Lionel JLC #3985 LEGACY Conversion (6-28064)

You were getting too complacent with the standard Legacy upgrades, I though you needed a bigger challenge.

Awesome work!! Sure it was just a few bucks though, nevertheless a beautiful piece!

Great work before the new VL 3985 I always wondered if I got a JLC challenger cheep if something like this would work. Obviously still does. I see so many talented people on the forum like Burk I can only hope that I can absorb as much information and be 1/2 as good as you guys

Outstanding work and craftsmanship, that was a lot of work with an awesome ending.  Thanks for sharing.

Wow that's a ton of work ! But it's awesome !

Alex

Holy bananas, that is a blank ton of crazy whacky work, but awesome. Blank equals you know what. Glad to see this was a great success.

That’s beyond craftsman level work, .....Bruk’s at artisan level,.....

Dr.Legacy....yep, that title fits...

Pat

BEAUTIFUL!  What craftmanship!

I think one super-cool part of this is how you can use the 3D printing to do some custom parts that it would be a nightmare to hand fabricate, that's certainly the coming thing for custom jobs like this!  Of course, knowing how to actually draw the parts in 3D is kind of a key requirement, obviously Bruk has that part licked!

This is an awesome message, we have some really talented folks here on the forum, Gunrunner John, Harmonyards, Alex M, Pete N., Royz Trains, and Bruk, it’s an amazing time to be in the Hobby. There are many others not mentioned, and I’m sure everyone remembers Marty Fitzhenry, who is helping the Lord in Heaven keep his trains running, you know Christmas is around the corner. Thank all of you hi tech fellows for sharing your abilities with us on-lookers, thats what it’s all about. Bruk, your work is super, Thank You for posting this thread. One Question, are you actually able to re-make a TMCC diesel or steamer into Legacy Control? That’s amazing. Happy Railroading Everyone.

I’m sold, when I send you my MTH challenger next year, I’m going to want the same treatment

all I can say is WOW!!! and I hope lionel still has enough parts and boards left for my new visionline challenger if I ever need anything😁.

@leapinlarry posted:

One Question, are you actually able to re-make a TMCC diesel or steamer into Legacy Control? That’s amazing. Happy Railroading Everyone.

Yes. But of course there is always limitations.

Great work!

i call him Merlin the Magician. he is one of the best. He keeps me happy.

I got the Bruk Challenger masterpiece in, it's outstanding!  It's a Vision Line Challenger in the JLC chassis.  The sound is magnificent, and all the smoke features work just like the VL model.  Too bad I don't have enough of the track powered yet to give it a real run, but that will come.

There is a ton of work in that baby, and it shows.  

I guess one could say - when considering all of the time and effort Bruk puts into remodelling - "REmade in America!"   

I do indeed think it was REmade in the good ol' USA.

Thats yours John? Wow nice addition!

Yep, that's why I'm selling a Challenger, I need to make room on the roster for this one!

I'm happy you are pleased with it John and that it survived the trip over to you. I hope we see a video of it running around on your new layout very soon!!!!   

I can't even imagine the amount of work that went into that. Needless to say, superior job!

To look at the outside, you have to look really close to see it's not a stock JLC, all the changes were very well done with minimal effect on the appearance.  To be sure, it will be getting some run time in the near future.  I'm really pleased with the sound, I'm glad we went the extra mile and added the locomotive sound setup.  That just adds a whole dimension to the sounds that you just can't achieve with a single sound board.

Theres lots of quality built TMCC stuff out there thats more than worthy of these upgrades. With solid powertrains and correct paint. All they need is a performance enhancements, and they end up better than the factory Legacy offerings.

Great threads Bruk!

There are so many cool enhancements on this project that it's mindboggling. One that jumped out at me was putting the switch/vol control board inside the front smoke hatch of the boiler. Really cool idea and very accessible. And the mount for the boiler speaker is really well done.

And you can actually SEE the whistle stem effect, how cool is that?

Great work Bruk, and congratulations John! Very impressive.

Rod

The only change I might consider is moving the RUN/PGM switch to the unused switch under the smoke box hatch, no reason to have it under the engine when I have a spare switch.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

The only change I might consider is moving the RUN/PGM switch to the unused switch under the smoke box hatch, no reason to have it under the engine when I have a spare switch.

