Great Northern 4-6-6-4 Z-6 Challenger Steam Engine Specialty Freight Set w/Proto-Sound 3.0

In the early part of the twentieth century, most freight moved in relatively slow “drag” freight trains, and speed was secondary to just getting the goods delivered. The introduction of “super-power” steam technology in the 1920’s, however, enabled builders to create freight locomotives that combined speed and power. Perhaps the zenith of the fast freight engine was the 4-6-6-4 Challenger, first conceived by the Union Pacific Railroad and American Locomotive Works in the mid-1930s. The Northern Pacific liked what it saw taking shape at Alco and ordered its own, even bigger Challengers. One reason the NP engines were larger was the railroad’s use of large fireboxes to burn low-quality Rosebud coal mined online in Montana — coal that at least one fireman described as “damned close to dirt.” The first dozen Z-6 Challengers arrived in 1936, just months after the UP received its own first Challengers. Like 4-6-6-4s on the UP and the Western Maryland, the articulated Z-6s replaced older, slower rigid-frame engines — doubleheaded Mikados in the Northern Pacific’s case. The Z-6s spent most of their careers hauling reefer trains and fast freights on Northern Pacific divisions in Washington State and Montana’s Big Sky country, with occasional passenger stints leading the crack North Coast Limited. Sixty-nine inch drivers allowed a Z-6 to maintain 60 mph on the plateaus between the Northwest’s mountain ranges.

The Northern Pacific was pleased enough with its new articulateds to order nine more Z-6s in 1937. The same year, an additional six engines were ordered for the Spokane, Portland & Seattle, a jointly-owned subsidiary of the NP and the Great Northern. The SP&S engines were oil burners, but virtually identical to the NP Z-6s in every other way. Two of the SP&S engines were later sold to the Great Northern for use in Washington and Oregon. For a time in the late steam era, the thundering Z-6 was indeed the Northwest’s own articulated.

Set Features

Die-Cast4-6-6-4 Z-6 Challenger Steam Locomotive

5-Car 40' AAR Box Car Set

(1) N-6b Caboose

Locomotive Features

Intricately Detailed, Die-Cast Boiler and Chassis

Intricately Detailed, Die-Cast Tender Body

Authentic Paint Scheme

Die-Cast Locomotive Trucks

Handpainted Engineer and Fireman Figures

Metal Handrails, Whiste and Bell

Metal Wheels and Axles

Remote Controlled Proto-Coupler

O Scale Kadee-Compatible Coupler Mounting Pads

Prototypical Rule 17 Lighting

Constant Voltage LED Headlight

Operating LED Firebox Glow

Operating LED Marker Lights

Operating LED Numberboard Lights

Lighted LED Cab Interior

Operating Tender LED Back-up Light

Powerful 7-Pole Precision Flywheel-Equipped Motor

Synchronized Puffing ProtoSmoke System

Locomotive Speed Control In Scale MPH Increments

Wireless Drawbar

1:48 Scale Dimensions

Onboard DCC/DCS Decoder

Proto-Scale 3-2 3-Rail/2-Rail Conversion Capable

Proto-Sound 3.0 With The Digital Command System Featuring: Quillable Whistle With Freight Yard Proto-Effects

Unit Measures:30 3/4" x 2 1/2" x 4"

Operates On O-72 Curves

Freight Car Features

Intricately Detailed Durable ABS Bodies

Die-Cast 4-Wheel Trucks

Operating Die-Cast Metal Couplers

Decorative Brake Wheels

Separate Metal Handrails

Fast-Angle Wheel Sets

Needle-Point Axles

Opening Car Doors

Detailed Caboose Interior

Caboose Brakeman Figure

Overhead Caboose Interior Lighting

1:48 Scale Dimensions