U.P bigboys/challengers


GN.2-6-8-0

GN.2-6-8-0

Member
O.k need to stir the pot.
just what is it that enthrall's guys about these locomotives' I mean like its not as if they were the only articulateds ever built.
I have 10 or 12 articulates and not one are BBs or challengers' yes their good looking engines but other than that not really that special what's the appeal?
Just curious....
 
Different strokes for different folks.

Pun not intended ;)

Some people like Ford, some people like Chevy. Any example someone gives as an attraction to the UP locomotives, someone else will say is either a detraction or exists in another locomotive.

Maybe the only thing that can't be argued is the region in which they ran. UP was pretty wide spread and there weren't many alternatives to watch so it's what they grew up with. Or it was the first massive steamer they saw. I like Challengers because I've seen one operate in person. I've never seen the others operate - actually don't know that I've seen any of them in person on display.

UP went unchallenged for railroad fans in huge portions of the country, and now has several Big Boys on display throughout the country. I don't even know if this is true for others because I never hear about it.
 
Big Boys and Challengers were the biggest, most visible locomotives on the biggest, most visible railroad of the time.
 
For me, I like a lot of different articulated's. BB and challengers happen to be the most accessible in my scale. Couple that with the fact I can get some other large, and very distinct locomotives to run with them and I tend to stick with U.P. I've recently owned almost all of the articulated loco's released in plastic over the last 10 years. It is extremely hard to model all of them and have prototypical rolling stock for each road name.
Finally, I think the 50+ years of P.R. by the Union Pacific has engrained itself into my head. I love Allegheny's, and EM-1's, and Yellowstone's. My "unicorn" is a S.P. AC-9 but until someone makes a nice one then I really enjoy my BB's and Challengers. And enjoyment is #1!
 
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From a prototype view, the BigBoys and Challengers were fast articulated locomotives. Prior the them, most articulated were slow but powerful - designed to haul a lot up steep grades and around tight turns. UP needed/wanted big locomotives that could handle the turns and hills of their territory with pulling power and speed. Challengers and BigBoys did that.

The Allegheny was bigger and more powerful than the BigBoy but it was not built for speed.
 
Tuna said:
From a prototype view, the BigBoys and Challengers were fast articulated locomotives. Prior the them, most articulated were slow but powerful - designed to haul a lot up steep grades and around tight turns. UP needed/wanted big locomotives that could handle the turns and hills of their territory with pulling power and speed. Challengers and BigBoys did that.

The Allegheny was bigger and more powerful than the BigBoy but it was not built for speed.
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The H-8 had about 9K pounds total engine weight on the Big Boy, but the Big Boy had 32K pounds more on its drivers and produced more tractive effort. Big Boy was also a lot longer, so a larger engine.

The H-8 hauled troop trains at speed during WW II, and with its 67" drivers, it was intended to be the equivalent of a Challenger or better. For whatever reason, the C & O decided to relegate it mostly to coal drag service.
 
Selector said:
The H-8 had about 9K pounds total engine weight on the Big Boy, but the Big Boy had 32K pounds more on its drivers and produced more tractive effort. Big Boy was also a lot longer, so a larger engine.

The H-8 hauled troop trains at speed during WW II, and with its 67" drivers, it was intended to be the equivalent of a Challenger or better. For whatever reason, the C & O decided to relegate it mostly to coal drag service.
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If the H8 was supposed to be equivalent to the challenger then how did it stack up to it? Maybe comparing it to the BB is unfair. :p
 
irocinblue89 said:
If the H8 was supposed to be equivalent to the challenger then how did it stack up to it? Maybe comparing it to the BB is unfair. :p
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Yes, the H-8 was closer to the Challenger in its tractive effort than it was to the Big Boy. For the Allegheny, it was 110K lbs. For the Challenger and Big Boy respectively, 97K and 135K.
 
Selector said:
The H-8 had about 9K pounds total engine weight on the Big Boy, but the Big Boy had 32K pounds more on its drivers and produced more tractive effort. Big Boy was also a lot longer, so a larger engine.

The H-8 hauled troop trains at speed during WW II, and with its 67" drivers, it was intended to be the equivalent of a Challenger or better. For whatever reason, the C & O decided to relegate it mostly to coal drag service.
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I remember one reason was the H8 had some solid bearings instead of roller bearings, and retrofitting them would have been $$$. Also, their sheer size and weight kept them away from much express service.
AS for their weight, I remember lawsuits flying around about how heavy they were. Lima finally settled with C&O about it, with large amounts of cash changing hands.
 
bnsf971 said:
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AS for their weight, I remember lawsuits flying around about how heavy they were. Lima finally settled with C&O about it, with large amounts of cash changing hands.
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The H8 were built during the steel restrictions of WWII, and not only did Lima pay money to the C&O, but also to the War Production Board and a few others as well. I may be wrong, but, I believe this led directly to Lima having to merge with someone after the war to try to stay afloat. The result was B-L-H. And as we all know they didn't last long either.
 
I think I've seen more movies of Challengers and BB's than other articulateds, many of them showing them "at speed". They are simply neat behemouths of steam locomotives, and when they are viewed as they negotiate curves, they are pretty neat! As was said, the bigger units, many compound (Mallet's), but they were primarily used in heavy drag or helper service. For those of us who have pretty tight radius curves (18"), model articulateds, other than loggers, aren't too practicable. Fortunately for me, I model the Burlington, and they didn't use that many articulateds.
 
They had 3 to be exact class's T1 and T2 they were 2-6-6-2s and as you said being a flatland road the Q really had little use for them and they were not around long.
 
Actually, I think (without consulting my references) they had a few of the T-1's inherited from the Great Northern, a few T-2's and one, lone T-3, a 2-8-8-2 Mallet. In the early 20th Century these were mostly used in the Black Hills area. Most either wound up under the cutting torch, although IIRC, the T-3 wound up as a switcher in a hump yard before succumbing to the cutting torch. The Q's big bruisers were fixed-frame 2-10-2's, 2-10-4's for drag service, and their big O-5 4-8-4's for high-speed freight and passenger service.
 
It it just drives me bugs when people come up to me when I'll have one of my mallets on the layout and first words out of their mouth is.......Is that a bigboy? Tell'em no its a 2-6-6-2 or no its a 2-8-8--2 or no its 2-6-6-4
Finally lost it one day when I had my signature GN. 2-6-8-0 with the big great northern goat on the tender side getting ready to to pull out of the yard when this fella walked up looked her over real close and asked that a big boy?,...........turned looked at him and said......Yep!!
 
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GN.2-6-8-0 said:
It it just drives me bugs when people come up to me when I'll have one of my mallets on the layout and first words out of their mouth is.......Is that a bigboy? Tell'em no its a 2-6-6-2 or no its a 2-8-8--2 or no its 2-6-6-4
Finally lost it one day when I had my signature GN. 2-6-8-0 with the big great northern goat on the tender side getting ready to to pull out of the yard when this fella walked up looked her over real close and asked that a big boy?,...........turned looked at him and said......Yep!!
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YEP! It's a big locomotive! LOL
 
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