Now you are just making excuses to open it up an take a peak.

That is incredible! Now onto the Pennsy H10!

Maybe Bruk, hard to say.

John,

You got enough track laid yet to run this puppy and post a video?  If not send it my way and I'll do it for you.

@superwarp1 posted:

John,

You got enough track laid yet to run this puppy and post a video?  If not send it my way and I'll do it for you.

This locomotive ain't seeing the inside of a shipping box anytime soon!

If you want the project to go faster, take a field trip and help me lay track and wire the layout.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

This locomotive ain't seeing the inside of a shipping box anytime soon!

If you want the project to go faster, take a field trip and help me lay track and wire the layout.

If you were closer I would love to help out.  Nothing like talking trains, been awhile since covid killed all the train shows.

Yep, I'm badly in need of a "train show fix".

Ok Gunrunner John, this is the Steamer I would like to see run on your nice layout. This is a great Challenger with all the cool upgrades. Amazing. It’s so neat to know there is upgrades for some of our older locomotives that we like so much. Thank you Bruk for your taking on great challenges. Happy Railroading Everyone

Well, I've gotten most of the main level track down, probably one more session.  Next I'll be doing track drops for the main level and then reassembling the upper deck.  Finally, I'll be under and wiring power and switch controls.  So, somewhere in the fog, I can visualize trains running on this layout.

Gunrunner John, I’ve been looking for the pictures and catalog illustrations for this 6-28064 challenger to no avail. Can anyone direct me to the year and Lionel catalog whether Volume 1 or 2? Thank you

Tons of pictures out on the web.

Google Image Search for Lionel 28064 JLC Challenger

Auction Zip has some decent shots here: Lionel 28064 JLC Challenger

Thank you Gunrunner John, I was wanting to see it in the Lionel catalog, I thought it was originally issued in 2000, I just could not find it in any of the catalogs. Thank you though.

2001 I thought

Lionel has a Catalog Archive back to 2000, but I don't see the JLC Challenger in 2000 to 2002.

Good morning Gunrunner John, just wishing you and your family, also Bruk, your model engineer that rebuilt this fantastic Challenger, a very Happy New Year. It’s projects like this that make our hobby so much more fun, amazing ways to make our locomotives/diesels operate with so much more realism. Yes, we love those post war favorites, but these new giant locomotives, with all the bells and whistles have taken our hobby to a much higher playground, a model railroading utopia. Your thread proves that if we think it, it might become a reality. Thank you for  your contributions to our hobby, via the OGR Forum, a great place to be during this pandemic, a secret psychologist. Happy Railroading Everyone, 2021 will be a truly great year.

Well, the bright spot is it's hard to imagine 2021 being worse than 2020, so I am hoping you are right Larry!

Happy New Year to all!

Hi GUYZ,

  The JLC Challenger was in a series of brochures that Lionel put out.  I think the Challenger might have bee the first or one of the first brochures sent.

Laz57, Thank you for the information and I think your correct. I Suppose it was a special run and was a BTO piece. Happy Railroading

This will confirm that the brochure for the JLC Challenger was distributed in 2000 and actually referred to three (3) product numbers, two of which were 3-rail versions and the other for a two-rail version.  The UP Challenger #3985 with Coal Tender (which GRJ has) is  3-rail (6-28064), the other 3-rail is UP Greyhound  Challenger #3977 with Oil Tender (6-28099), and the 2-rail version - for which no cab number was provided - is (6-28090); all of which had a MSRP of $1,799.95.   

I have the Greyhound #3977 also, but it doesn't have any "deluxe" Legacy upgrades.

Now that you mention Lionel brochures, that rings a bell, I actually had one of those Challengers 6-28064 and sold it to a friend, (I kept upgrading from TMCC to Legacy steamers)  Wow, and I probably have the Lionel brochure packed with other catalogs of the 2000 era. Thank you very much. I am really amazed at the work Bruk performed on this beautiful locomotive, I would have been a player to, it’s really nice. Happy Railroading Everyone.