What scale size is the MTH Railking Challenger & Big Boy ?

I was thinking 1/58 or 1/55 roughly 

The only one I've seen put an exact number on a semi-scale engine was the 1:58 K-Line Allegheny.  Take a look at it and see if your Challenger is close.

There are some scale calculators on the web..can you get the 1:1 dimensions of the original ?

raising4daughters posted:

The only one I've seen put an exact number on a semi-scale engine was the 1:58 K-Line Allegheny.  Take a look at it and see if your Challenger is close.

hello raising4daughters 

I have seen the K-line Allegheny and Big boy on some videos on youtube and they even look smaller with the 027 size cars behind it so the Railking version of the Allegheny looks bigger perhaps longer than Railking Challenger.  Is 1/50th scale about right for the Challenger ? Hoping some other members might know ?

Tiffany

You have selective compression so it would be unusual if all three dimensions were the same scale.  John in Lansing, ILL

Tiffany posted: ...snip... Is 1/50th scale about right for the Challenger ? Hoping some other members might know ?

Tiffany

Tiffany,

I can not speak about the Challenger but the below photo of two PCC trolleys shows the difference between 1/50 and 1/ 48; the green car is 1/48 and the red one is 1/50:

:

rattler21 posted:

You have selective compression so it would be unusual if all three dimensions were the same scale.  John in Lansing, ILL

Completely agree.  When I got back into O gauge over a year ago I decided to start off with a Railking Challenger since I owned several Railking locomotives in the past.  The selective compression of it is what made me switch to full scale O gauge.  It just didn't look right to me.  I'm looking to sell off the remainder of my Railking items.

1:50 scale wouldn't be much noticeably smaller than 1:48 O scale. They are probably closer to 1:55 or so, but Railking/Lionmaster locomotives are not compressed equally in all dimensions.

For the sake of comparison, my Premier and Railking Challengers. 

drelo posted:

For the sake of comparison, my Premier and Railking Challengers. 

Hello Drelo

That is a INTERESTING photo and the boiler sizes between them look very close in dia. size !!  Wondering if the drivers sizes are nearly same size ?

Tiffany

PRRMP54 posted:

Tiffany posted: ...snip... Is 1/50th scale about right for the Challenger ? Hoping some other members might know ?

Tiffany

Tiffany,

I can not speak about the Challenger but the below photo of two PCC trolleys shows the difference between 1/50 and 1/ 48; the green car is 1/48 and the red one is 1/50:

:

hello Dave 

I see not much differences between 1/48 and 1/50 sizes but close ?

Tiffany

The Railking drivers are definitely smaller. I can unbox both of them tomorrow and measure them for you. 

drelo posted:

The Railking drivers are definitely smaller. I can unbox both of them tomorrow and measure them for you. 

Hello Drelo

Oh I would like that very much, THANK YOU !!!!!!!!!!!  I am hoping the railking drivers are SMALLER than the premier drivers !!

Tiffany

To me the RK challenger and big boy look too compressed giving them an odd look but then that could just be me. 

Dave

david1 posted:

To me the RK challenger and big boy look too compressed giving them an odd look but then that could just be me. 

Dave

Hello Dave

Really ? I gave my imperial challenger a good hard look and i thought it didnt look too bad ?  But 2 things that really bugged me was lack of number boards on front end (working on that) and the lack of heavy counterweight on main drivers (not sure how to fix that ,any ideas ?) It does look bit a shorty and it is pretty nice for what it is.

Tiffany

willygee posted:

Hello willygee

thank you, so its semi-scale of 1/59th pretty odd size ?  Any opinions about how this engine looks to you ? I think the cab of this engine is bit too short but can live with that.

Tiffany

Tiffany posted:

willygee posted:

Hello willygee

thank you, so its semi-scale of 1/59th pretty odd size ?  Any opinions about how this engine looks to you ? I think the cab of this engine is bit too short but can live with that.

Tiffany

Too small..I'm all about 1/48. All my 25 diesel 4 an 6 axle units are mth premiere except for  4  RK dash-8 GE's which came from premiere molds and are scale length.

!:59 is the scale that applies to the engine's length, but may not be applicable to other dimensions of the Rail King engine. In other words, compressions of the Rail King engine may have different scale ratios like the boiler diameters which match, so then the Rail King boiler is 1:48 scale.

In my opinion, MTH compresses the dimensions of its Rail King engines so that they operate on the 031 curves of its track system, yet retain the overall all appearance of the prototype.

Another opinion I have is that O-scale trains look very unnatural on the track curves prevalent in all but the large club layouts. So if the argument of scale vs Rail King is appearance, scale looses.

