I love my new Tsunami equipped Challenger, but its pulling power is a bit disappointing....all I can get is about 15 40' cars behind it up my 2.2 % grades, not a lot for a big engine. Is this the norm and has anyone managed to put more weight in it without major surgery? I'd like to get at least 20 40' cars or 9-10 passenger cars behind it without helpers. For heavier trains, helpers would be appropriate. t Thanks, OttoK.
That doesn't seem right! They are magnificent pullers normally. Have you had it long, and run it in? Are the traction tires there? Very strange.
You might want to check and make sure the tender drawbar spring (inside the tender) isn't missing. Many of the most recent run were delivered without them, resulting in various maladies (one of which, I suppose, could be diminished pulling power). Cheers, -Mark
I think it is a problem with either break-in or a lemon. I have had them pull 100 cars on the level with ease. My friend has pulled 60 cars up a 2% grade with no issues on his layout.
Thanks guys! The culprit was a slipping traction tire, but even with it fixed, I'm still only getting barely 18 40' cars up the 2.2 % grade. I'm interested in hearing from people who actually run these over mountainous territory.... Sharkman, have you actually seen your friends Challenger on grades? Because both of mine are wimps..... ( I have another, from the original run with an MRC decoder, soon to be upgraded to a Tsunami) Otto K.
I just got off the phone with Steve, a fellow model railroader and friend of mine. We were trying to remember how many cars we got in behind one of Terry's Giants, Challenger and Big Boy. My layout has grades that vary from 1.7, 2.0, to 2.2 and 2.5 % gradients. I know we started with 10 freight cars, no problem. Added 10 more, again no problem but from there I have no recall. Both of us were enjoying seeing the stoves run that we didn't pay much attention to how many of Terry's, 40' reefers he actually pulled up the grades. One thing is for sure, whatever Terry had tied in behind these giants, they pulled it. So Terry, if you are still out there do you remember what your stoves pulled that day? A salute to Athearn.
I had to do an oogle google search to find my own answer but here you are. We interrupt this post with an edited add on: Some where and somehow this conversation turned from the Challenger to the Big Boy. The following data is actually about the Big Boy. I believe, all though I didn't document it the Challenger pulled 30 odd freight cars up my 2+% gradients. Back to our originally scheduled program. The Athearn, N Scale, Union Pacific Big Boy, that Terry brought to my layout pulled 30 plus cars up my 2+% grades. A long train for most mountain railroads. If memory serves me correctly we almost achieved 40 cars but had to double the train to get it over the hill. I noted at the time that I thought the sound was realistic and I was impressed with it. Then I watched a video of someone running a N scale, Big Boy, on their front room carpet (a mistake I'd never make, fibers) and thought the recorded sound was pathetic. The problem is there is so much mis-identification of locomotives and sound systems. Thinking here that Mini-Trix built a Big Boy as did Rivarossi. At first glance it is difficult to see the difference. The trouble is, the home made conversions, installation of good and bad decoders will make it difficult to tell which locomotive is the production model. Thinking that what I saw in that video, is most likely a conversion and is not a shopped Athearn model. My pen is my quill and with it I can blow words into the wind, landing where they might, usually ignored or brushed off by those with little respect for other's opinions, other then their own.
don't know how helpful it will be, as I have the original version, no grades N-Trak layout, and passenger cars, but here it is [video=youtube;PaWXzFmlNIA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaWXzFmlNIA[/video] and again original release big boy [video=youtube;FL67K4_80UQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL67K4_80UQ[/video]
Thanks guys! River Eagle, nice videos! I think I can duplicate the Kato passenger cars on flat, it's the grades were having issues with Sharkman, how many is "loads of cars"? Rick, I don't care about the Big Boy....but thanks for trying to help. So, I still have the original question for anyone who has or has access to the Challenger model: how many transition era freight cars can one reasonably expect to pull unassisted up 2.2% grades? Otto K.
