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Description
Just as the Los Angeles Limited had passed, Challenger #3967 leads a Fast Freight from East Yard in LA to Omaha NE through the Colinas Basin. Like #836, the Challenger was still going strong despite diesels coming into the fold, but was still hauling trains nonetheless. 4 years later, the locomotive would haul the first ever Rocky Mountain Railroad Club Excursion from Cheyenne WY to Denver CO & back which made here well known in the Steam Community. When the first Challengers entered service in 1936, on the UP's main line over the Wasatch Range between Green River and Ogden, the locomotives had problems climbing the steep grades. For most of the route, the maximum grade is 0.82% in either direction, but the climb eastward from Ogden, into the Wasatch Range, reached 1.14%. Hauling a 3,600-short-ton (3,300 t; 3,200-long-ton) freight train demanded double heading and helper operations, and adding and removing helper engines slowed operations. Those limitations prompted the introduction of the Big Boy in 1941, as well as a redesign of the last three orders from 1942 to 1944. Using the experience from the Big Boy, UP chief mechanical engineer, Otto Jabelmann, redesigned the last three orders of Challengers in 1941. The result was a locomotive in working order weighing some 317 short tons (288 t; 283 long tons) accompanied by a tender weighing 174 short tons (158 t; 155 long tons) when 2/3 loaded. Calculated tractive effort is 97,350 lbf (433.0 kN). From 1941, the Challengers were intended to speed up freight operations on the grades across Wyoming; the Wasatch Range climb east from Ogden was to be conquered by the Big Boys without helpers. Of the 105 Challengers built for Union Pacific, Only #3977 & #3985 made it into preservation. In Omaha, the Challenger would interchange the consist with Milwaukee Road for the trip to Chicago.

evangaines 2024
TRS22
New River Train Productions

Description
Just as the Los Angeles Limited had passed, Challenger #3967 leads a Fast Freight from East Yard in LA to Omaha NE through the Colinas Basin. Like #836, the Challenger was still going strong despite diesels coming into the fold, but was still hauling trains nonetheless. 4 years later, the locomotive would haul the first ever Rocky Mountain Railroad Club Excursion from Cheyenne WY to Denver CO & back which made here well known in the Steam Community. When the first Challengers entered service in 1936, on the UP's main line over the Wasatch Range between Green River and Ogden, the locomotives had problems climbing the steep grades. For most of the route, the maximum grade is 0.82% in either direction, but the climb eastward from Ogden, into the Wasatch Range, reached 1.14%. Hauling a 3,600-short-ton (3,300 t; 3,200-long-ton) freight train demanded double heading and helper operations, and adding and removing helper engines slowed operations. Those limitations prompted the introduction of the Big Boy in 1941, as well as a redesign of the last three orders from 1942 to 1944. Using the experience from the Big Boy, UP chief mechanical engineer, Otto Jabelmann, redesigned the last three orders of Challengers in 1941. The result was a locomotive in working order weighing some 317 short tons (288 t; 283 long tons) accompanied by a tender weighing 174 short tons (158 t; 155 long tons) when 2/3 loaded. Calculated tractive effort is 97,350 lbf (433.0 kN). From 1941, the Challengers were intended to speed up freight operations on the grades across Wyoming; the Wasatch Range climb east from Ogden was to be conquered by the Big Boys without helpers. Of the 105 Challengers built for Union Pacific, Only #3977 & #3985 made it into preservation. In Omaha, the Challenger would interchange the consist with Milwaukee Road for the trip to Chicago.

evangaines 2024
TRS22
New River Train Productions