Argh! I don't remember. I have seen footage of this work being done. It's on a commercial video, somewhere in my collection. Shows them dropping in the new oil tank. I want to say it was in the first half of the 1990's? Boxcab E50
If I'm not mistaken, it was converted to burn oil in 1990. The first "long" trip that it made once it was converted was to California (CSRM) for Railfair '91.
I remember some of the other railroads not wanting to let it on their tracks as a coal burner because of the risk of starting fires from the coal cinders. I guess that was not a problem running east where other coal burners were on the rails but west where it was dry a lot.
I think Taz has it: 1990 as I seem to remember the conversion was complete by the time of the run at Railfair 91. John
Thanks guys! I asked, because of the Athearn release in N scale--will it have coal or oil tender? I dunno, but I wanted to find out what era it would be correct for.
Yep...That's the one! :teeth: RJ, I'm not certain of all of the various (quasi-political?) reasons that it was converted to oil but part of the explanation that I heard was that it was "supposed" to be easier to get oil (actually "Heating Oil #5") across the country than it was to get coal. One of the interesting "side effects" of burning oil is that there were no ash/cinders/clinkers to worry about cleaning up and no fire to "bank" (which was probably a real chore with a firebox as large as the Challenger's). A little funny story about the "supposed" to be part of that. During RailFair '91, all of the oil that was burned by the "Big Steamers" (4449, 2472, 844, 3985) was shipped to Sacramento by truck from San Jose (about a 2 1/2 hour drive at the posted speed limit on a good day). I don't remember exactly why it came from San Jose (cost? volume?) but we all thought that it was rather comical to have a truck come that far just to fuel the steamers. Added to that, the UP brought in their own water tank cars (painted in MoW green) that were labeled "Steam Locomotive Water Use Only" that were used to "water" the 844 and the 3985...California was in a "drought period" during the late '80s early '90s. The tank cars were "stored" in UP's (ex-WP) South Sacramento yard and the water was transloaded to a truck for the trip across town. Hemi, the Challengers could be set up to burn either coal or oil. Most the UP's Challenger "oil burners" where in the 3700 series (if I remember correctly) either as "delivered" or once they were converted from coal and most, if not all of them, worked in the Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Washington) or Southern California (although there are stories of "coal burners" occasionally making it into these areas as well, specifically into the L.A. area). If you're interested, there are a couple of websites with a wealth of information on the Challengers owned by the UP and other railroads (such as the D&RGW, WP, NP, SPS, and others). Here's a few links that may be of help... Challengers in general: http://www.steamlocomotive.com/challenger/ UP's Challengers (specific): http://www.steamlocomotive.com/challenger/up.shtml UP's "Greyhound" Challengers: http://www.utahrails.net/up/greyhounds.php Another (real good ) "source" of information on UP Challengers is a book called "The Challenger Locomotives" by William W. Kratville (Kratville Publications, 1980). Despite the original publication date (1980), this book is still available and reasonably priced (under $50.00).
More stories: Back in the mid 1990's when UP was still running a lot of excursions, the local NRHS chapter that I belong to, hosted their trains. We sold tickets to ride and staffed the passenger cars with car hosts and concessions workers. On one trip, they obtained some bad oil in San Antonio. Whatever it was, asphalt, bitumen, crankcase sludge or mystery gunk, did not work very well and they had trouble keeping a good head of steam while pumping out a huge black cloud that could be seen for miles. They eventually had to put a helper on somewhere around Waco to make it to Fort Worth. They were running so far behind schedule that they had a caterer bring on a barbecue diner that they set up buffet style in one of the baggage cars to feed everyone. Another time, Steve Lee was joking with some modelers who wanted to climb up on top of the tender to see where the hatches were located to load the oil after they converted it. They were real rivet counters and wanted their models to be exact. He told them that they move the hatches around after every trip so that it would not really matter.
That certainly sounds like Steve... :angel: I've been around him when some of the "rivet counters" start trying to tell Steve various things about the 844 (or the 3985) specificly related to the "whos", "hows", and other pieces of information (things like "The rods on this engine aren't original", etc., etc., etc.). The reaction is...Let's just say..."Interesting"... :teeth:
I seem to recall a photo in a Railfan magazine prior to the coal to oil conversion, showing a UP crew following the 3985 through "dry grass" country, putting out the fires started trackside by the hot cinders from 3985. And yes, she was burning oil at the Sacramento railfair of '91.
I swear, the UP Steam Crew makes these small changes to frustrate the collectors, and brass model nuts. I know one in the Cheyenne, club. He would have the latest thing from Overland, and then the Crew would change something. I just laughed! Cheap entertainment, and likely a deal with UP Steam and Overland Models to keep dollars rolling in...
Ha ha. I'd not be surprised the UP guys might do stuff like that. Just to tweak the nitpicky types. mg: Some of them deserve it! boxcab E50
