BNSF971 aka Terry, Terry, bravely drove the circuitous mountain roads to get to Big Bear Lake, Ca., home of the H.P. Railroad. He brought two guests with him from the land of Athearn, two Union Pacific stoves the Big Boy and the Challenger. The challenge was on and we stood by waiting to see how well they'd performed on the grades of the H.P. Rails. All I can say is WOW! Did they pull? Did they pull! Double headed they managed a 40 car train of Terry's, Micro Train 40 ft., box cars and one caboose. Had we of been brave we might of added more cars. They both performed well despite my track conditions. The Challenger, managed to pull a 30 car train and the Big Boy, managed the same train with little or no difficulty. Finally, steamers that make the pull. Steve stopped in to visit. He and I were amazed at the pulling action. I tried to take pictures but they didn't turn out very well. I will share a few with you. Proof they made the pull. I didn't get to show off my Bachmann Northern but you know I didn't miss running her at all. :thumbs_up: for the Athearn Stoves, seems to me, they did them right.wink:
Photos and Proof Two features I was impressed with the sound and the wireless remote control. The sound was as close as I've ever heard, to the actual locomotives. Whistle, bell, the waving fireman and the conductor running along side signaling for an emergency stop was just amazing. Never mind the brakeman on the back of the tender with a big grin. Yep, you're right I'm stretching it a bit. Not about the sound, as it was amazing and it seemed to match the difficulty the locomotive was having making the pull. Not that it was having difficulty...not really. Terry, Steve and I had loads of fun. You should of seen three of us trying to squeeze ourselves into the train shed. Two of us on the portly side and one on a diet. Terry lucked out as he fits right into the train shed. Not a lot of room but we managed. To Terry, Thanks for trusting my layout and taking a risk to run your stoves. You are welcome back anytime. Soon...I hope! If I didn't seem energetic at the end of the day. I wasn't, I tire easily anymore but oh the fun we had. Worth a Nitro or two and the severe headache that follows. For SURE! Here we go with the pictures.
I recently tested one of the Athearn Challengers on my layout. I was also rather impressed with the 4-6-6-4's ability to pull cars up a grade. It even managed to pull 40 cars (most of the time) up "Deadman's Curve", a 2% grade on a 20" radius. My only complaint is that the locomotive is a little light on its feet like most N scale steamers. The entire locomotive comes in at less than 8 ounces - including the tender! I was kind of surprised, especially since the five-axle truck on the tender appears to be diecast. It also looks like the forward-most and aft-most driving wheels have traction tires. This engine would be a real "Challenger" if it had a diecast boiler. :mrolleyes: Overall, very impressive. Almost makes me want to switch to all-steam. Except for the fact that my ABBA sets of FT's walk up the same curve with 65+ 40' cars (that's the length of my longest yard track). So it now looks like Athearn has joined Bachmann in making steam worth talking about. Keep it up! (Now, about that Berkshire...)
HEADLINE NEWS Tex, That be my take as well. The following is a mountain man's perspective ok, a desert rat. One of the things I hear (all to often), is some flat lander spoutting off how many cars a locomotive will pull on the flat. That's no contest. Now we mountain types, men and woman know that's no contest. Put that same locomotive and train cars on a grade and see what happens...the real test of a stove. This is where the valley sheep are separated from the mountain goats. Another of way of saying the same thing. This is where the valley boys and girls are separated from the mountain men and woman. Grin! Terry's locomotives, met the test and walked away pulling more freight cars then my single diesels. The rule is 10 cars per a four axle diesel. For fun Terry put the same number of freight cars as pulled independently by the Challenger and Big Boy, in behind an AB set of Bloody Nose, SP, Intermountain F7's. The two of them headed up the helix and stalled. I sent out helpers in the form of an AB set of SSW, FT's in Black Widow livery and together they did the job. The job of one Challenger or Big Boy. Now think about it... this is a distinct turn around in the stove department. This should of been HEADLINE NEWS ...if you get my drift. Most of my 4 axle diesels will pull ten cars each up my 2+% grades. The visiting stoves (locomotives) walked away with 10 cars, times 3 or a total of 30. Simple math but I ran out of finger toes, ear lobes, knees and elbows. Grin! Awesome, just plain O.D. AWESOME! I haven't heard from Terry yet, as to how he survived the visit but I'm sure that grin, he left with, as he pulled out of here, will take a while to fall away. Of course by the time you get down off this rugged mountain, you are most likely cussing and swareing at the flat landers, who don't have any idea how to drive the mountain. Spending all their energies riding the brake. You might beat me on the flat and straight but I will beat you in the curves. My layout is suffering from the environment it is in and the weather is taking it's toll. Despite some irregularities in my track work these BRUTES, this pair of hard pulling STOVES did the job and met the CHALLENGE! Their owner and STOVES are to be complimented and they are welcome back anytime. We bestow upon Terry, the title of Honorary Mountain Man. AWESOME!
