes  
DCC-ready features Quick Plug™ plug-and-play technology with 21-pin NEM connector
Accurately-painted and –printed paint schemes
McHenry® scale knuckle couplers - Kadee® compatible
Fully-assembled and ready-to-run
Scaled from prototype resources including drawings, field measurements, photographs, and more
Genesis driveline with 5-pole skew wound motor, precision machined flywheels, and multi-link drivetrain
All-wheel drive with precision gears for smooth & quiet operation 
All-wheel electrical pickup provides reliable current flow
Wheels with RP25 contours operate on all popular brands of track 
Heavy die-cast frame for greater traction and more pulling power
Packaging securely holds model for safe storage
Replacement parts available
Minimum radius: 18" 
NEW FEATURES: 
Operating ditch lights (if equipped)
Operating ground lights
Newly designed motor is more powerful and quieter than before
DCC-ready models feature 21-pin plug
DCC & sound models feature Tsunami2 sound with dual cube speakers
SOUND EQUIPPED MODELS ALSO FEATURE
Onboard Tsunami2 DCC/Sound decoder
Dual cube speakers for optimal sound quality
Sound units operate in both DC and DCC
Engine, horn, and bell sounds work in DC
Some functions are limited in DC
All functions NMRA compatible in DCC mode
Excellent low-speed operation
Operating lighting functions with F5 and/or F6 (Flashing ditch lights, beacon, etc)
Program a multiple unit (MU) lashup with lead unit only horn, bell, and lights
Many functions can be altered via Configuration Value (CV) changes
CV chart included in the box
PROTOTYPE SPECIFIC INFORMATION
The EMD MP15 is a light road switcher that was built between 1974 and 1980. It came in two designs, the MP15DC and the MP15AC. It was billed as replacement for the EMD SW1500

The MP15DC's standard Blomberg B trucks were capable of transition and road speeds up to 60 mph (97 km/h), allowing use on road freights. Soon there was a demand for a model with an advanced AC drive system. The MP15AC replaced the MP15DC's DC generator with an alternator producing AC power which is converted to DC for the traction motors with a silicon rectifier. The MP15AC is 1.5 ft (457 mm) longer than an MP15DC, the extra space being needed for the rectifier equipment. The alternator-rectifier combination is more reliable than a generator, and this equipment became the standard for new diesel-electric locomotive designs.

The MP15AC is easily distinguished from the DC models. Instead of the front-mounted radiator intake and belt-driven fan used on all previous EMD switchers, these have intakes on the lower forward nose sides and electric fans. Side intakes allowed the unit to take in cooler air, and the electric fans improved a serious reliability issue found in its earlier DC sisters.

In the early 1970s railroads were starting to convert to AC power, the six largest buyers, Milwaukee (64), Southern Pacific (58), Seaboard Coast Line Railroad (45), Nacionales de México (25), Long Island (23), and Louisville & Nashville (10), were all buying AC road locomotives. 36 more units were sold to 8 other customers. 

This information is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article "EMD MP15AC"; it is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-SA https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:CCBYSA). You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the CC-BY-SA.