Tiffany posted:

drelo posted:

The Railking drivers are definitely smaller. I can unbox both of them tomorrow and measure them for you. 

Hello Drelo

Oh I would like that very much, THANK YOU !!!!!!!!!!!  I am hoping the railking drivers are SMALLER than the premier drivers !!

Tiffany

Tiffany, the drivers on the Railking 1.25" in diameter versus 1.5" on the premier version.  I don't have a caliper, so this was done by ruler so they may be off by a sixteenth or so.

The Challenger is my favorite steamer, and I had never had one in O gauge.  I was looking forward to receiving the Railking version once I submitted my order.  Upon receipt and unboxing of it I was underwhelmed to the point that I considered returning it.  It ran fantastic out of the box, but the dimensions of it just didn't look right to me.  After a few short running sessions, I boxed it up and on a shelf it went.  

A little over a year later I was in a local hobby shop and saw a Premier Challenger for sale in my favorite scheme (greyhound with yellow stripes) for a great price.  Once I got it home and on the layout, I couldn't have been happier. 

There are some Railking locomotives that I think look great compressed (Santa Fe 4-8-4 Northern), however the Challenger and FEF-3 don't to my eye.  Hence my switch to full scale.

Around the time the 1st RK Challenger came out, I had a coffee table book of steam engines of all types, with a builder's photo of engines and dimensions. The RK Challenger is dead-on for a 4-6-6-4 run built for the Vermont Central except for the drivers being 6" smaller, and a Vanderbilt Tender instead of the Centipede.

Since I run eastern lines, I've always had a repaint on my "one day" list.

Awhile ago  I did a 12' X 12' layout and the owner's RK BB, RK Challenger and RK Cab Forward looked right at home.  The major adjustment was in the lengths and double swivel engine chassis which make the engine appear much more at home than the gross overhang of the scale chassis set up on tight 072 curves. 

My favorite engine is the C&O H-4/5 series 2-6-6-2.  Fully scale but looks good on my comparatively small (when compared  to prototype) scale curves of 0120.  I was always turned off with the wide scale BB overhang. 

I would like to own one of these giants but the huge overhang as they round curves doesn't look prototypical to me and I don't think there is clearance on my layout to accommodate such overhangs.  My largest curves are 096.  I have no way to gauge clearances other than trial runs.

I like my RK big locos....I bought most of them. But as soon as I bought a scale steam loco.....I went scale. The BIG RK locos look odd now. The smaller RK engines still look good......IE Reading Crusader and PRR Mikado retain proportions. 

AMC Dave,  going to get rid of your RK too small large engines?

The thing to remember about most RailKing and other not built to full 1/4" scale stuff is the "scale" of the model can vary between height width and length.

Rusty

drelo posted:

Tiffany posted:

drelo posted:

The Railking drivers are definitely smaller. I can unbox both of them tomorrow and measure them for you. 

Hello Drelo

Oh I would like that very much, THANK YOU !!!!!!!!!!!  I am hoping the railking drivers are SMALLER than the premier drivers !!

Tiffany

Tiffany, the drivers on the Railking 1.25" in diameter versus 1.5" on the premier version.  I don't have a caliper, so this was done by ruler so they may be off by a sixteenth or so.

The Challenger is my favorite steamer, and I had never had one in O gauge.  I was looking forward to receiving the Railking version once I submitted my order.  Upon receipt and unboxing of it I was underwhelmed to the point that I considered returning it.  It ran fantastic out of the box, but the dimensions of it just didn't look right to me.  After a few short running sessions, I boxed it up and on a shelf it went.  

A little over a year later I was in a local hobby shop and saw a Premier Challenger for sale in my favorite scheme (greyhound with yellow stripes) for a great price.  Once I got it home and on the layout, I couldn't have been happier. 

There are some Railking locomotives that I think look great compressed (Santa Fe 4-8-4 Northern), however the Challenger and FEF-3 don't to my eye.  Hence my switch to full scale.

Hello drelo 

I did some simple math and since the Railking Challenger driver size is 1.25 as you measured it out and so its 1/55 semi-scale (1.25 x 55.) = 68.75 inches driver sizes OR 1/56 scale (1.25 x 56.) = 70 inches drivers size and so the real Challenger's driver is 69 inches dia.   I am now guessing that the Railking Challenger must be some where between 1/55 or 1/56 semi-scale.  The scale Challenger 1/48 scale is (1.50 x 48.) = 72 inch driver size maybe its possible the drivers of the premier scale Challenger is bit over size or out of scale ?  The scale Challenger is REALLY nice so enjoy both Challengers!  Thank you for your kindness to measure the Challenger's drivers. 

Tiffany