I just picked up one of each myself. I will be putting them through thier paces this weekend at the Belmont Shore open house. I can't wait-! They will be dragging around about 50 cars.
SP Wolf, Think about it. For the flats that's impressive. A real turn around in the world of hard working stoves.
Well, the BSL RR is not flat. It has a few grades. They are nice and long. This ought to be fun. Coming down from the mountain-???:tb-wink:
SP Wolf, How about that? I may have missed it somewhere but I haven't seen any reports with regards to the pulling abilities of Athearn's, Challenger and Big Boy. Perhaps information on the flats but that doesn't help me. I need to know what it will do on various grades. I don't mean to jump in here ahead of Terry to report this.. After all he literally owns the bragging rights. I felt others with similar layouts might have a right and need to know. Now I have a better understanding. Nice very nice.
I just bought two of the Challengers in the Clinchfield version, one decorated and one undec. I have ran them on my layout and they did fine on my 2% grade with a modest train. Most of my cars are still packed up, so I can't see just how many they will handle. I am in the process of detailing them for NP and SP&S. The tenders are like the ones used on the NP & SP&S Z8s. I have stripped the one, boy, the lettering must have been welded on! Took a lot of time and effort to remove it. I am moving the number boards to next to the stack, changing the pilot to a solid one, and installing air pumps on the front of the boiler. I am not a rivet counter, so as long as they give the overall impression of the Z8s, that's fine with me. I'll try to post some pics soon. These are really nice locos and it will be great to have them in my favorite roads (too bad GN didn't have any - they bought two Z6s from SP&S and then sold them back). John
The Challenger and Big Boy both pull better after some run-time, as the blackening on the wheels is pretty slippery. The steepest grade on my home layout is .5%, just enough to keep it from looking like a tabletop. The layout was built with steam in mind, back in the 1980's, and was completed circa 1991, back when N scale steam wouldn't usually pull itself up a hill, much less any revenue equipment. So, with that in mind, the big engines usually don't get much of a workout at home. They did on Rick's layout, and Rick and Steve were able to railfan a bit while I kept things moving. The engines returned from their high-altitude testing none the worse for wear, and Rick may be thinking about expanding his steam fleet in the future. And yes, I did notice everybody rides their brakes all the way down the mountain, it drove me nuts, being from the moiuntains myself. Maybe I can open a "Brakes R Us" franchise at the bottom...
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Closeup View OF UP "Challenger" Near The Turntable [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]A closeup view of UP "Challenger" #3977 as it approaches the Turntable.[/FONT]
Terry, Glad you made it to the bottom safely. You have some amazing stoves and yes I'm already saving up my Dr. Pepper money to buy a stove or two. Yep, these mountain roads can give one a upper body and lower extremities work out. Bob, I can't get enough of your photos. Your stoves would look good running on my layout. So, when can I talk you into coming out and visit? Awesome just awesome!
Rick, As far as pulling power, there are reports of 100+ car trains behind a Big Boy on N-trak layouts. I've run a Challenger on N-trak with combination of about 25 lightweight and heavyweight passenger cars with a couple express boxcars in front. I have an Undec Challenger that is currently running around the test loop when I am in the office for background noise. Soon as I can find evidence or a photo of which Challenger my wifes grandfarther was the engineer on, it will be molded for that one. On that note, he was the engineer on the first UP articulated steam into Seattle and the last articulated steam out. Anybody have any history that might help me in the search? We were supposed to have all his log books but they have gotten lost between the relatives.
Tony, My granddad's log books and rule books had to be turned in when he retired. The one book I treasured I made the mistake of showing to a Santa Fe official and he removed the part I treasured and wanted most. After removing the signature page and other notations he then returned it to me. Grrrr! Anyway, yes if you contact Dave Dodds at <wp805a@aol.com>, he is a lead member of one of the local UP historical societies. Tell him I suggested you contact him. He can help you. Don't we all wish, we could have set in the seat behind your granddad, as he took charge of that mighty horse. Yep!
I have been working on my Athearn Challenger. I stripped the Clinchfield lettering and repainted it. It is now partially lettered for NP. I have moved the numberboards, and installed air pumps on the front of the boiler. I still have to install new marker lights and pilot, and finish the decals. Here is a picture. John
I have a undecorated challenger in the clinchfield mode and i like it a lot it runs and sounds very good.
John, You have one awesome looking stove. Wiking, Do you have any pictures? Let me guess you have this baby running around on your curves...right? How cool is that? Let the fun begin!
