The Challenger Challenge
One of the first AFOLs I ever met was Cale Leiphart. I built and showed my first locomotive MOC when I met him, a UP Big Boy and it was a big mess, but Cale was still enthusiastic to meet another person interested in making Lego trains. I've kept at it for about 5 years now and, in a way, this is the culmination of all the work I've done thus far.
Since Joining PennLUG, I've built a lot of things, and I have been so grateful for the encouragement of Cale and everyone else in the club and the community as a whole. One of the things we do is push each other to finish those projects we always talk about, and to always aim for better than we've done before. That is what this post is really about.
For a long time, Cale has talked about building the largest engine owned by one of his home railroads, the Western Maryland Challenger. It might not have gotten done for a long time, as he has so many great projects going at any given time, but I really wanted to see another big engine from him. As it happened, I'd been wanting to make a large, articulated steam locomotive as well. I wanted to prove I could make one that not only looked the part, but was a real, reliable and powerful runner. My large steam engines have varied in running quality over the years, so I felt like I had something to prove. As I looked through photos of different engines, I settled on the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Challenger. That's how the Challenger Challenge got started. I put it to Cale that we should each build our Challenger, with minimal contact between us during the process and, at the end, put them head to head in a series of tests to prove we had made a solid, well-running engine.
As of today, the Challenge is officially over, and I humbled by the fact that I was able to win, albeit by a narrow margin.
We have been working on our engines for over 4 months off and on, and thinking about them for much longer. We first showed them to each other in a nearly finished state at PennLUG's November meeting. Our next show after that would be the Greenberg Toy and Train Show in York, PA in January, so we decided to hold the bulk of the Challenge there. Both engines were put through a series of tests on the PennLUG layout. First, we conducted a speed test, which I won. I built my locomotive for speed, so I was pleased it lived up to that design. Next, we conducted a pulling power test, by piling on as many cars to each engine as they could pull. I could pull more or less as much freight as Cale could, but only for a short time. My locomotive's higher speed wanted to constantly pull the heavy train apart, rather than hold onto the whole consist, so I was beaten there. Next, we did an end-to-end tractor pull, to see if one engine could pull the other. Cale won this easily. After that, we performed a yard maneuverability test, to demonstrate that we could navigate switches, as both engines were designed to do. However, with the spotlights on, neither managed to do it, though I have since seen them both pull it off, so no points there. Finally, we conducted a battery life test. Each engine was given ~6 cars to pull and fresh batteries, to see who could run longer. I won this test by a narrow margin.
The events at York left us tied, but we planned one final test. At the February PennLUG meeting, we had all of the club judge which they felt was the better model of its original, with photographs on hand to compare. By only a couple votes, I was crowned the victor. Our plan was to have the loser build the winner his trophy, which will be done in the next few weeks but, for now, bragging rights will have to do.
In the end, the point wasn't really to have a winner and a loser, but to, from the beginning, design the best engines we could, and prove that they were good runners and accurate models. Also, Cale and I wanted to push each other as we always do. I think both of us may have built our best steam engines yet.
I will leave it to Cale to explain about the WM Challenger, in the back of this photo, and use the rest of this space to talk about the details of my own, seen in the front.
I chose the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Challenger mostly on looks. I like the pumps on the front of the boiler, the length and the tender, especially. It also gave me an opportunity to learn about the engine and the railroad, neither of which I knew anything about.
SP&S was owned by both the Great Northern and Northern Pacific Railroads at the time the challengers were built. As such, most SP&S equipment was gotten secondhand. The 8 Challengers were some of the few locomotives purchased new specifically for SP&S. The first 6, designated type Z-6 and numbered 900-905, were built in 1937, and featured an open cab and originally had the 6 axle tender I used for my model. The last two, numbered 910 and 911, and designated Z-8, were built in 1944. These featured an enclosed cab, larger tenders, and slightly more pulling power. All were built by ALCO.
The challengers were SP&S's most powerful locomotives, and served their mainline freight service for about 20 years before being retired and later scrapped. None survive today. In fact, no challenger types survive besides the two that UP have, although many railroads had challengers in the 1930s and 40s. This is another reason I wanted to build the SP&S Challenger. There have been many UP Challengers in Lego, but, as far as I have seen, no other railroads represented, although I'd be happy to be proven wrong there.
My model was a bit of an experiment in power, drawing on ideas from some other great builders, and everything I've learned about PF over the years. It features four PF L motors in the boiler, two driving each set of drivers. This layout was borrowed mainly from Jay Steinhurst's amazing Big Boy. The one difference was that four Ls is a bit much for one battery and IR receiver, so I have two and two. This was first done, as far as I know, by Scott Wardlaw on a UP, you guessed it, Challenger, but with XL motors. My four L motors are geared up for extra speed. flat out this is about the fastest locomotive I have built, and it can pull a decent train at speed. Additionally, it features standard Lego train drivers with applied boxpok decals that I made myself, and custom siderods by Benn Coifman
So, if you read all that, thanks, and be sure to check out all the photos and videos in the set. And also Cale's excellent writeup here.
Also, the photo is courtesy of Cale, as well.
