athearn challenger

[Woody Elmore]

Don't rely on a Bachmann decapod to pull an express. The steam engine rule is "the bigger the driving wheels the faster the locomotive." The decapod works best with branch line peddler freights that poke along at a leisurely pace.

As for Challenger overhang - it is unavoidable when you operate a long articulated locomotive on 18 inch radius track.

[Daylight4449]

while true, the over hang and many restrictions are eliminated by one major difference from prototype. Both driver sets are swiveling.

I am going to get both the decapod and the consodilation for my layout. only they will run on my 18 inch radius curves and the express won't be speeding like theres no tommorow. i like slow trains and since the only streches of straight track on my layout ar 3, 45 inch sections i can't run it fast or it will be in and out every 3 seconds.

[Guilford Guy]

Just because both drivers are articulated, doesn't mean that it cuts down the overhang. If they cut down the boiler length then it would, but they didn't.

[Woody Elmore]

GG - I agree. I've not seen one but I assume the Athearn Challenger is articulated like the old Lionel GG-1 wher everything can pivot, rather than being fixed like the prototype. The overhang just makes long wheelbase engines look really toylike on sharp curves.

[Omaha]

I have an Athearn Challenger and I think it runs wonderfully. It has run on my own layout and the club modular layout (which is not ideal somethimes). The only time it has ever derailed is when it encountered a turnout which was not set correctly. Both layouts are DC so I have not been able to try it on a DCC layout and hear its full sound potential.

[ivaraas]

I have four of the H0 Challenger and one BigBoy, from Athearn. They pull very good and run very well. Using 30 inch radius they just glide around. The engines are mechanically made good , but I have changed the decoders in all 5 engines. Put in Tsunamis insread.
Two of the orginal MRC decoders just died. Got an new one from Athearn for the first one, but when running, the sounds live its own life. Sometimes when running at speed, the conductor calling, All aboard, in an freight train . I could not program it to quit. That was the time I change all decoders to Tsunami. Decoders I can both program and read back.
The engines are still worth the money.

[Daylight4449]

after this entire thread this is a dissipointment and i think that since i can get these for $30 i might pt off getting the challenger for a while and get 2 more 2-8-0s to double head.