Lobaugh Challengers

[bob turner]

Gersh Thompson's new Challenger - features an import tender, and an attempt at boiler bands. The Elephant Ears were cut down from some FEF ears, and they look pretty good! Runs like a watch.



Long-time O Scalers out west know Gersh, and his buddy Howard, from the long string of OSW shows, where the two of them were a fixture. Always a bargain to be had at their table, and Gersh always had a hospitality suite with wine and hors d'oeuvres (sp?).

[bob turner]

Zero interest in dirtbag Challengers, huh?
I just grabbed a pair out of the hangar, checked their mechanisms, bead-blasted both, and am about 3/4 of the way through painting. I just discovered that three of my Challengers and the Big Boy still have the wrong trailing truck - so this evening is trailing truck Wednesday. Keeps me out of the singles bars.
Photos next week.

[bob turner]

Here is one of them - getting ready for decals.
Surprise - Microscale only prints one set of 0-9 for each side of the cab - so it cannot be 3977. Unless somebody has donor sevens in their leftover pile of black outline Microscale. This one, then, will be 3974.



While I am at it, ScaleCraft Dave is interested in Wes' question re: Acme. For me, it is just like Billy Davis, who uses NO RESERVE to delineate his eBay offerings - or those guys who use VTG (I had a difficult time deciphering that one - "very tasty & good?") - it is just another way of labeling stuff.

Wish me luck on the decals - that happens this weekend.

[De Bruin]

Wow Bob, NICE!
That's more of an elaborate scheme then you usually tackle. Regarding the road number issue , why don't you just score an extra set?
You do build A LOT of UP so.....think you might need it more of these decals anyway? They're cheaper than paint these days.

[bob turner]

Nope - only one Greyhound will grace my rails. This is an easy "complicated: scheme - you should see what I do for Daylight steamers - very thin black outlines on all the silver stripes, done with a ruling pen and water-based paint.

I think the most difficult was the ACL GP7. Most satisfying was the C of GA E7 - thank you for the decals for both.

What is going on around here is refurbishment -pulling dusty models out of the hangars, bead-blasting, painting, decaling, and lubricating. They get test-run if they are powered.

This one is strange - the parts appear to be genuine Lobaugh, but the driver tread is non-standard, a lot of the detail parts on the mechanisms and pilot deck are "different," and the boiler itself is scratchbuilt here in my shop. Just returned to the airport today, after this photo was taken:



Oh - and some pipes need touch-up, and the trailing truck needs replacing. Next time.

[ScaleCraft]

ACME parts.

[up148]

Bob, I have looked and looked but don't see a Challenger Greyhound scheme with black outlined yellow lettering. Yellow striping was used for a short time and was outlined in black, but I don't find black outlined lettering. So, I've still got that set of yellow w/o black outline in Champs if your want it.
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This is from the Utah Rails website which has always been very accurate for UP history and questions.

Yellow Letters and Stripes (1946)
There are photos of two-tone gray 800's taken in June 1946, some six months before the scheme was adopted for all steam locomotives. Initial emphasis in two-tone gray painting was to match the existing gray paint scheme of lightweight Pullman equipment used on the faster non-Streamliner West Coast trains. This included the same Silver Gray lettering and striping on both cars and locomotives. The first 800 out-shopped in two-tone gray with Silver Gray lettering and striping was in April 1946. A desire to reflect the Streamliners' Armour Yellow led to the later use of yellow lettering and striping on locomotives. Armour Yellow first appeared in August 1946. This latter scheme with Armour Yellow lettering and striping was the one formally adopted in December 1946 as a standard for all steam locomotives in passenger service. (Lou Schmitz, "Two-Tone Gray Footnote" in The Streamliner, Volume 4, Number 3, July 1988, page 23)

In mid-December 1946, the ten 4-6-6-4 Challengers assigned to passenger service in the Pacific Northwest were painted two-tone gray, but with yellow stripes in place of the earlier silver gray stripes.

Based on dated photographs, it appears that when the Pacifics or Mountains received their initial two-tone gray paint scheme, the dates suggest that they also received yellow lettering and striping. About 12 to 14 Northerns were painted during 1946, receiving silver gray lettering and stripes prior to the change to yellow lettering and striping.

