question on new up challenger

It's to remove the bolts holding the drive rods in place, in case you need to change a traction tire.

Professor Chaos,Thanks for responding,i tried putting the wrench on those bolts to see if it fit,the wrench just kept turning as if it was to big,i may not be doing it wright & i will try again later,i am not going to worry about it for now,i have other tools i could use if i had to change a traction tire.  

              I have three more questions that i don't understand,in the lionel catalog & in the owners manual it states that  the Lionmaster Challenger has a minium curve of 031,yet when i try to send it through an 036 switch it derails.

             Also in the catalog it is suppose to have a lighted interior cab,i don't see any light there.

            Last question,this will sound stupid to most of you,but i have never had the whistle steam effect, when i sound the whistle,i don't see any smoke come out,what am i doing wrong?,or better yet could someone explain to me exactly what the whistle steam effect is,these things are all new to me.

I was doing some more reading of the owners manual & on page 4 it says that it requires 031,or larger,then on page 6 it states that it requires 054,or larger, how can i tell which is correct?,this makes no sense to me.

Couple of things to check for your whistle smoke effect. Did you add smoke fluid for the whistle. Different location then for stack. Also confirm whistle smoke is on. 

Matt Ashba from Lionel said it will do 0-31 curves. he engine might need to sit in neutral for the light to work. If not do a feature/factory reset which should be in the manual and next to setting the ID of the engine.

Make sure you add the proper amount of smoke, and follow the priming instructions the smoke Unit on my lionmaster big boy with the smoke needs 15-25 drops. I would go with 20 and hold the whistle down for a few seconds after you add smoke. There is a video going around on Youtube that should help and Mike Reagan (Mikado) is in the video. I would look up "Lionel Smoke Units, Mike Reagan" hopefully this helps.

Make sure the switches under or on top of the engine sand domes are on to your liking.  

OK, Here is what i did, J Scott.the only place to add smoke fluid is in the 2 main stacks,the manual doesn't show any other place to add fluid,plus i looked on the engine & there is no other place to add fluid,i did add 15 drops of fluid in each stack as per instructions in the manual,even though the 2 main stacks smoked just fine,now no smoke comes out of the main stacks,i am afraid that i may have added to much fluid,even though the manual tells you to add fluid,i will wait until tomorrow  to see if the main stacks start smoking again,the good news is there was a separate switch for the whistle smoke effect which i did not know was there,so i turned it on,now i have the whistle smoke effect,but no main stack smoke,will see what happens tomorrow . I looked inside the cab & there is no light to be seen,if there was a light i think you would be able to see it,so i solved one problem only to create another one.

The manual tells you to use lionel premium smoke fluid,i used reguler lionel fluid,do you really have to use premium fluid?,i hope i didn't mess this engine up on the first day.

Gerald, the Smoke for the Whistle should be in the same reservoir as the stacks. My big boy even though it is 4 years old has the same set up and I think Lionel would not made a separate unit. It really doesn't matter the smoke fluid. I use JT Mega Steam and it works fine.

Looks like they made 3989 with smoke shields.  Does the 3977 also have smoke shields?  Both were cataloged without smoke shields.  3977 should have smoke shields, 3989 did not have smoke shields.  I preordered 3989 but not 3977 because of the catalog images.  This is one problem with the built to order requirement.  If you are building to order, produce the actual item catalgoged!!  I will keep 3989 as I like the look with smoke shields but would have been more likely to order 3977 if it has smoke shields.

First, the Union Pacific mechanical drawings refer to them as "Wind Wings".  Many folks simply refer to them as "Smoke lifters" or "Elephant Ears".

Second, the UP oil burning Challengers were generally the locomotives equipped with the "Wind Wings".

What are smoke shields,are they inside the loco,outside?,i have no idea what to look for.

Well, the term "smoke shield" is not really correct, since they don't shield anything. The "Smoke Lifters", or "Wind Wings" on the UP are the long sheet metal things on either side of the front of the boiler (actually the smokebox area), which are curved inward slightly at the top edges. The design is such, that at speeds above, say 50 MPH, the air is forced upward at the stack/stacks thus lifting the exhaust gasses/smoke higher above the trailing passenger cars. Many folks think the "smoke lifters" were to keep the exhaust gasses/smoke out of the locomotive cab, but that was NOT the primary reason behind their design and usage by many railroads on the passenger assigned steam locomotives.

Hot Water, Thanks for the information,you learn something every day. I am still trying to figure out how i can get the smoke to come out of the 2 main stacks,it was working fine at first,but then i accidentally did something very,very,stupid & i am to embarrassed to post here right now,maybe if i can get up the nerve later on i will post what i did & see if there is any way i can fix the problem,i will surely qualify for idiot of the year award for what i did.

I have no cab light either.

On the whistle smoke, it doesn't happen unless the main smoke is on...apparently.

With the main smoke on, even low, the whistle smoke comes out fine.

3967 and 3943 were the original coal fired black Challengers with elephant ears.  Some of the gray oil fired Challengers (3975-3984) were repainted to black after they were transferred from passenger to freight service and retained their ears.

Chuck,you are right,the whistle smoke will not work unless the main smoke stacks are on,but today i was on the phone with Alex,& we tried a number of things to get the main stacks to work,but we were unable to get it to work,it appears that something is wrong with the fan motor,i will bring it to Alex when i have time & he will fix it for me.