I’m a huge Western Maryland Railway fan. I have an affinity for local history from my home town of York Pennsylvania and as a train fan also a keen interest in the railroads that served it. The Western Maryland was one of those and in addition to the local connection, I’v long admired it for the way it was run, and the pride the men of the Western Maryland took in their road. Many of my LEGO builds have been WM subjects but there is one I’ve wanted to do for several years but always seemed to put of. One of the Western Maryland’s Challenger type locomotives. the Western Maryland Railway’s Challenger is a locomotive that I’ve wanted to build for many years now. I wanted this to be a really special engine and a fitting tribute to what I think is a special railroad. And for a long time I guess I just didn’t feel my building skill would do the engine justice.
It wasn’t until last fall my friend and fellow PennLUG train builder Flickr: Explore!. I had met Nate at the 2009 NMRA National Train Show. We we’re both there helping with the LEGO train display that year and upon finding out he was a fellow Pennsylvanian I urged him to join PennLUG. We quickly became good friends and I owe much of how I’ve grown as a train builder to Nate’s influence. We have both strived to push each other to build better and better MOCs. I feel like every build is a collaboration. We often find ourselves bouncing ideas off of each other, solving a tricky problem on each others build and in general inspiring each to do his best. And so with this spirit in mind Nate set forth the challenge to see who could build the better Challenger. A “Challenger Challenge”.
We decided the winner would be determined through several tests. Speed, Train pulling capacity, Raw pulling power, Maneuverability, Battery life, and finally a vote by our fellow PennLUG members on who built the best model. The performance tests were undertaken on our recent display at the Greenberg Train & Toy Show in York Pa. Nate easily won the speed contest. On the train capacity though Nate’s speed proved to be a liability in that while his engine could pull a heavy train it would also want to pull couplers apart in the process. My engine though with it’s slower speed could better control the way it’s power was applied and kept the train together while pulling. Next was raw pulling power in which we tied the engines to each other and duked it out in a tug of war. Again my better power control and better traction won the day. For the maneuverability we each had to negotiate a standard LEGO switch. Sadly both of us failed under pressure, even though we had both done testing before and since with success, so no points for either there. last was battery life where Nate won. I had only managed 2.5 hours on a standard LEGO rechargeable battery where Nate managed a half hour more.
So with both our engines in a dead heat it came down to a vote from our club. At our February meeting we both presented our builds to the club and took a vote. It was a close vote but in the end Nate was the victor and I congratulate my good friend on his hard fought prize. I may have lost but I couldn’t be happier. Because we both pushed each other to do our best and because of that I built the Western Maryland Challenger I always wanted to build and now sharing a track with it is another stellar engine, Nate’s Spokane Challenger. I’ll leave Nate to present his masterpiece but for now I humbly present my beloved Western Maryland Challenger.
Starting in 1940 the Western Maryland Railway purchased 12 Challenger type 4-6-6-4 steam locomotives from Baldwin Locomotive Works. The Western Maryland advertised itself as the “Fast Freight Line” so it’s no surprise that they chose a fast, tall drivered Challenger design when shopping for new motive power. Designated as class M-2 they were most often referred to as ”the 1200’s” by the men on the WM referring to their road numbers (1201 to 1212).
While it could be argued that the speed of the Challenger type wasn’t the best fit for the Western Maryland’s mountainous grades, from their delivery until the arrival of the WM’s new 4-8-4’s in 1947 the 1200’s did exactly the job they were designed to do. Running through on trains from Hagerstown to Connellsville Maryland and speeding up schedules on the “Fast Freight Line”. With freight train speeds of 50 mph between Hagerstown and Cumberland and 45 mph between Cumberland and Connellsville the Challengers made their home on the WM, pulling heavy loads and doing it in a timely fashion. The 1200’s also occasionally worked trains east of Hagerstown to Baltimore but with this hilly and curving mainline and speeds limited to 40 mph they were not really at home there. After the arrival of the J class 4-8-4’s in January 1947 the challengers rarely ventured east of Cumberland. Most of these trips probably were to receive heavy shoppings in Hagerstown.
One thing the challengers did for the railroad that can not be disputed is that they gave the railroad proof it was in the fast freight business. Regardless of the limitations of the locomotives themselves or their contribution to speeding up freight trains, salesman had a locomotive with big drivers they could show customers and potential customers. After all, every little boy at the time knew big drivers meant fast engines. How important was this to the WM? In 1952 they published a booklet to help celebrate the 100th birthday of the railroad. The Challengers, Potomacs, and diesels were all featured in the booklet. However, it was a builders photo of Challenger 1203 spread across two pages in the top center of the booklet that was most prominent. How does this prove the challengers to be important to the image of the WM? With the decision already made to dieselize the railroad challenger 1209 was stricken from the roster in August 1952, three months after the official celebration.
With the onset of dieselisation on the Western Maryland all the big Challengers were retired in 1953. Unfortunately none we’re preserved. It is my hope that that this model serves as a fitting tribute to one of the WM’s greatest steam locomotives.
Western Maryland Challenger History
Custom side rods and valve gear parts from Benn Coifman.
Posted by Cale Leiphart on 2014-02-02 04:30:04
Tagged: , LEGO , Train , Steam , PennLUG , Locomotive , Engine , Western Maryland , 1206 , Challenger , 4-6-6-4
