The 2-8-8-0 was known amongst railroads as the “Consolidation Mallets” as they were considered an extension of the common 2-8-0 Consolidation type locomotives. The locomotive type was originally experimented with by the Santa Fe, but the railroad never received more than one locomotive because of balance issues and a low tractive effort rating on the railroad's steepest grades.
The Great Northern and Union Pacific revised the designs and proceeded to order several of these locomotives. The Union Pacific crews developed the nickname “Bullmoose” for the locomotives because they had the ability to pull the heaviest of freight trains over the railroad’s Sherman Hill between Cheyenne and Laramie, Wyoming.
The Union Pacific eventually rostered 70 of these Mallets, either built by its own shops or manufactured by the American Locomotive Company (Alco). They first went into service in 1918. As time went on, the Bullmoose locomotives received several upgrades and rebuilds before ultimately being replaced by the 9000 series, Big Boys, and Challengers.
In our first production run of the Bullmoose, we are offering the locomotive in two versions. We are building three prototypical road numbers in their “Pre-1944” appearance, and three prototypical road numbers in their “Post-1944” appearance. We are also building one locomotive in the Two Tone Gray Fantasy Scheme. Each model will be available with our Paragon4 Sound/DC/DCC electronics and smoke. In addition to the Paragon4 models, we are also building these models in our Stealth Series. Stealth Series models are no sound models and are DCC-Ready.
Stealth Model Features:
- Precision Drive Mechanism Engineered for Continuous Heavy Load Towing and Smooth Slow Speed Operation
- 5-Pole Can Motor with Skew Wound Armature
- Handcrafted Brass Boiler, Tender Body, and Diecast Chassis for Maximum Tractive Effort
- Prototypically Accurate Details for Each Road Number
- Many Separately Applied Details such as Handrails, Ladders, Piping, Cab Glass, Whistle, Brass Bell, Markers, Numberboards, Air Tanks, and Many Others
- Premium Caliber Painting with Authentic Paint Schemes
- Prototypical Light Operation with Separately Controllable Headlight, Reverse Light, Cab Light, Front Numberboards, Rear Marker Light
- Factory-installed Engineer and Fireman Figures
- Two Operating Kadee-compatible Couplers
- Equipped with Rubber Traction Tires for Increased Pulling Power
- Will Operate on Code 70, Code 83, and Code 100 Rail
- Recommended Minimum Radius: 18 inches
- Coupler to Coupler Length: 14.2 inches
- Wheelbase: 12.4 inches
