Dave Olson posted:The newest Big Boy will come with either the Big Boy tender or the Challenger tender depending on sku. The Big Boy tender already has a wide roller spacing, so it doesn't have the issue on the Atlas #5 switch. I've now had the Challenger design revised to open the roller spacing so it won't have this issue when the Big Boy ships.
First, let me say I appreciate Lionel considering making a change to the roller spacing. In regards to the different tenders, let me preface my remarks by saying I am NOT an expert on steam tenders. As I read the data shown on UtahRails, the tender that went with UP 4014 to CA was apparently the tender that originally belong to UP 4015. It was a Class 25-C tender. From thetable on the website, it seems that the late model coal and oil burning Challengers used the same class of tender. UP 844's tender looks to be a Class 23-C (oil). The numbers seem to be water capacity in 1000's of gallons. If their data is correct, maybe there was a Big Boy/late model Challenger tender and an FEF-3 tender. The tender Lionel produced with the last run of FEF-3 has a wide roller spacing and looks like the tender pictured in the Vol2 catalog art for the excursion model. However, maybe Lionel only needs the same class 25-C tender (oil) for both versions of the Big Boy. Of course, since 4014's tender hasn't been converted to oil it is hard to know what it will eventually look like. Hopefully, people on this forum who know more about steam engines can correct any information I found on UtahRails.
Thanks again for thinking about changes in the roller spacings.
John Cullen
