Bruno Platzer Co-Founder / LVRRS    The Builder of This Museum Quality  Articulated 1.5" Scale (1/8 Scale) UP Challenger 3977. THE HISTORY  OF THE 1.5" SCALE UNION PACIFIC CHALLENGER #3977:   WOW! YES INDEED IT'S REAL LIVE STEAM! Left: Bruno Platzer       Right: Jim Kreider       Video of Prototype  When 'Los Angeles Live-Steamers' made the announcement that the 1.5" scale Union Pacific Challenger #3977 locomotive was completed, everybody showed up, even railroad buffs from as far as Canada. This was truly an exciting day in the live-steam hobby.   Below: Bruno Platzer talking to Roger Goldman Griffith Park, Los Angeles, California.......    iiiiiiiii   QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ABOUT THIS ENGINE.. Q: "Did you build this locomotive from a kit Bruno?" Bruno Platzer: "No, there is no such thing as a kit for this type of locomotive.   UP Challenger Tender  Q: "Did you have pictures of the prototype?"      Bruno Platzer: "Unfortunately, back then  there were absolutely no pictures available, and railroad books had only limited information as far as close-up pictures of the Challenger's fine detail were concerned. Important missing detail of the prototype was nowhere to be found. So I decided...  Bruno: "So, I decided to I drive up to the Nebraska railroad museum. After a long drive, just before closing hours, I snapped my own pictures of the prototype Challenger #3977 and of the missing details, not available in any books . I then shared the prototype pictures with Roger Goldman and others since nobody had any pictures."    Bruno Platzer Co-Founder of the LVRRS A man, standing high! A man, with high standards!   Bruno Platzer, truly a legendary man. A hobbyist who takes history within the railroad hobby very serious, seen right here taking the missing pictures of the prototype Challenger #3977 in order to finish building his live steam model engine historically correct. Bruno: "It is a lot of work to build a model locomotive like this one, and you may as well construct it just like the prototype with all the historically correct detail, otherwise, why bother in the first place?" BRUNO PLATZER INVITES ROGER GOLDMAN TO TAKE A RIDE: After the Challenger #3977 was finished, Bruno Platzer took the engine a few times to Riverside Live-Steamers in California. BELOW: Roger Goldman sat the very first time on a finished and running 1.5" scale Challenger locomotive and took his very first run on Bruno Platzer's engine with a happy glow on his face, going once around the loop..... uuuuuuuuu Roger Goldman on Bruno Platzer's Challenger #3977. 1.5" SCALE UNION PACIFIC CHALLENGER FACTS - The 1.5" scale Challenger including the tender has 2,300 lbs of dry weight. - Between 2003 and 2005 the #3977 Challenger ran over 1,000 actual miles   at many railroad parks throughout the west coast. - In 2007, the engine had many more miles on its back. - In 2006, the engine was 5 years old.   Oregon: 'Train Mountain' BRUNO PLATZER'S MASTERPIECE At the 300+acre Train Mountain railroad park in Oregon, Bruno ran the Challenger 3977 over 200 actual miles within 1 week. S Seen right here where he, while he experimented with pulling 38 loaded railroad cars, on a 2% grade.   EXPERIMENT AT MARICOPA, ARIZONA: Bruno's UP Challenger plus another engine pulled that weekend 115 railroad cars on a 1% grade at Maricopa Live Steamers, quite an accomplishment for those two locomotives! Bruno: "By the law of nature, if an engine pulls 100 railroad cars on level ground, every 1% grade cuts the performance of a locomotive in half."   THE FASCINATION OF LIVE STEAM Bruno double heading at Hunter Park, in Riverside, California. It is a beautiful hobby which needs to be introduced to our next generation in the Las Vegas valley.   The love of live steam railroading is another way to keep railroad history of yester-year alive, forever to come!