Athearn Genesis G41179 - HO GE U50 Diesel - DCC & Sound - Southern Pacific #9951

HO GE U50 Diesel - DCC & Sound - Southern Pacific #9951 ETA: July 2023 Detailed Information SP FEATURES: SP Style -Big Hole- Emergency light (Flash function in DCC only) Classification lights (Function in DCC only) Working Truck lights Number board lights MU hoses Separate see-through air intake grills Due to the increase of better highways in the 1950s the trucking industry was beginning to siphon off time sensitive traffic from the railroads. Consequently, in the late 1950s the Southern Pacific and the Union Pacific railroads were seeking ways to increase the horsepower of their locomotives to help improve train speeds without having to add more locomotives to their trains. The SP was striving to improve transit times on their Sunset Route freights and was utilizing large groups of lower horsepower locomotives to do so. One method to achieve these goals was to mount two complete prime movers on one chassis. UP asked the 3 major locomotive builders at that time to submit proposals using this concept. In response, General Electric created their 5,000-horsepower U50 model, a design which utilized two 2500-horsepower prime movers. SP decided to give 3 of them a try, receiving them in the summer of 1964, but chose not to order any others. They spent most their early service lives working on SPs Sunset Route and ended their SP careers in the 1970s working in drag freight service in the Los Angeles Basin in California. All three were scrapped by 1979. U50 SERIES LOCOMOTIVE FEATURES: Illuminated truck lights Illuminated classification lights Illuminated number boards See-through air intakes 4-cube speakers Minimum radius: 18inch Recommended radius: 22inch GENESIS DIESEL LOCOMOTIVE FEATURES: Coupler cut levers MU hoses Trainline hose See-through cab windows Full cab interior Walkway tread Windshield wipers Wire grab irons DCC-ready features Quick Plug plug-and-play technology with 21-pin NEM connector Fine-scale Celcon handrails for scale appearance Detailed fuel tank with fuel fillers, fuel gauges, breather pipes, and retention tanks Body-mounted McHenry operating scale knuckle couplers Genesis driveline with 5-pole skew wound motor, precision machined flywheels, and multi-link drivetrain for trouble free operation All-wheel drive with precision gears for smooth and quiet operation All-wheel electrical pickup provides reliable current flow Wheels with RP25 contours operate on all popular brands of track LED Lighting for trouble free operation Heavy die-cast frame for greater traction and more pulling power Scaled from prototype resources including drawings, field measurements, photographs, and more Accurately-painted and printed paint schemes Fully-assembled and ready-to-run Packaging securely holds the model for safe storage SOUND-EQUIPPED MODELS ALSO FEATURE Onboard DCC decoder with SoundTraxx Tsunami2 sound Four cube speakers for optimal sound quality Sound units operate in both DC and DCC Full DCC functions available when operated in DCC mode Engine, horn, and bell sounds work in DC All functions NMRA compatible in DCC mode Precision slow speed control Program a multiple unit (MU) lash up with lead unit only horn, bell, and lights Many functions can be altered via Configuration Value (CV) changes CV chart included in the box