Short lived Challengers on Rio Grande

[Anonymous]

Good Morning,
I was just reading in MR that of the handful of Challengers that Rio Grande bought in the 40's, the whole group was sold to Clinchfield in about 4 yrs from initial delivery. Anyone know why?

I wonder what sort of work assignments Rio Grande had in mind when they bought them and if the Challengers didn't work out for that, or if traffic conditions / volume changed and no longer warrented the equipment?

Seems like both DRGW and the Clinch had VERY different operating characteristics vs. the wide-open-spaces of the UP RR (i.e. the Nebraska main). Was that a contributor?

Any feedback would help my curiosity.
Muchas Gracias,[8D]
Stack - -

[passengerfan]

Diesels especially the FT and F3 replaced much of the mainline steam rather early and since the Challengers were newer power they were able to get a good price for them on the used locomotive market (Clinchfield).

[bobwilcox]

The DRGW took the Challengers during WWII because that was the only power available.

[Anonymous]

The plan for WWII was Europe first, then the invasion of Japan. A massive redeployment of troops and materials from the east to the west coast would have been needed had the A-bomb not ended the war. Challangers were good dual-purpose engines and it's possible one reason for their choice was troop trains. Besides D&RGW, WP and UP got wartime Challengers. UP & SP and I'm sure some others also got wartime Northerns.

[spbed]

Well one thing is for sure they never pulled a double stack train on the Cfield. [:o)][:)]

Originally posted by dblstack

Living nearby to MP 186 of the UPRR  Austin TX Sub

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