FM H-20-44

File:Galveston Railroad Museum March 2022 15 (Union Pacific Railroad FM H-20-44 No. 410).jpg

Union Pacific FM H-20-44 No. 410 at the Galveston Railroad Museum

The FM H-20-44 was a diesel locomotive manufactured by Fairbanks-Morse from June 1947 – March 1954. It represented the company's first foray into the road switcher market. The , ten-cylinder opposed piston engine locomotive was referred to by F-M's engineering department as the "Heavy Duty" unit. It was configured in a B-B wheel arrangement mounted atop a pair of two-axle AAR Type-B road trucks with all axles powered. H-20-44s shared the same platform and much of the same carbody as the lighter-duty FM H-15-44, which began its production run three months later.

In the same manner as other F-M switcher models, the H-20-44 started out displaying a variety of Raymond Loewy-inspired contours, only to have the majority of these superfluous trim features stripped from the last few units built as a cost-cutting measure. Only 96 units were built for American railroads, as few firms saw sufficient value in moving freight in greater quantities or at a higher speeds than was possible with the typical 1,500 and four-axle road switchers of the era. Also limiting the model's utility as a true road unit was its lack of a short hood, which the (ironically) lighter-duty H-15-44 did have. Three intact examples of the H-20-44 are known to survive today; all are preserved at railroad museums. These were former Southwest Portland Cement units donated in the early 1980s.

A six axle version for better traction was catalogued, but no orders were placed, and no demos were built.

Units produced

Railroad	Quantity	Road numbers	Notes
Akron, Canton and Youngstown Railroad	6	500–505	500 sold to Southwest Portland Cement in the 1960s. Donated to the Galveston Railroad Museum in 1984 and repainted as "Union Pacific 410"
Fairbanks-Morse (demonstrator units)	1	2000	Serial number #L1032; sold to the UP later in 1947 and assigned #DS1366. Sold to Southwest Portland Cement in 1963 and renumbered 409. Donated to the Illinois Railway Museum in 1984. Still in SWPC paint.
New York Central Railroad	19	7100–7118
Pennsylvania Railroad	38	8917–8942, 9300–9311	#8931 and #8939 to Penn Central #7731 and #7739 in 1968, retired August 1970
Pittsburgh and West Virginia Railway	22	50–71
Union Pacific Railroad	10	DS1360–DS1365, DS1367–DS1370	DS 1369 sold to Southwest Portland Cement in 1962 and renumbered 69. Donated to the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum in 1984. Repainted back to UP colors in 1998.
	96

External links

• Fairbanks-Morse H20-44 Roster
• Preserved Fairbanks Morse Four-Axle Road Switchers
• PSRMA's History of UP 1369 — photo and short history of the second unit built, one of the three surviving FM H-20-44s.