Steam locomotives assigned to passenger service received yellow stripes because they were used to power Streamliner trains, and the railroad figured the locomotives would match better with the Streamliner cars. The main backup steam power for the Streamliners were the two yellow and brown streamlined steam engines: 2906 and 7002 in 1936. These engines were used on "The 49er" when it came on in 1937 as the heavyweight service to San Francisco on non-Streamliner days. In 1942 these two engines lost their streamlining. By 1949 the railroad had enough diesels on hand to protect the Streamliners; then on those engines, the stripes became silver gray to match the two-tone passenger equipment. (David Seidel, email dated January 11, 2008)

On June 2, 1949, the drawing (992-CA-33179) was revised to show that the color of the striping and lettering was changed from Armour Yellow to Silver Gray. The stripe itself, both upper and lower, was 1-3/4 inches, with a black 1/4 inch edge above and below the stripe, making for a total stripe width of 2-1/4 inches.

[up148]

This one is strange - the parts appear to be genuine Lobaugh, but the driver tread is non-standard, a lot of the detail parts on the mechanisms and pilot deck are "different," and the boiler itself is scratchbuilt here in my shop. Just returned to the airport today, after this photo was taken:



Oh - and some pipes need touch-up, and the trailing truck needs replacing. Next time.

Amazing detail for the pre-modern built locos. Rivet detail and all of it is beautiful. To own one of these back in the day was the cats meow and I'm sure the pride of the owner.....especially at club time.

[bob turner]

You kinda have to add your own rivet detail in a lot of places. Firebox and Cab on this one were pressed here while watching the News Hour, and the tender on the Greyhound above was likewise pressed here. No Lobaugh models except the lost wax switcher and Mike had cab rivets, and firebox rivets were limited to a few impressions along the mud ring and throat sheet.

On the yellow numbers - turns out that the Microscale black outline letters and numbers are meaningless on the dark stripe. I am now actually happier with 3974, since every other Greyhound Challenger model in the world is of 3977.

One side of the tender is done - thinking of doing the other side before I head to the airport. Party tonight, so no train work in the evening. Photo soon!

Update - noon - all major decals are on! Need only Microsolve and Future Floor Wax. Looks ok.

Note to Dave - I really like square counterweight drivers, but if I ever do a furrin locomotive it will be a Chinese QJ.

[bob turner]

Here we go - I think it turned out quite well! It has no prototype, since the Greyhounds were 3975 and above, and all, apparently, had elephant ears.
I am now happy with this thing, even though it still needs silver on the rods and cylinder/valve covers, and maybe some black on the handrails.
It will also get brass color on the pops and bell, and a new trailing truck as soon as I spot my huge supply of castings.

Oh - I forgot to re-solder the tender ladder. That gets done this evening. Things do break when you move them around.

It goes back to the airport tomorrow, on display again. Next project is a doorstop for Maroon, which we will cover here.



All rivets are from my shop. Cab is all new brass. Tender is brass overlay over a wood block. Still, mostly Lobaugh.

[Carey Williams]

Hello all

Nice looking Challanger Bob
I finally got my postwar engine running ....it was never completed ..once moving it is very happy to keep moving from a crawl to a dash. Hauling the Kemtron cars again .

O scale Lobaugh Union Pacific Challenger 1955-8 brass kit $196.50
Concurrently Max Gray began importing KTM ready to run brass models from Japan at nearly the same price. Lobaugh days selling kits were numbered.
Reported by Al Ellis ( manager of Lobaugh at the time ) The components for 200 Challenger kits were produced unknown how many were sold or how many were ever completed.

Please see link
https://youtu.be/HyjfSMXN6A0

Cheers Carey

[SWrailroader]

This is a very interesting thread. Lots of useful info. I have a postwar Lobaugh Challenger which runs remarkably well.

[bob turner]

Thanks you guys. It is gratifying to know that a small subset of us is more interested in actual O Scale. Right now there is a lot of activity applauding our new restrictions, but zero on trains.

[ScaleCraft]

Ah, but I keep pokin' the bear.

All those complaints, one way or t'other, and we end up with a thread to make MTJ more attractive.

So, we lock one sub-forum, allegedly open two more in non-0 scales, which after 5 days still don't work.

Now we have complaints about 0 scale content. How is that gonna parse out when H0 and N become active?

And how many pages of ACME? Granted, 3-rail, but some of the 2-rail folks engaged that thread.

Got a lot of complainers here, it seems. And instead of those complaints directed and posted to Club Car, now this forum catches them.

Get enough folks to complain, they lock sub-forums.

How's that workin' out?

Let's come up with a nebulous set of rules, and moderators, with said moderators interpreting the "rules" and let them start throwin' folks off the site.

[bob turner]

Bump.

This thread started with Gersh Thomson's Challenger. Folks who frequented OSW knew Gersh - he always had a table, along with his buddy Howard. They usually had bargains for sale.

Sadly, Gersh left us this year - last train west.

Gersh was always friendly and kind. At OSW he always had a wine and cheese party when the hall closed for the evening. He was a retired MD, specializing in psychiatry, and anavid collector of anything O Scale.

RIP