The Challenger Challenge
One of the first AFOLs I ever met was Cale Leiphart. I built and showed my first locomotive MOC when I met him, a UP Big Boy and it was a big mess, but Cale was still enthusiastic to meet another person interested in making Lego trains. I've kept at it for about 5 years now and, in a way, this is the culmination of all the work I've done thus far.
Since Joining PennLUG, I've built a lot of things, and I have been so grateful for the encouragement of Cale and everyone else in the club and the community as a whole. One of the things we do is push each other to finish those projects we always talk about, and to always aim for better than we've done before. That is what this post is really about.
For a long time, Cale has talked about building the largest engine owned by one of his home railroads, the Western Maryland Challenger. It might not have gotten done for a long time, as he has so many great projects going at any given time, but I really wanted to see another big engine from him. As it happened, I'd been wanting to make a large, articulated steam locomotive as well. I wanted to prove I could make one that not only looked the part, but was a real, reliable and powerful runner. My large steam engines have varied in running quality over the years, so I felt like I had something to prove. As I looked through photos of different engines, I settled on the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Challenger. That's how the Challenger Challenge got started. I put it to Cale that we should each build our Challenger, with minimal contact between us during the process and, at the end, put them head to head in a series of tests to prove we had made a solid, well-running engine.
As of today, the Challenge is officially over, and I humbled by the fact that I was able to win, albeit by a narrow margin.
We have been working on our engines for over 4 months off and on, and thinking about them for much longer. We first showed them to each other in a nearly finished state at PennLUG's November meeting. Our next show after that would be the Greenberg Toy and Train Show in York, PA in January, so we decided to hold the bulk of the Challenge there. Both engines were put through a series of tests on the PennLUG layout. First, we conducted a speed test, which I won. I built my locomotive for speed, so I was pleased it lived up to that design. Next, we conducted a pulling power test, by piling on as many cars to each engine as they could pull. I could pull more or less as much freight as Cale could, but only for a short time. My locomotive's higher speed wanted to constantly pull the heavy train apart, rather than hold onto the whole consist, so I was beaten there. Next, we did an end-to-end tractor pull, to see if one engine could pull the other. Cale won this easily. After that, we performed a yard maneuverability test, to demonstrate that we could navigate switches, as both engines were designed to do. However, with the spotlights on, neither managed to do it, though I have since seen them both pull it off, so no points there. Finally, we conducted a battery life test. Each engine was given ~6 cars to pull and fresh batteries, to see who could run longer. I won this test by a narrow margin.
The events at York left us tied, but we planned one final test. At the February PennLUG meeting, we had all of the club judge which they felt was the better model of its original, with photographs on hand to compare. By only a couple votes, I was crowned the victor. Our plan was to have the loser build the winner his trophy, which will be done in the next few weeks but, for now, bragging rights will have to do.
In the end, the point wasn't really to have a winner and a loser, but to, from the beginning, design the best engines we could, and prove that they were good runners and accurate models. Also, Cale and I wanted to push each other as we always do. I think both of us may have built our best steam engines yet.
I will leave it to Cale to explain about the WM Challenger, in the back of this photo, and use the rest of this space to talk about the details of my own, seen in the front.
I chose the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Challenger mostly on looks. I like the pumps on the front of the boiler, the length and the tender, especially. It also gave me an opportunity to learn about the engine and the railroad, neither of which I knew anything about.
SP&S was owned by both the Great Northern and Northern Pacific Railroads at the time the challengers were built. As such, most SP&S equipment was gotten secondhand. The 8 Challengers were some of the few locomotives purchased new specifically for SP&S. The first 6, designated type Z-6 and numbered 900-905, were built in 1937, and featured an open cab and originally had the 6 axle tender I used for my model. The last two, numbered 910 and 911, and designated Z-8, were built in 1944. These featured an enclosed cab, larger tenders, and slightly more pulling power. All were built by ALCO.
The challengers were SP&S's most powerful locomotives, and served their mainline freight service for about 20 years before being retired and later scrapped. None survive today. In fact, no challenger types survive besides the two that UP have, although many railroads had challengers in the 1930s and 40s. This is another reason I wanted to build the SP&S Challenger. There have been many UP Challengers in Lego, but, as far as I have seen, no other railroads represented, although I'd be happy to be proven wrong there.
My model was a bit of an experiment in power, drawing on ideas from some other great builders, and everything I've learned about PF over the years. It features four PF L motors in the boiler, two driving each set of drivers. This layout was borrowed mainly from Jay Steinhurst's amazing Big Boy. The one difference was that four Ls is a bit much for one battery and IR receiver, so I have two and two. This was first done, as far as I know, by Scott Wardlaw on a UP, you guessed it, Challenger, but with XL motors. My four L motors are geared up for extra speed. flat out this is about the fastest locomotive I have built, and it can pull a decent train at speed. Additionally, it features standard Lego train drivers with applied boxpok decals that I made myself, and custom siderods by Benn Coifman
So, if you read all that, thanks, and be sure to check out all the photos and videos in the set. And also Cale's excellent writeup here.
Also, the photo is courtesy of Cale, as well.