How does a guy get a hold of one of these engines? I see them on you tube but don’t see them on the Mth web site. Are they a big secret?
Railcon44
Nope, they are out of production for now. I think Athearn has a new run with the Tsunami decoder.
Cuda Ken
The MTH Challenger sold quite nicely.
A few are still out there available for sale. MSRP was $599.99, and some folks are actually asking for more than that.
Try the Original Whistle Stop–they still listed some in inventory just a couple weeks ago, at the fair street selling price.
The Athearn Challenger is sold out many places as well.
Athearn just got the (Genesis) Union Pacific Big Boy (factory weathered versions) out within the last few days, along with the Southern Pacific (Genesis) 4-8-2.
I own both the MTH UP Challenger and the brand new Athearn plain DC Big Boy.
They are fantastic engines. If you crave well-illuminated (LED) classification lights, including the red top of tender warning light, and smoke, the MTH Challenger is the way to go. It definitely out-smokes the BLI Paragon2 Y-6B, which I also have. (The Athearn Big Boy does now have illuminated numberboards even on just the plain DC version).
They are all worth having, and I’ve never had so much train fun as running these 3 big articulateds! (It’s been many years since I owned one brass articulated that ran really well.)
John
I already emailed MTH and asked them to make a plain DC/DCC ready version of their Challenger.
With its heavy diecast boiler, it would make a great competitively priced puller, and I think they’d sell more if they offered it that way (as opposed to forcing people to pay extra for the DCS–even though I love the DCS, many others just do not want it).
Since they are now offering new engines without the DCS, we can hope the Challenger gets re-released at some point.
John