Athearn 25744 - N 4-6-6-4 Steam Challenger - DCC & Sound - Union Pacific (TTG) #3976

N 4-6-6-4 Steam Challenger - DCC & Sound - Union Pacific (TTG) #3976 ETA: October 2022 Detailed Information Union Pacific In the spring of 1941 UP locomotive designers began working on a locomotive to team up with the new 4-8-8-4 Big Boys then under construction at Alco. The Big Boys were designed to pull heavy freights up the Wasatch Range in Utah to the division point at Green River, WY. What was needed was a locomotive to take over at that point that could speed the freights eastward across the Wyoming Division. Building on their experience with the original CSA 4-6-6-4 Challengers UP and Alcos designers developed a newer and better Challenger type locomotive. The result was a group of 65 4-6-6-4 Challenger built in three separate groups during World War II. ROAD NUMBER SPECIFIC FEATURES: #3985 Modern Excursion version Oil Burner Era 1980s - 2000s #3933 Coal Burner Dual smoke stack Tender bunker coal extensions Era 1940s - 1959 #3967 Coal Burner Dual smoke stack Smoke Lifters Era 1940s - 1959 #3997 Coal Burner Dual smoke stack Tender bunker coal extensions Era 1940s - 1959 Union Pacific UP painted several of their Challengers in their two-tone grey paint scheme for passenger service. They also added smoke lifters and converted many to oil burners as well. ROAD NUMBER SPECIFIC FEATURES: #3976 Two-tone grey w/ yellow lettering and striping. Oil burner Dual smoke stack. Era: Late 1940s - Mid-1950s. STEAM LOCOMOTIVE FEATURES: DCC-ready features Quick Plug plug-and-play technology Scaled from prototype resources including drawings, field measurements, photographs, and more Accurately-painted and –printed paint schemes Full cab interior with boiler backhead with printed gauges Individually applied piping, valves, generators, etc. Operating eccentric cranks on both sides operating in correct direction Headlights and indicator number boxes (number boards) with directional light change Five pole, skewed armature motor with flywheel for smooth operation Pivoting front and rear engines for negotiating 11inch radius curves See-through running boards See-through cab windows McHenry scale knuckle couplers LED Lighting for realistic appearance Fully-assembled and ready-to-run Heavy die-cast frame for greater traction and more pulling power Packaging securely holds for the model for safe storage Minimum recommended radius: 15inch SOUND EQUIPPED MODELS ALSO FEATURE Tender-mounted DCC decoder with SoundTraxx Tsunami2 sound Sound, units operate in both DC and DCC Full DCC functions available when operated in DCC mode Engine, whistle, and bell sounds work in DC All functions NMRA compatible in DCC mode Excellent Slow speed control Many functions can be altered via Configuration Value (CV) changes CV chart included in the box