I am a fan of the Southern Pacific Cab Forwards. You can still see one (not operable) at the Sacramento California Stat Railroad Museum. The 4294, the last 4-8-8-2 SP Cab Forward built "show it self off quite well in the museum.
Built for the Donner grade (Roseville, CA to Sparks, NV) over a ruling grade of 2.2%. The route of the Snow Sheds (according to an old-time engineer, the route of 28 miles inside a house!
These locomotives did a fine job on the HILL and were moved All Over the SP System becauseof their usefullnes
The best lookin’ articulateds? Well, my vote (votes) goes to the N&W’s Class A and the Delaware and Hudson’s (remember them?) Challengers, handsomer locomotives than the UP variety.
Don’t get your knickers in a twist Uncle Pete fans, I’m not saying the UP Challengers were ugly, far from it, I’m saying D&H’s beat them in the looks department.
D&H was a class act, it’s a shame they don’t get more attention.
im an uncle pete fan ,& your right everybody thinks union pacific when you mention challengers lol , D&H & clinchfield & who else ran them , never got alot of press ,
I agree that the AC-9 is handsomer than the AC-12. It was also a little heavier and slightly more powerful. It was built to run in semi-desert and desert conditions but when the weather was hot the crews really suffered on the AC-9 because the all weather cab didn’t ventilate very well. SP men were accustomed to the exceptional visibility of the cab-forwards so the AC-9s were less popular on that account as well. As for me, I’ve got examples of both classes in HO brass by Katsumi and if anybody wants to take them, they’ll have to pry them out of my cold dead hands!